“Boss or no, you don’t raise your hand to another made guy.”

Eugene Pontecorvo was a member of the crew that was headed by Ralph Cifaretto, and was one of the few people who actually seemed to get along with the late capo. He was one of the newer made guys in New Jersey; he got his button at the same ceremony as Christopher. That day, Eugene stood up in front of Tony Soprano and the rest of the family, and pledged his undying devotion to them, above any and all else.

Later he learned the seriousness of that pledge, when he inherited $2 million from an aunt. Seeing a chance to make a new life, Gene and his wife Deanna hatched a plan to move to Florida and asked Tony for permission to leave. But after considering it, Tony dispatched Silvio to inform Eugene that this wasn’t the NHL – there’s no retirement. Pressed hard by his near-hysterical wife and, suddenly, the Feds, who wanted Gene to be their new man on the inside of Tony’s crew, Pontecorvo took the only way out: he hanged himself.