Joseph Siravo as "Johnny Boy" Soprano on The Sopranos (Episode 3.03: "Fortunate Son")

Vitals

Joseph Siravo as "Johnny Boy" Soprano, gregarious gangster

Newark, New Jersey, Fall 1969

Series: The Sopranos
Episode: "Fortunate Son" (Episode 3.03)
Air Date: March 11, 2001
Director:Henry J. Bronchtein
Creator: David Chase
Costume Designer: Juliet Polcsa

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

The highly anticipated Soprano saga prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, will be released tomorrow, expanding on the universe of the fictional DiMeo crew in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Michael Gandolfini has already received impressive notices in his portrayal of a teenage version of the role originated by his father, with Jon Bernthal and Vera Farmiga playing the young future capo's parents, Johnny Boy and Livia Soprano.

David Chase has acknowledged that the prequel will be retconning some of the timeline that had been outlined in episodes of The Sopranos, specifically the flashbacks in episodes like "Fortunate Son", which starred Joseph Siravo and Laila Robins as the parents of a pre-teen Tony (Mark Damiano II).

A veteran of stage and screen, Siravo died just over five months ago on April 11, 2021, at the age of 66. The actor had appeared in five episodes of The Sopranos as Tony's charming but violent father.

As the first episode set after Livia's death, "Fortunate Son" focuses on the respective roles of young men reacting to new responsibilities, including the recently "made" Christopher Moltisanti, Jackie Aprile Jr. trying to live in the shadows of his late "fawtha", A.J. Soprano seemingly inheriting his father's panic attacks, and Tony himself recalling the moment in his childhood when he was first made aware of his own father's dangerous profession. Read more of this post