Salvatore Bonpensiero

Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero is a supporting character appearing in the HBO crime drama series The Sopranos. He also makes an appearance in The Sopranos: Road to Respect. Played by Vincent Pastore.

Salvatore Bonpensiero was born on September 16th 1951. Aside from being a top-ranking soldier in the Soprano crew, he is also the co-owner of an auto body shop with his brother Edward. He is close friends with Tony Soprano, and is godfather to his son A.J. Soprano.

Sal was married to Angie Bonpensiero, and had three children with her (Kevin, Matt and Terri). He also is father to illegitimate son Joey LaRocca, protagonist of The Sopranos tie-in game.

The Sopranos

Sometime before 1995, Bonpensiero begins selling heroin to help pay for his children's college fees. Three years later, he is apprehended by the FBI and offered a deal to co-operate with them for a reduced sentence. Although hesitant at first, Sal begrudgingly accepts.

He is assigned to FBI handler Skip Lipari, whom he discloses the family's secrets to. After Tony orders Sal to find A.J.'s science teacher's stolen Saturn car, Bonpensiero begins to grow distant from the family and has plans to become a public speaker on organized crime and relocate to Arizona after he serves his sentence. He even goes as far to begin moonlighting as a private investigator in order to uncover information on a stolen shipment of Pokemon trading cards being handled by Christopher Moltisanti. Sal however gets into a car accident while secretly following Chris where the robbery was taking place.

Tony Soprano suspects Sal to be co-operating with the FBI after his police associate Vin Makazian reveals that Bonpensiero is wired up. Paulie attempts to feel Sal out by treating him to a schvitz and demanding that he take his clothes off, Pussy objects and explains that his high blood pressure and back pain are problems. Although skeptical, especially when he figures his other colleague Jimmy Alteiri as an informant, Tony remains mostly trustworthy around his friend Bonpensiero until he disappears for a whole year before suddenly returning to New Jersey to meet Tony.

Sal reveals to Tony that he was in Puerto Rico to receive treatment for his back pain and met an acupuncturist who he was seeing as a mistress. His alibi is vetted and later confirmed by the crew and he is welcomed back in.

One day, while discussing family operations with his handler Skip, Bonpensiero is recognized by an associate named Jimmy Bones at a party store. Sal refers to Skip as a friend of ours called "Joey from Dover" and explains he is at the store to pick up some things for a bachelor party. Although Jimmy is unsuspecting of the situation, Sal later decides to murder Jimmy at his home in fear of being caught out.

Sometime later, Bonpensiero manages to gain Tony's trust by locating Matthew Bevilaqua, a young aspiring mobster who is on the run after attempting to kill Christopher in a failed attempt to accrue more respect. Tony and Sal manage to get a semi-truthful confession out of Matt before Tony shoots and kills him. The two shoot Matthew's dead corpse repeatedly before leaving the area.

After the Bevilaqua murder, Tony is suspected of murder by authorities after being caught by a witness leaving the scene. Sal is on edge that Tony will suspect him of ratting him out until it is revealed that the witness is a "flag saluting" citizen who cannot be identified. The civilian later backs out of the investigation when he finds out that Bevilaqua was involved with the mafia.

Tony finally realizes that his friend Pussy is an informant when he describes a telephone calling card scam in detail to associates at a restaurant. That night, Tony falls ill with food poisoning and experiences a fever dream of Big Pussy as a talking fish admitting to working for the government and that he gave them a lot of information.

As Tony begins to recover from his illness, he and Silvio Dante make an unannounced visit to see Bonpensiero in his home and finally feel him out. Sal, under the belief that they are going to see a boat Tony bought from a Cuban seller, puts some clothes on and gets ready while Tony throws up in the bathroom. When Silvio distracts Pussy to head downstairs, Tony searches the bedroom to look for a wire. He ends up finding recording equipment hidden beneath a cigar box, which ultimately confirms his suspicions. Tony relays this to Silvio when he asks about the boat again.

Silvio drives Tony and Sal to the docks and greet Paulie outside of the boat, the group get on the boat and head out to sea. Pussy goes inside the boat and plays some Frank Sinatra on the stereo, when Tony finally confronts him about being an informant. Puss reveals he was going away for selling heroin and that he's been working with the FBI for a year and a half. This enrages Silvio and Paulie, and they all demand to know what he gave up. Sal admits that the FBI knows about the calling card scam and the Webistics pump and dump scheme, but plays it down by saying that he was giving misinformation out the whole time as well. This does nothing to alleviate the tension as an upset Silvio goes outside, with Tony following. They both return later and offer Bonpensiero one last shot of Tequila. He tells a story about the acupuncturist he was seeing in Puerto Rico, but Tony asks if she was even real. Sal goes quiet and asks for one final favor: To not get shot in the face. A few moments later, Tony, Silvio and Paulie retrieve their guns and shoot Pussy in the chest several times, killing him. They soon take off his jewelry and throw him out to sea.

Sometime later, Tony and the crew reminisce on Sal playing as Santa Claus for a Christmas party in 1995. While Tony suspects that was around the same time Sal flipped as he had the suit on before he came in. When Paulie reflects on Puss's betrayal, he says "I loved that cocksucker like a brother and he fucked me in the ass."

The Sopranos: Road to Respect

Bonpensiero appears as a supporting character in The Sopranos: Road to Respect.

Despite Joey LaRocca having nothing to do with his father when he was alive, Sal appears to him as a spirit who offers guidance and wisdom. Near the end of the game, Joey asks Tony what happened to his father and he reveals that he was killed for violating the Mafia's code of silence.