When it came time forThe Sopranosto end, the iconic crime drama series had to finish with something special.The Sopranos’status as one of thebest TV shows of all timemeant delivering an ending that no one would forget. The show achieved what it set out to do, but not in a way anyone was expecting. The final scene ofThe Sopranoscut to black suddenly, after various shots of Tony Soprano eyeballing a suspicious-looking man in an Only Members jacket, sitting at the diner where the Soprano family was eating.
This unresolved conclusion toThe Sopranos' finale received a mixed reaction, as most viewers were left wondering what became of the mob boss at the center of the series.The most common assumption is that Tony Soprano was about to be killedbefore the episode ended abruptly. Alternatively, it’s suggested thatTony’s fate may mirror the true story of Vincent Palermo, on whomThe Sopranos’protagonist is based, who was forced to become a government witness for the FBI. The unexplained appearance of the man in the Only Members jacket supports both these theories.
When A Members Only Jacket First Appeared In The Sopranos
It Was Worn By Eugene Pontecorvo In The 1st Episode Of Season 6
The first time we saw someone inThe Sopranoswearing the Members Only jacket that appeared in the series finale wasEugene Pontecorvo donning the item in the first episode of the final season. This episode is actually titled “Members Only”, which is no coincidence, and helped draw our attention to the man inThe Sopranos’final scene.
Eugene Pontecorvo was a member of Tony Soprano’s DiMeo crime family, as well as being one of the longest-runningFBI informants inThe Sopranos.Eugene committed suicide in the final minutes of “Members Only”, as a result of family problems arising from Tony and the FBI’s refusal to let him retire.
The unnamed character clearly bore some relation to Eugene.
Although we never saw Eugene again after this episode, it’s certainlyno accident that a figure dressed in the same Only Members jacket he would often wear appearedin the diner at the end ofThe Sopranosfinale. The unnamed character clearly bore some relation to Eugene, whether on the side of the mob or in conjunction with the FBI.
Who Played The Guy In The Members Only Jacket In The Sopranos Finale
The Unnamed Character Was Played By Pizzeria Owner Paolo Colandrea
However, the man in the Members Only jacket inThe Sopranosfinale was a different character from Eugene Pontecorvo, who was played by Robert Funaro between seasons 3 and 6 of the show. The relationship between the two characters was never clarified beyond their shared choice of jacket. The person playing the unnamed man in the diner scene wasPaolo Colandrea, the Neapolitan owner of a pizza parlor in Pennsylvania, who was headhunted by the casting director ofThe Sopranosspecifically for this part (viaTVLine).
Colandrea hadn’t done any acting before this crucial scene, which could be considered one of the most important moments in the history of television, and after shooting was wrapped, Paolo returned to his day job. His character didn’t say anything after appearing onscreen just over two minutes into the final sequence ofThe Sopranos, but his curious looks in the direction of Tony Soprano’s table suggested that something was up.
All episodes ofThe Sopranosare streaming on HBO Max.
Tony himself seemed to sense it too. Althoughhe never looked directly at Colandrea’s character while he was sitting at the diner bar, he seemed to acknowledge that his eyes were on him. Finally, moments before Tony’s daughter, Meadow Soprano, entered the diner, ringing its doorbell, Colandrea stood up and walked to the bathroom. Tony Soprano glanced at him briefly, and didn’t say another word beforeThe Sopranoscut to black, never to return.
Did The Man In The Members Only Jacket Kill Tony Soprano?
There Are Many Clues In The Sopranos Ending To Support This Theory
There are plenty of reasons to believe thatTony died at the end ofThe Sopranos, and that it was the man in the Members Only jacket who killed him. First and foremost, the fact that the jacket itself hasa symbolic connection to a character whose death was indirectly caused by Tonymakes a vengeance killing implicit in its appearance at the diner.
What’s more, the way the scene was edited, with quick cuts between characters and between Tony’s face, and the direction of the diner door, built tension, suggesting that something violent and explosive was about to happen.The sudden, silent cut to black subverted our expectationsthat the scene was going to end with bloodshed, but only added to the sense of suspenseful unease around Tony’s safety. It also seemed to enact the prediction Tony made about getting whacked earlier inThe Sopranosseason 6, when he said, “You probably don’t even hear it when it happens.”
James Gandolfini passed away from heart failure on Jul 29, 2025.
The most clear-cut implication that Tony Soprano was about to be murdered, however, was the behavior of the man in the Members Only jacket. Aside from not saying a word throughout the scene, and turning shiftily on his bar stool to look in Tony’s direction, in the final moments of the scenehe got up to go to the bathroom.
Anyone with even a passing knowledge of gangster fiction will know that the slow, purposeful walk of Paolo Colandrea’s character to a restaurant bathroom was a direct reference toThe Godfather’s most famous sequence. We saw the same walk moments beforeMichael Corleone shot Virgil “The Turk” Sollozzowith the gun he retrieved from behind a toilet cistern, changing crime cinema forever.
What The Guy In The Members Only Jacket Really Represents
He Reflects Something More Ambiguous Than Tony’s Imminent Death
It’s important to emphasize thatThe Sopranosfinale didn’t show Tony’s actual deathonscreen, if it happened at all. The series' ending made a point of leaving things ambiguous, allowing viewers to make up their own mind about what was really about to happen to its protagonist. The guy in the Members Only jacket may well have killed Tony Soprano. Buthe may also have been connected to the FBI, as Eugene Pontecorvo was, and wearing Eugene’s jacket was intended as a signal to Tony that the Feds were closing in on him.
It may even have been a hint that Tony had decided to do a deal with the FBI, or was himself a longstanding federal informant. Alternatively, Paolo Colandrea’s character may simply have been there asa haunting reminder to Tony about the death of Eugene Pontecorvo. Eugene’s demise was the perfect embodiment of the endless brutality of life in the Mafia, from which suicide proved to be his only escape.
The specter of death at the hands of a mob rival hung over Tony Soprano’s every move.
Perhaps he represented something even more basic, though. By the end ofThe Sopranos, the specter of death at the hands of a mob rival hung over Tony Soprano’s every move. The scene’s fast edits and fixation on a strange, nondescript man in a Members Only jacket could just have been a projection of Tony Soprano’s own growing paranoia about getting whacked, a shadow that now followed him everywhere he went.
The Sopranos
Cast
The Sopranos follows New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano as he navigates the challenges of managing his family and criminal enterprise. He seeks guidance from psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi while dealing with complex dynamics involving his wife Carmela, cousin Christopher Moltisanti, and other Mafia associates. Released in 1999, this series delves into organized crime and personal struggles.
