“Tony was right, he set me straight…No more distractions. Focus. Eye on the prize.”
Christopher Moltisanti is Tony’s nephew and Carmela’s first cousin. His father Dickie Moltisanti was something of a mentor to the youthful Tony. So when the senior Moltisanti was shot to death, Tony, in turn, took Christopher under his wing. As Christopher remembers very little of his father – he was still in diapers when Dickie was killed – Tony’s the closest thing he’s ever had to a paternal figure.
Under Tony’s tutelage Christopher became a cugine and eventually a made man – but his ascent wasn’t smooth. For one thing, Christopher is impulsive, and his impulses are often violent: he once “handled” a negotiation with a rival garbage concern by turning their representative into refuse and hauling him to Staten Island – without permission. For another, Christopher wasn’t always one hundred percent certain that this thing of ours was the thing for him. He has more than once explored the possibility of a film career, going so far as to befriend some Hollywood types and write a screenplay entitled, “You Bark, I Bite.” But when Tony got wind of it, he barked an ultimatum: if you’re with the Soprano crew it’s “every fucking second of every fucking day.” Christopher’s been a devoted “family man” ever since. When his fiancée Adriana tried to convince him to turn for the Feds, he had to face the ultimate decision: rat out Tony and enter witness protection, or rat out Adriana to Tony and get her killed. In the end, Christopher couldn’t imagine leaving the only life he’s ever known.
Christopher’s “recreational” heroin use is another ongoing struggle; when it became a full-blown addiction, he became a serious potential liability to Tony and the rest of the organization. Rather than “put him out of misery” as Junior advised, Tony sent him to rehab.
He still struggles with urges and dips in every now and then – including a drug-fueled secret relationship with Julianna Skiff, the real estate agent who had been a romantic interest of Tony’s — but for the most part Christopher tries to walk a straight line. Learning that his girlfriend Kelli Lombardo was pregnant, he surprised everyone by announcing their marriage, and soon made an offer on a house for their new family.
