The Sopranos: Was Ralph The Devil?

The Sopranos is a show full of despicable characters. The mobsters of the DiMeo family are liars, thieves, and even murderers. Tony himself is at times a vicious and remorseless scumbag, and the show revolves around how terrible these people are.

But there is one character who stands out even among this crowd. The worst of the worst. Ralph Cifaretto.

Ralphie is considered by most fans to be one of the worst human beings on the show. Not only is he a drug addicted, sexual degenerate, he's also a vicious sociopath whose wanton carelessness destroys the lives of the people around him.

In fact, Ralph is so evil that some people believe he’s the literal devil. There is actually some evidence in the show to suggest this. But is this really the case? Is Ralphie the devil? Or is there more to this character than meets the eye. Let's find out.

Ralph Cifaretto is a mobster in the DiMeo crime family. He’s a contemporary of Tony Soprano and Jackie Aprile, having grown up together and being a part of the same crew. Ralph did not participate in Jackie's plan to rob Feech La Manna's card game, which resulted in him being left behind as Tony and Jackie became rising stars in the family.

Ralph is introduced in the third season, having been in Miami before this looking after the family’s interests down there. This was also where he became addicted to cocaine, which would be a big problem in his life. During this time Ralph also married a woman named Ronnie and had a son named Justin. Ronnie and Ralph would later get divorced, and Ralph grew very distant with his son.

Ralph is one of the biggest earners in the family, controlling most of their construction operations. Known for being intelligent and very creative when it comes to making money, he is by far the most valuable person Tony has working for him.

However Tony feels nothing but disdain for Ralph, mostly because of his personality. Ralph is constantly behaving inappropriately, making fun of the people around him, and generally just getting under everyone’s skin. He gets away with it because of how well he earns, but it’s his nature that leads to Tony passing him over in favor of Gigi.

In addition to his lack of social graces, Ralph is also a sexual degenerate. Despite being in a relationship with Rosalie Aprile, Ralph eventually leaves her to be with Janice, who is willing to satisfy his more unusual urges. As she explains, Ralph is into masochistic sex, wanting to be dominated and in pain. This is also confirmed by Valentina, who breaks up with him because of his extreme fetishes.

However it’s not just Ralph’s personality that is an issue. It’s also his reckless disregard for human life. Particularly when he’s high on drugs, Ralph becomes very dangerous. He ends up hitting Georgie in the eye with a chain while imitating the film “Gladiator”, which he is absolutely obsessed with.

I always wondered why Tony seemed to hate Ralph from his very first appearance on the show. Well in the script for the episode “University”, there is some dialogue that didn’t make it into the show. Apparently in high school, Ralph caused a girl to drown when he sank her canoe, which resulted in him being expelled. No idea if this is still canon to the show, but if it is it shows how early Ralph's drug addiction and recklessness started.

Ralph is also one the prime reasons that Jackie Junior is killed. He encourages him to be involved in the life, giving him a gun and telling stories about his father when he was his age. When Jackie later robs the card game, Ralph says that he wants to give him a pass. However this is just an attempt to pawn off the responsibility for the whole situation onto Tony. When this doesn’t work, he orders Jackie killed, despite the fact that he is dating Jackie’s mother Rosalie.

However his most heinous act is of course the killing of his girlfriend Tracee. Tracee is a young stripper who works at the Bing. She is enthusiastically in love with Ralph, but he treats her horribly, pimping her out to other guys and laughing when Silvio beats her. This culminates with them getting into a fight after Ralph cruelly mocks her, and Ralph ends up beating her to death.

This incident really bothers Tony, who hits Ralph for killing an innocent girl. Though that seems like a completely reasonable response to us, it’s actually a big problem in the mob world, as Tony is not allowed to hit another made man. Tony is caught between a rock and a hard place, despising Ralph but not willing to get rid of such a valuable earner. He ends up making him captain of the Aprile crew after Gigi dies.

