The Sopranos: Vincent Pastore’s 5 Best Moments in The Series, Ranked

Vincent Pastore, the actor who turned Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero into one of television’s most tragic gangsters, has died at the age of 80. He was found at his home on City Island in the Bronx on Saturday, August 1, by a neighbour who had not heard from him in several days.

An official cause of death has not been announced, though Deadline has reported that it is believed to be natural causes. Pastore had celebrated his 80th birthday just weeks earlier, on July 14. He appeared in nearly 200 films and shows across his career, but Sal is the role that stuck. Here are his five best moments on The Sopranos.

5 Sal Starts Thinking of Himself as One of the Feds

Vincent Pastore as Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero in The Sopranos | Credits: HBO

When Sal puts on his FBI turncoat hat, he really gets comfortable with it. What begins as a desperate deal to avoid a 30-year sentence slowly turns into something closer to a job he believes in. Vincent Pastore did a great job of making this part funny, especially in one sequence in the show.

In the 12th episode of Season 2 (The Knight in White Satin Armor), he puts himself on Christopher’s tail. Sal speaks into a dictaphone about Christopher’s activities, recording the place and time and even calling Christopher a “subject” just like FBI agents. In other scenes, he calls himself “Fat Man” as a code name and refers to what he is doing as an “assignment.” Interestingly, Sal really believed that he was part of the Feds.

4 Sal Casually Disrespecting Johnny Sack

Vincent Pastore as Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero in The Sopranos | Credits: HBO

In the Season 2 episode Big Girls Don’t Cry, Paulie and Sal are having a meal when Johnny Sack, who is the underboss of the New York Lupertazzi crime family, arrives. Paulie stands up to welcome him, while Sal remains seated, focused on his food. When Sack tells him he needn’t stand, Sal simply replies, “I wasn’t gonna.” It is a funny scene, given how Sack is a powerful mobster.

However, Sal soon gets a public reminder of where he now sits in the pecking order. Paulie tells him to get lost while they talk business, but lets Furio stay. It is a small, brutal humiliation, and Sal does not take it quietly. Pastore’s performance here does a lot, portraying the wounded pride and resentment.

3 Big Pussy Becomes Jealous of Furio

Vincent Pastore as Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero in The Sopranos | Credits: HBO

Furio Giunta’s arrival from Naples is the beginning of the end for Sal. Tony is instantly taken with his new enforcer, and at the welcome party thrown in Furio’s honour, Sal cannot hide his jealousy. The timing makes it worse. Paulie has just been made capo and Silvio consigliere, while Sal gets nothing.

Watching a stranger walk straight into Tony’s good graces pushes him further towards the FBI, and Pastore lets the bitterness sit right on the surface. The references to Furio as “Foodio” to his face and later as “The Geep” to Skip show how much he hated the guy who replaced him.

2 Sal Killing Matt Bevilaqua

Vincent Pastore as Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero in The Sopranos | Credits: HBO

After Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte shoot Christopher, Sal helps Tony hunt down the surviving attacker. By this time, he was reconsidering being an informant to the FBI. What follows is one of the show’s ugliest sequences. In the episode From Where to Eternity, they take Matt to an abandoned building, where Sal offers him a can of Diet Coke.

Sal gave it to Matt with the fake warmth of an old friend. However, the next second, Tony announces that it will be the last drink he will ever have. Then Sal and Tony shoot him together. It is one of the coldest scenes, since Sal was proving a loyalty that he no longer had towards Tony.

1 Vincent Pastore’s Sal Gets Whacked for Wearing a Wire

Vincent Pastore as Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero and James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in The Sopranos | Credits: HBO

Once Tony finds the wire in Sal’s bedroom, his fate is sealed. He is taken out on the water on the pretense of checking out a new boat. Tony, Paulie, and Silvio confront him, and Sal admits everything. He tells Tony he knew he was finished the moment Tony started calling him a friend. His last request is not to be shot in the head.

The three men fire several shots into Sal. The episode Funhouse was really brutal, in the sense that it was one of those rare occasions when Tony Soprano had to kill someone who was close to him. Pastore makes those final minutes almost unbearable, and the guilt haunts all three killers for years afterwards.

Sal only appeared in two seasons, but his anxious performance as a rat in the mob set the emotional standard the entire series measured itself against afterwards.

Which Big Pussy moment stays with you? Let us know in the comments.

The Sopranos is now available for streaming on HBO Max.