Paulie Gualtieri - Plot Details

Plot Details

According to The Sopranos, A Family History, Peter Paul Gualtieri, son of Gennaro Gualtieri (although Paulie's biological father was later revealed to be a World War II era soldier named "Russ"), has been a troubled street kid from the age of nine. He dropped out of school after the 9th grade and spent time in and out of juvenile correctional facilities during his early youth. When he was 17 he officially became an enforcer/bodyguard for "Johnny Boy" Soprano, Tony's father and captain in the DiMeo crime family. His mother, later discovered to be his aunt, worked at a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop during Paulie's childhood and early adulthood, but has since retired. Paulie's grandfather, who immigrated to the United States in 1910, is from Ariano Irpino, a municipality in the province of Avellino, in the Campania region of Italy. Paulie's grandfather and Tony's paternal grandparents were from the same province in Italy. Paulie spent four years in the US Army Signal Corps, where he was eventually drummed out through Section 8 (discharged because of psychiatric reasons). Although Paulie did not have a long military career, he still is proud of it, and few of the other Sopranos characters had military experience. Afterwards, he spent more time in and out of prison on various criminal charges. Eventually, he worked his way up through the DiMeo crime family, reaching the rank of Captain in 2000, shortly after Anthony "Tony" Soprano became Boss of New Jersey. In 2006, Paulie was promoted to Underboss, and Christopher Moltisanti was put in charge of Paulie's crew, which earlier was Tony's crew. Paulie got his nickname "Paulie Walnuts" due to hijacking a truck in the early 1990s which he believed to be filled with television-sets, but only contained walnuts. His surname is taken from real life DeCavalcante crime family mobster Frank Gualtieri, who served under Vincent Palermo.

Paulie is one of the most colorful characters on the show. Portrayed as a psychopath with little empathy, Paulie is highly paranoid and often refers to the supernatural things he experiences, like déjà vu, seeing the Virgin Mary, and especially his constant fear of death, either natural or probable. Paulie has displayed kindness and loyalty, and usually cracks jokes. However, despite his seniority, Paulie is one of the more eccentric of Tony's associates and is arguably one of the most ruthless, as expressed by his paranoia, mysophobia, competitiveness, miserly nature, impulsive violence and often childlike dependence on Tony's approval. In the season one finale, "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano," Tony told his crew that he had been in therapy for almost a year, when Paulie revealed that he too had seen a therapist, from whom he "learned some coping skills." Nevertheless, Paulie is recognized throughout the series as one of the top earners and one of Tony's most trustworthy friends in his "inner circle" of Paulie, Silvio Dante, and Christopher Moltisanti.

Uniquely among his colleagues, Paulie remains single and has no children outside marriage. Unlike most of the other Mafiosi, he shuns the married life. A girlfriend of Paulie's, played by Judy Reyes, is briefly seen in episode 2.9 ("From Where to Eternity.") In a rare moment, Paulie shows compassion for her two children, putting them back to bed, sadly citing he shouldn't keep everyone up, (as he is suffering from nightmares after hearing Christopher talk about his trip to Hell after being shot). She recommends a psychic, but the session ends with Paulie calling the group a bunch of "fucking queers" after the psychic sees the spirit of Charles "Sonny" Pagano - the first guy Paulie ever whacked - together with other spirits, including Mikey Palmice, who supposedly tells the psychic to ask Paulie if the poison ivy, which he caught on his face while chasing (Palmice) to execute him, still itches.