Why was Vito killed?
Donnie Paduana was tasked with looking for non-mafia hitmen to kill Tony in order to not leave a trace. He found it funny that Tony’s own mother would want him dead. Junior didn’t find Paduana’s remarks funny and he immediately gave an order for him to get whacked.
This ranks highly among unnecessary kills because Paduana didn’t commit any cardinal offense that warranted a whacking. In fact, he was right. It was indeed strange that Tony’s own mother would want him dead. The most Junior could have done was call him out for it and give him a stern warning. It didn’t also make sense to kill Paduana because he had an important job to complete.
Vito freaked out and went on the run after he was spotted at a gay bar. Missing his family, he chose to return to New Jersey only for Phil Leotardo and two of his men to ambush him, leading to one of the saddest deaths in The Sopranos.
The show emphasized the fact that homophobia was in the mob’s DNA but this didn’t make Phil’s actions okay. Vito wasn’t a Lupertazzi member hence it wasn’t Phil’s decision what to do with him. It was Tony’s call. And Tony had hinted that he was okay with Vito’s sexuality. By overstepping, he was undermining Tony’s authority and this contributed to the worsening of relations between the two crime families.
Yaryna’s father was one of the casualties of the war between the DiMeo Crime Family and the Lupertazzi Crime Family. His only crime? Resembling Lupertazzi boss Phil Leotardo. The New Jersey mobsters had hired hitmen from abroad to whack Phil but the hitmen mistook Yaryba’s father for the New York Don.
The accidental manner of the murder places it higher up the list of unnecessary deaths. Whacking Phil Leotardo was a top priority for the DiMeo Crime Family and for this reason, they should have gotten one of their own to do the job. This should have been the right approach because they adopted it in the series finale and it worked.
Tonny strangling Ralph because of the racehorse Pie-O-My was definitely the most unwise thing he ever did. He didn’t have any evidence that Ralph did indeed set fire to the stables that resulted in the horse’s death.
Murdering Ralph meant Tony losing his highest earner. If he had refrained from this action, he wouldn’t have gone broke in the future, to the point that he needed to borrow money from the loan shark Hesh. Everyone also felt that Tony was too attached to the horse. Even if Ralph had caused its death, his contribution to the family was more valuable. Tony had the financial might to purchase another racehorse if he wished.
