Larry Barese
| Larry Barese | |
|---|---|
 Tony Darrow as Larry Barese | |
| First appearance | "Meadowlands" (episode 1.04) |
| Last appearance | "Stage 5" (episode 6.14) |
| Created by | David Chase |
| Portrayed by | Tony Darrow |
| Information | |
| Full name | Lorenzo Barese |
| Nickname(s) |
Larry Boy Lawrence The King of Dermabrasion |
| Title | Capo of the Barese Crew in the DiMeo crime family |
| Spouse(s) | Joanne Barese |
| Relatives |
Albert Barese (cousin) Benny Fazio (godson) |
Lorenzo "Larry Boy" Barese, played by Tony Darrow, is a fictional character on the HBO original series The Sopranos. He is the only one of the five original captains of the DiMeo crime family who remains in that position throughout the show. In the episodes "Pax Soprana" and "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano" his first name is given as "Lawrence," but in the episodes "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" and "Stage 5" he is called "Lorenzo," which is likely his true given name. Richie Aprile mentions that he had a dermabrasion procedure. He is typically polite, relatively soft-spoken and loyal to the Soprano crime family.
Plot details
Barese is the caporegime of his own crew which is the biggest in the crime family. His crew's activities include drug trafficking, gambling, loan sharking, waste management and stock and credit card scams. His cousin, Albert "Ally Boy" Barese, is his second in command and he is also the godfather of Soprano associate Benny Fazio. Over the years Barese managed to become an influential member of the DiMeo crime family during the 1990s. Following the death of acting boss Jackie Aprile, Sr. in 1999, Larry supported Tony Soprano becoming the new boss over Tony's uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano. However, Larry supported Tony's plan to use Junior as the official boss and agreed to follow Tony's orders as he was running the family behind Junior's back.
In the season 1 episode "Pax Soprana," Larry, along with Jimmy Altieri and Raymond Curto, congressed in a meeting with Tony after Junior had Mikey Palmice murder Larry's top earner Rusty Irish for selling ecstasy to one of Junior's friend's grandson who committed suicide while high. Larry and the other capos reported this as a sign of Junior abusing his power as boss. Barese later moved his mother to the Green Grove retirement community (where Tony kept his mother) so that he could conduct clandestine meetings with Tony, capo Jimmy Altieri and even New York Lupertazzi crime family underboss John "Johnny Sack" Sacramoni.
Larry found out from an FBI secretary that an indictment was going to be unsealed against the crime family. Soon after, along with Junior and underboss Joe Sasso, he was arrested and charged with violations of racketeering and fraud. Larry could often be seen as a second defendant in the courtroom during Junior's RICO trial. While being held without bail in prison, Larry promotes his cousin Albert Barese to acting caporegime of his crew.
Three years after the indictments, Larry was released following a mistrial and put under house arrest. However, he took control of his crew back from his cousin. At this point, Larry remained the only one of the original five DiMeo family captains in control of his crew (Tony was promoted to boss, Junior was removed from power by the family, Raymond Curto died of a stroke and Jimmy Altieri was executed under suspicion of being an informant).
Larry was also a regular fixture at Tony's ICU waiting room following his shooting in 2006. Fellow captain and the family's biggest earner at the time, Vito Spatafore, approached Larry to suggest himself as a candidate to take over as boss if Tony should not recover from his coma after his uncle had shot him. Although Tony recovered, Larry stayed loyal to him and Tony's nephew Christopher Moltisanti, with whom he began producing the upcoming fictional slasher film Cleaver. At this time, Larry had routinely broken the terms of his bail since his release in order to run business and socialize, including giving a toast at Christopher Moltisanti's belated bachelor party. In 2007, Larry was finally arrested at the premiere after-party for Cleaver by federal marshals for violating house arrest. He was in jail awaiting a retrial at the end of the series, and isn't seen after the episode, Stage 5.
He is mentioned in the season 6 episode "Remember When," when the FBI begins digging up a body from a murder that occurred 25 years ago. This was Tony's first murder, which Paulie Gualtieri also played a part in. There is a minor discussion about Larry which indicates that he gave the FBI the location of the body. However, in order to save Tony and Paulie, after the body is recovered, he goes on to tell the FBI (falsely) that the murder was committed solely by the late Jackie Aprile.
In 2011, Darrow aka Anthony Borgese, the actor who portrays Larry Barese admitted that he was an associate of the Gambino crime family after being convicted of beating an extortion victim.
