Jackie Aprile Jr.

Plot details

Jackie Aprile Jr. was born into North Jersey mafia family. His father, Jackie Aprile Sr., was once the acting boss of the DiMeo crime family, and his uncle Richie Aprile was a capo first under Ercoli "Eckley" DiMeo, and then later under Tony Soprano. However Jackie Jr. himself was kept away from the family business by Jackie Sr. and his father's best friend, Tony Soprano. He only began getting involved with the criminal aspects of his family in 2000—season 2 of The Sopranos—after the death of his father and the release of his uncle from prison. Despite attempts to succeed at Rutgers, Jackie Jr. drifted towards a life of crime as he began helping his uncle Richie run the Aprile crew.

His mother Rosalie Aprile began a romantic relationship with Soprano capo Ralph Cifaretto. Ralph was more of a mentor in Jackie's attempt to follow in his father's footsteps and was actively involved with his life or development as a young man. It was Richie's and then Ralph's bad influence, Jackie Jr.'s own faults, and finally Tony's insistence that Jackie Jr. not become involved in organized crime that were the contributing factors that propelled Jackie Jr. into a brief, and rather humiliating career in organized crime.

Working alongside his friend Dino Zerilli, he began small by selling ecstasy to college kids. They often hung out at the Ooh Fa pizza restaurant which brought them into contact with Christopher Moltisanti. He was a linebacker for his football team at Boonton High School and was All-State by the end of his semester. Jackie planned the robbery of a Jewel concert at Rutgers and drove the getaway car for Christopher and Benny Fazio. While waiting in the car Jackie urinates in his pants. Later Jackie tried to use his 'influence' with Christopher to help a drug dealer associate from college named Matush sell ecstasy at the Crazy Horse club, owned by Christopher and Furio Giunta and fronted by Adriana La Cerva. Matush had been thrown out of the club by Giunta once already and Jackie met with him at a "sit-down" and agreed to take his case up with Chris; Chris refused to grant any favors but Jackie told Matush it would be alright to work outside the club anyway - resulting in a severe beating for Matush.

Jackie Jr. began dating Meadow Soprano and as a result, he copied the Mafia tradition of leading two lives. Jackie tried to maintain the appearance of a respectable college student dating Meadow while drifting further into the Mafia life. Tony's interest was further increased because he had been a close friend of Jackie's father and had promised that he would keep Jackie, Jr. away from organized crime. Tony began to see through Jackie's facade when he caught him at the casino on Bloomfield Ave and then later at a strip club (a rival to the Bada Bing). Tony was furious because he had tried so hard to keep Jackie straight, beating him up in the bathroom of the club after catching him there getting a lap dance. Tony began seeing much of himself and his treatment of Carmela in Jackie's relationship with Meadow.

Things came to a head after Jackie Jr. flunked out of Rutgers University. Jackie was subsequently dumped by Meadow after she found him cheating on her. Resentful of two generations of the Sopranos—the Royal Family, as Ralph mockingly called them—Jackie began working directly for Ralph, forming his own minor crew in the process.

Upon hearing Ralph tell the story of when Jackie Aprile Sr. and Tony took down a card game held by Feech La Manna, Jackie became inspired to follow in his father's footsteps. Using his dim-witted crew of Carlo Renzi, Dino Zerilli and Matush, Jackie attempted to hold up a card game run by Aprile soldier Eugene Pontecorvo. The young, would-be stick-up men got high and Jackie almost decided not to go through with it. Once inside things went horribly awry - Jackie killed "Sunshine" the dealer, Renzi was killed at the scene by Christopher, made man Furio Giunta was shot in the leg and Matush fled in the getaway car on hearing the gunshots. Jackie Jr. barely escaped with his life by performing a quick carjacking. He drove straight past Dino Zerilli leaving him to perish at the hands of Moltisanti and Albert Barese.

Hiding out in the Boonton Projects, Jackie called Tony and begged for his life saying that he was just doing what Tony did. Tony told Jackie to figure out the difference, suggesting that because people were shot and one killed there might be consequences. Largely because of his feelings toward Jackie Sr., Tony suggested to Ralph that Jackie should be given a pass for the failed robbery. Ralph, however, was not inclined to let Tony know of his role as a catalyst for the attempted robbery. At a meeting between Tony and Ralph about what to do about Jackie, Tony stated that the important thing is that action is taken "in a timely fashion." Ralph of course had to maintain stability and more importantly, his stature. So he gave Aprile crew soldier (and Jackie's cousin) Vito Spatafore the order to take out Jackie. Outside the Boonton Projects, Vito shot Jackie Jr. in the back of the head, leaving Jackie's body face down in the snow.

Rosalie, Meadow and the rest of the family were told that Jackie was killed by "black drug dealers from the ghetto". The death of Jackie Jr. had an enormous effect on Meadow Soprano and she began having mixed feelings for her father and his "business." As a result, Meadow was often depressed and told her parents that she knew Jackie was killed by members of organized crime and not by drug dealers. At his funeral Jackie's sister Kelli Aprile said that it was Jackie's life dream to follow in their father's footsteps and join the Mafia. She and Meadow both said they knew that Jackie was killed by mobsters not black drug dealers.

Jackie was also the first person to discover that Ralph had a secret bizarre sex life. He told his friend and partner-in-crime Dino Zerilli that he thought Ralph was "a secret fag or something". Tony would discover Ralph's secret sex life involved eccentric sexual fetishes and masochistic inclinations from Valentina La Paz.

Murders committed by Aprile