How Gay Is Vo om The Sopranos? | Observer

Contents:

• JOE GANNASLI DISCS HIS LIFE DURG AND SCE PLAYG GAY MOBSTER VO SPATAFORE ON ‘THE SOPRANOS’
• GAY ‘SOPRANOS’ MOBSTER FDS A B OF FAME
• THE GAY MOBSTER ‘SOPRANOS’ WRERS USED AS THE BASIS FOR VO SPATAFORE
• WAS PHIL LEOTARDO GAY?
• HOW GAY IS VO OM THE SOPRANOS?
• SOPRANOS‘ GAY CHARACTER ‘JOHNNY CAK’ KILLS HIMSELF
• ''THE SOPRANOS'': TONY'S GAY ISSU

JOE GANNASLI DISCS HIS LIFE DURG AND SCE PLAYG GAY MOBSTER VO SPATAFORE ON ‘THE SOPRANOS’

In 2004, the Season 5 episo "Unintified Black Mal", is disclosed to viewers Vo is fact homosexual after he is seen performg fellat on a secury guard early one morng at the Esplana nstctn se by Meadow's boyiend, Fn De Trol. Vo at the gay bar.

GAY ‘SOPRANOS’ MOBSTER FDS A B OF FAME

Later, that eveng while makg a llectn at a gay bar, two Lupertazzi Fay associat, one named Sal Iaccuzzo, saw Vo dancg provotively wh a gay man. The Iaccuzzo character was based on real-life Gambo Crime Fay po Matthew Lanniello, who was known to extort and own several nightclubs New York Cy that tered to homosexual clientele.

Vo claimed that his homosexual behavr had been ed by meditn. Lupertazzi crime fay boss Phil Leotardo, a vilent homophobe, mand Vo's ath, so Tony quietly arranged for Carlo Gervasi to make a h on Vo. It was later revealed that Vo was found wh a pool cue stick his rectum, a msage that he was killed bee of his homosexualy.

THE GAY MOBSTER ‘SOPRANOS’ WRERS USED AS THE BASIS FOR VO SPATAFORE

Phil Leotardo later told Vo's wife, Marie, that her hband was probably killed by two homosexual transients Vo had picked up at a bar.

The Sopranos was a show wh some wild twists, but arguably s most shockg revelatn was that Vo Spatafore, the portly po of the Aprile crew and one of Tony’s bt earners, was actually a closeted homosexual. He’d pched to one of the wrers after learng about a real-life gay mobster om a book he was readg, lled Murr Mache.

Sce fdg fame on The Sopranos, Gannasli has published a novel, gotten married (“I got married late, and I said ‘I gotta get married quick here bee people are really gog to thk that I’m gay, ’ so was a sh job. You talked about them rporatg real-life thgs wh the actors to the show, but the whole Vo arc where he’s gay, that was your ia, right? And one of the characters was gay and I thought that was… I was like, “Wow, was a gay mobster.

WAS PHIL LEOTARDO GAY?

They’re so homophobic that even the portrayal of a gay man on TV they’re like, “I don’t like . I worked a gay rtrant. If you have a problem wh gays you shouldn’t be the rtrant bs.

In the episo where they disver that Vo’s gay at the leather bar, do you remember what you were thkg the first time that they me and showed you the wardrobe that you were gog to have for that? ”Drsed appropriate leather bar attire, Vo Spatafore — the heretofore closeted gay mobster — was sighted by a uple wiseguys who me by the sweaty S&M jot to llect their protectn money. )Now that the gay story le is heatg up, the 47-year-old Brooklyn-born actor is immensely pleased, part bee was his ia to make Vo homosexual.

“I wanted to make him sort of self-nial, self-loathg, a real gay hater. ”Gannasli’s suggtn was spired by the book “Murr Mache, ” about the Gambo fay, which had an openly gay member also named Vo.

HOW GAY IS VO OM THE SOPRANOS?

But even amid all the recent gay buzz, Gannasli knows the reactn to Vo won’t be all posive. Gannasli had read a book about a gay mobster who was an associate of New York’s Gambo crime fay. Gambo associate Vo Arena had survived as a gay mobster the ’80s.

There’s a mobster who’s gay and you don’t really see that.

Though Green sound terted, Gannasli didn’t hear anythg more about until the murr of a gay Jersey mobster splashed across headl. A gay Jersey mobster’s murr ma ‘Sopranos’ wrers rensir.

SOPRANOS‘ GAY CHARACTER ‘JOHNNY CAK’ KILLS HIMSELF

Durg the trial of Jersey mobsters, a DeCavalnte soldier scribed murrg DeCavalnte boss Johnny Boy D’Amato for beg gay.

“Nobody’s gonna rpect if we have a gay homosexual boss, ” the killer said urt. One tertg theory floatg around the The Sopranos “universe” is that Lupertazzi boss Phil Leotardo was gay or bisexual. This theory basilly poss that Phil engaged homosexual acts while he was servg “20 years the n”.

Sce the 1960s, people have been g the phrase “hidg the closet” to scribe those who choose to nceal their homosexualy. In other words, they see as a ht that Phil has been hidg his own homosexualy. One theory is that Phil engaged homosexual acts while he was servg his lengthy prison sentence and that he now loath that part of himself.

''THE SOPRANOS'': TONY'S GAY ISSU

When emerg that Vo is gay, Phil’s revulsn towards him seems bter, over-the-top and exaggerated.

Is he thkg about his wife’s statement about how Vo is gog to hell for beg gay? Gannasli is known to Sopranos watchers as “Gay Vo” (or even GaVo, certa exotic circl). Gannasli dancg gleefully a biker’s p a leather bar, or gog on the lam to a gay Shangri-La ( this se, “Live Free or Die” New Hampshire) and fallg love wh the handsome mtached ok om the der—“Johnny Cak”—that have given TV viewers that rare feelg that they are watchg somethg new.

Sure, there have been plenty of gay characters on televisn before: wacky Jack om Will & Grace, or David, the fsy unrtaker wh the hot p boyiend on Six Feet Unr. But the plight of Gay Vo has stirred up siar feelgs to those viewers felt when they first tuned on Sunday nights 1999 to see a Prozac-poppg Mafia boss spill his guts to his therapist.