Vito Spatafore

“Sometimes you tell a lie so long, you don’t know when to stop.” These are perhaps the most revealing lines ever uttered by Vito Spatafore, the rotund construction tycoon whose homosexuality rocked two separate mafia families.

Vito wasn’t even in fact “Vito” when we first see him on the screen. The actor playing him is first introduced as “Gino,” a man who comes into a bakery to buy some bread. But never mind that. Continuity was never a strong suit in the production of The Sopranos, so when Gino reappears as “Vito” in the second season, we agree to play along. 

We find out Vito is a member of Richie Aprile’s crew, and he is assigned to put in wheelchair accessible “terlets” in the home of Beansie Gaeta. “Mustang Sally” later beats Vito’s brother Brian, and Vito begs for revenge, which Tony is happy to oblige. Later, we see Vito’s first on-screen act of violence when he shoots Jackie Jr. in the back of the head. At Jackie Jr.’s wake, his sister says her brother “Was killed by some fat fuck in see-thru socks,” which Meadows scoffs at, although Vito fits this description quite accurately.

After Tony kills Ralph Cifaretto in the fourth season, Vito takes over the financially lucrative crew and assumes a much larger role in the family as well as the show. Vito proves to have a talent for managing construction projects, and quickly rises to become the top earner in the family. Adriana La Cerva reveals Vito called her constantly while Christopher was in rehab asking if she “needed anything.” Vito reverses this story as he relates it to the crew, and Christopher throws a sandwich at him in a rage when he correctly suspects Vito is laughing about him. Tony forces Christopher to apologize, as Vito is now an important family member and a captain worthy of respect.

In the fifth season, everything we know about Vito is turned drastically on its head. Meadow’s new boyfriend Finn is working on one of Vito’s “no work” construction jobs, and Vito is friendly and welcoming to him. Finn arrives early to work one day, and in a shocking turn of events, he sees Vito performing oral sex on a security guard at the job. All hell breaks loose from there.

Vito tries to bully Finn into attending a Yankees game with him, and refers to Finn as his “arch nemesis,” indicating he knows that Finn is aware of his homosexuality. Finn becomes convinced Vito wants to kill him or have sex with him, and he never returns to the construction site again, much to Vito’s chagrin.

In the sixth season, we learn Vito has lost 160 pounds on the Atkins diet, and he becomes increasingly obnoxious lecturing others about food, scheming to cultivate power, and undermining Tony. When discussing Eugene’s suicide with other members of the family, Vito speculates that “Maybe he was a homo, and felt there was no one he could talk to about it. That happens, too.” Vito looks genuinely sad as he says this, and the scene gives us some insight into the way he’s feeling about his own life.

Vito is shown as increasingly scheming and selfish as Tony remains in a coma following the shooting, and jousts with Paulie over the financial split from a heist he identified for him. Both Vito and Paulie are reluctant to give Carmella Tony’s share of the money, and we see Vito has no interest in upholding the code regarding taking care of family members during times of distress. When Tony regains consciousness Vito reluctantly gives her the $100,000 from the heist, but Carmella notices his attitude and later reports it to Tony.

Vito’s homosexuality is finally revealed following the wedding of John Sacrimoni’s daughter, where we see him adorned in a full leather motorcycle outfit in a gay bar attempting to seduce another middle-aged gay man. Some mafia associates making a collection observe this interaction and confront him, and a panicked Vito activates his disaster escape scenario. Word among the crew quickly begins to spread, and Vito stays with his girlfriend (essentially a beard), until the crew hunts him down so he can explain himself. A desperate Vito gets in his car and narrowly escapes as he leaves New Jersey and his entire life behind.

Vito settles in a small hamlet in New Hampshire, where he shops for antiques, mingles with the locals, and assumes the identity of a writer working on a book about Rocky Marciano. Meanwhile, the crew back in Jersey is becoming increasingly angry, as Paulie, Carlo and Phil Leotardo in New York feel personally betrayed by Vito’s homosexuality and want his death arranged immediately. A terrified Finn is called to testify in front of the entire crew about what he saw in the parking lot, and Paulie feels even further betrayed when he learns Vito was the one who was performing oral sex as opposed to receiving it.

Vito meanwhile has inexplicably stumbled into a new romance with “Johnny Cakes,” a short-order cook at the local diner. Vito first violently rejects his offer of romance, but then finally confesses his homosexuality as he utters the line, “Sometimes you tell a lie so long you don’t know when to stop.” Their relationship quickly intensifies from there.

Vito’s fundamental dishonesty is still an issue, and Johnny Cakes (actually “Jim”) eventually discovers he is not in fact a writer but a mobster from New Jersey. Jim tells Vito he is in love with him and asks him to move in, which Vito agrees to. Jim arranges construction work for Vito, as he has been spending all of his time drinking and gambling. They appear to be a couple destined for success, as they share meals, a bed, their motorcycles, and a home.