Despite his initial disdain, Tony and Ralph managed to work well together, running various schemes such as the Esplanade construction project and a scam to defraud HUD. However their relationship eventually falls apart over Pie-O-My, a racehorse that Ralph buys. Tony, being a lover of animals, takes control of the horse, demanding Ralph pay for expensive vet care and taking a slice of the race winnings despite having nothing to do with it. This also coincides with Tony starting a relationship with Valentina, Ralph’s former goomar.

However when Ralph’s son Justin is critically injured while playing with a bow and arrow, Ralph is distraught. His son faces a long recovery with no guarantee that he will ever fully recover. Right after this, Pie-O-My’s stable burns down. Though it’s ruled accidental, Tony suspects that Ralph set the fire in order to claim the large insurance payout on the horse. Angered by this and what he did to Tracee, Tony ends up beating Ralph to death in his home.

Tony and Chris end up chopping Ralph up and disposing of his body. Tony blames New York for the disappearance of Ralph, though many of his people can see through the lie. Though some criticize the killing as senseless and worry about what might happen to them, no one cares about Ralph specifically.

And it’s easy to see why. Ralph was a piece of shit. Not only was he a thoroughly unlikable guy, he had an almost psychopathic disregard for the people around him.

Some fans go so far as to suggest that Ralph is the literal devil. Now you might say that that’s silly, but remember The Many Saint of Newark confirmed that hell is real, as Christopher narrates the movie from hell.

There is some evidence in the show to suggest this. In S3E3, Ralph literally calls himself Satan.

“I’m Satan to this kid.”

- Ralph

In S4E2, Janice is reading a book about the origin of Satan when Ralph is in bed with her clipping his toenails.

In S4E6, you can see a sticker for the New Jersey Devils hockey team behind Ralph when he’s discussing the loan with Artie.

And of course we have one of the most well discussed examples. In S4E9, there are several lines of dialogue in the show that are actually lyrics from the Rolling Stones song Sympathy for The Devil.

All these little details seem to add up, and it makes a compelling case for Ralph to be the devil. Afterall he seems evil enough to fit the description, given all the heinous acts he commits on the show. However, that might not be the interpretation David Chase was going for.

You see the show has a pattern of reminding us how bad a character is right before they kill him. Right before Richie Aprile’s death, he hits Janice in the face, breaking his earlier rule that you’re not allowed to hit women before you marry them. Right before Vito’s death, he kills a civilian after getting into a car accident. Before Eugene hangs himself, he shoots someone in a restaurant. It’s like the show wants to remind us that no matter how much we may grow to like these characters, they are at their core scumbags who deserve what’s coming to them.

However Ralph is unique in this. Unlike the other characters, he actually gets a small redemption before he dies. He admits his faults, expressing genuine sadness for what’s happened to his son and apologizing to those he has hurt in the past.

Now there’s no way to know if this transformation was legitimate or not, but I’m inclined to believe it was. Ralph seemed genuine in his emotions, and in fact the Rolling Stone lyrics literally instruct us to have sympathy for this devil.

The point of the song is that although the devil may be responsible for evil acts in this world, everyone else is complicit as well for allowing them to happen. And I think that is what we are meant to take away from Ralph.

While Ralph was the one who killed Tracee, Tony himself did nothing to help her, and later feels guilty for his role in her death. Ralph also points out to Tony right before he dies that Tony doesn’t care about any of Ralph’s victims, so long as he earns money from it.

Afterall, he’s not the only character to be associated with Devil imagery. Tony Blundetto, in Tony’s coma dream, plays a similar role, trying to lure Tony to the afterlife. Livia is also portrayed as a devil figure, being cast in shadows in several of Tony’s dreams, including one with Ralph as well. And even Tony himself is portrayed as a devil

So as bad as Ralph is, he’s just part of the evil world of the Mafia. And if we can have sympathy for the other devils of this world, maybe we can have a little for him.