And the first casualty from the families on The Sopranos: former boss of the Brooklyn Lupertazzi crime syndicate John Sacrimoni. A family man, a go-between for the Lupertazzis and the North Jersey DiMeo syndicate, and a crime boss, he ultimately succumbed to lung cancer while locked away in a prison hospital. He leaves behind his wife and children, and some tied up wealth.
Johnny Sack was a complicated mix of ego, loyalty and rage. Like many crime bosses, he got all of the problems heaped on him and it ended up with a high-profile downfall. He pled guilty to multiple crimes and was sentenced to 15 years in prison (though those 15 years will remain unfulfilled).
He was one of the first mob characters created by David Chase that wasn’t actually in the DiMeo crime syndicate, but instead was from New York. While boss Carmine Lupertazzi was still alive, Johnny Sack served as something of an ambassador, ensuring peace between the two families. His ego and love for his family led him to then become irate when venomous jokes about his wife’s weight got thrown around, but what ended up taking him down were the simple logistics of a crime syndicate. The buck stops at the boss, and the boss is always the biggest target for a turncoat. Sack was taken down by an FBI informant. Carmine Lupertazzi was a rare breed: a boss that died a natural death outside of a prison cell. Johnny Sack was the norm.
Six seasons of Johnny Sack, gone with a whimper. And for what?
Good riddance. Too bad he died like Gotti. Him and Gotti should have died the same way – petrol enema from Richard The Ice Man Kuklinski.