We then see Vito at work as a “regular guy” in his new career as a handyman. Every moment seems to be torture for him, and he resists checking his watch because he despises this work so much. As we watch Vito react in disgust to actual work, he seems to arrive at an important decision.

Next, we see Vito drinking cheap vodka from a bottle while driving erratically. As the song “My Way” plays on the radio, he rounds a corner and smashes into a man’s old jeep, and they briefly argue about who is at fault. When the man is insistent about calling the police, Vito shoots him in the back of the head and drives off in triumph. But the message is clear. New Jersey Vito is back.

Next, we see Vito make his first attempt to reconnect with the family, when he surprises Tony at the mall. He offers $200,000 to Tony personally, and to operate out of Atlantic City as opposed to being a part of the Jersey crew. An angry Tony storms away, but later we see he is considering Vito’s offer, much to the chagrin of Paulie and other members of the crew.

Vito reconnects with his family and concocts a story about being a spy for the sake of his children. He calls Jim and tells him he left because he misses his family, but Jim reacts with disgust. He correctly calls Vito out on his laziness, greed, and selfishness, and tells Vito he’s “seriously fucked up,” and how he never wants to see him again. It will be the last time they ever speak.

Tony is seriously conflicted about what to do with Vito, while others in his crew insist on having him killed. Phil Leotardo becomes especially obsessed with killing Vito, and the two of them argue about this over several different scenes. When Vito returns to his hotel room, Phil Leotardo literally comes “out of the closet” as his associates beat Vito to death with clubs and pool cues.

Vito’s story doesn’t end with his death, as we see his actions have now started a war between the two mafia families. We also see his son has become a serious juvenile delinquent and appears to be on the road to psychopathy as he is torturing animals, starting fires, and committing acts of vandalism after he discovers his father was in fact a closeted homosexual.

Analysis:

In assessing Vito from a psychological standpoint, it is interesting to consider his anti-social and violent criminal tendencies, as well as the self-loathing and psychological tension that occurred from living his life as a closeted homosexual. Are these two things mutually exclusive, or are they two separate issues that are independent of each other? This is interesting to consider with Vito, as his actions in response to Tony’s shooting as well as the cold-hearted way he left the relationship with Jim, indicate he may be a person almost totally devoid of empathy.

In examining the relationship between homosexuality and psychopathy, it is useful to note that in the research described in the journal of family research (2003), 43% of serial killers were known to have had homosexual experiences, which makes them overrepresented relative to the general population by a large margin. John Wayne Gacy appeared to fit this pattern, as he was a married man who lived a double life as a self-loathing homosexual. Andrew Cunanan went on a murder spree where he murdered a number of prominent homosexuals, and his motives may have included feelings of self-hatred about his own homosexuality.

These are certainly extreme examples, and it is important to note that there is nothing about being gay that is inherently violent or that would make someone prone to violence. What it a more useful question here is the effect suppressing homosexuality may have on a person’s psyche, especially in the world of the mafia, where being gay is a crime that may be punishable by death.

The show certainly hints at the latent homosexuality present in this situation, and Dr. Melfi directly asks Tony about the occurrence of male on male sex in prison, which Tony explains to her “you get a pass for.” Later Tony defiantly reminds Carlo that homosexuality is not uncommon among their peer group, but Carlo remains undeterred. There even appears to be different levels of homosexual norms in the world of the mafia, as Paulie is especially mortified that Vito was the one performing oral sex as opposed to receiving it.

Research does seem to indicate a link between homophobia and latent homosexuality, as men who exhibited strong homophobia showed high levels of arousal when exposed to homosexual erotic materials.

So how might this all relate to Vito as well as the rest of the crew who showed extreme hatred and revulsion regarding his homosexuality? Phil literally coming “out of the closet” to murder Vito was surely intentional, and his demand later to “turn that off!” when he sees scantily clad male bodybuilders on the television is also not an accident. The writers seem to be pointing out the hypocrisy of the homophobia among the crew, and their barbaric response to Vito seems to be at least a partial commentary on the prevalence of latent homosexuality within the family.

In Vito’s case there appeared to be both a fundamental lack of empathy as well as feelings of self-hatred for his homosexual feelings and actions, and these two forces created a particularly anti-social individual.

This storyline certainly was one of the most unpopular in the history of the show, but in retrospect, it seemed particularly fascinating to see how homosexuality in the world of the mafia affected the members of the family psychologically. The story goes that Joseph R. Gannascoli volunteered to play an openly gay character, and this seemed a particularly brave choice given the subsequent negative reactions from a number of fans of the show.