Anthony "Tony" Blundetto (March 16 1957-December 17 2004) was a DiMeo crime family associate in Carlo Gervasi's crew. In 2004, he took part in the Lupertazzi crime family's internal power struggles due to his friendship with Angelo Garepe, and he was killed by his own cousin, DiMeo boss Tony Soprano, to keep the peace with the Lupertazzis.
Biography[]
Anthony Blundetto was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1957, the son of Al Blundetto and the cousin of Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti. The cousins all grew up and played on a Kinderhook, New York farm owned by their uncle Pat Blundetto, and Blundetto and Soprano loved each other as brothers. Blundetto was a rising star in the DiMeo crime family as a youth, acquiring a ruthless reputation as an enforcer before being incarcerated in 1986 for a truck hijacking that Soprano was supposed to have taken part in (had he not suffered a panic attack). He served almost 17 years in prison, and he was held at the Federal Correctional Complex, Allenwood, where he met a few imprisoned Lupertazzi crime family (Phil Leotardo and Angelo Garepe) and DiMeo (Michele La Manna) mobsters. "The Class of '04" was released in March of 2004, and Blundetto initially worked as a massage therapist with a Korean store owner named Kim in Rutherford, New Jersey; Kim later gave him his own store in East Caldwell. When this business went sour due to Blundetto's financial mismanagement, Blundetto ultimately decided to return to a life of crime in the DiMeo family.
Blundetto became an associate in Carlo Gervasi's crew of the DiMeo family after re-entering his life of crime. However, Lupertazzi crime family member Carmine Lupertazzi Jr. reached out to Blundetto through his consigliere and Blundetto's old friend, Angelo Garepe. Garepe recruited Blundetto as a hitman during the Lupertazzi family power struggles of 2004, and Blundetto took part in the execution of Joey Peeps in New York City; his foot was run over by Peeps' car as he shot at the car's occupants. Blundetto later claimed that he was jumped by African-American gangsters in Newark, but witnesses described the assassin of Peeps as having a limp identical to Blundetto's, convincing Lupertazzi's rival Johnny Sacrimoni that Blundetto was responsible. Soprano knew the truth, but he decided to cover for his cousin.
Soprano could no longer protect his cousin after Blundetto attempted to kill Phil Leotardo one night on a New York street; Blundetto killed Phil's brother Billy Leotardo. Soprano was pressured to deliver Blundetto to Sacrimoni so that he could be tortured and killed by Leotardo, and, after DiMeo associate Benny Fazio was badly beaten by Leotardo, Soprano realized that he was putting everyone in jeopardy by protecting his cousin.
Death[]
Blundetto after being shot
Soprano decided to kill Blundetto himself, as an act of mercy; should he have let Leotardo kill him, Blundetto would suffer a far worse fate. He used a contact at a phone company to track him down to Pat Blundetto's old farm in Kinderhook, and he ambushed Blundetto as he returned to the farm with two bags of groceries. Soprano blasted him with a 12-gauge shotgun, causing Blundetto to be launched into a wood pile at the end of the porch. Soprano then gave Sacrimoni Blundetto's hiding place, and Leotardo arrived later, becoming infuriated after he found out that he would be unable to avenge his brother's death. Blundetto's body was secretly buried, in one piece, off the premises.