Ray Curto

Ray Curto
First appearance "Meadowlands" (episode 1.04)
Last appearance "Members Only" (episode 6.01)
Created by David Chase
Portrayed by George Loros[1]
Information
Full name Raymond Curto
Nickname(s) Buffalo Ray
Occupation Mobster
FBI informant
Title Capo of the Curto Crew in the DiMeo crime family
Spouse(s) Marianucci Curto
Children Unnamed son

Raymond "Buffalo Ray" Curto, played by George Loros,[2] is a fictional character on the HBO original series The Sopranos. He is a capo[3] in the DiMeo crime family.

A capo in the DiMeo/Soprano crime family before Season 1, Curto is approached by fellow capo Tony Soprano and asked to replace Jackie Aprile, Sr. as Boss of the DiMeo Crime Family, due to his age and experience (Jackie is then in and out of the hospital and close to death). Curto declines, and insists, along with the other capos, that Tony should take over instead, fearing Tony's uncle and fellow capo Corrado "Junior" Soprano would step up as the new Boss.

However, Curto is also an FBI informant, as revealed in the episode, "Proshai, Livushka". It has never been disclosed when or why he became an informant, although he is briefly seen in the episode "Nobody Knows Anything" being busted at a brothel along with Detective Vin Makazian. Curto also mentions having a son with multiple sclerosis and the high cost of his son's medical treatment, so perhaps Curto's motivation to be an informant is to stay out of jail and have the ability to pay for his son's care. He puts his mother in Green Grove along with Jimmy Altieri, Tony Soprano and Larry Barese.

Around Christmas of 2000, Curto is present in the back room of Satriale's before the annual holiday celebration held there and openly discusses the murder of informant Pussy Bonpensiero, stating that he'd wished he had been along to kill "the rat". It is unknown whether Curto is wearing a wire during this conversation, in an attempt to link Tony Soprano, Silvio, and Paulie to the murder. In 2004, many members of the DiMeo Crime Family attend a birthday party for Curto at "Nuovo Vesuvio Ristorante."

In 2006, Curto unexpectedly dies of a stroke in his FBI handler's car while giving potentially damaging information to Agent Sanseverino about Tony--Curto indicates he had a poor sound quality tape of Tony discussing a murder. Curto was handled by both Agent Sanseverino and Agent Grasso. Curto has the distinction of being the longest-tenured "rat" in the series, and for never being caught or suspected as such. In fact, at Curto's funeral (in "Members Only"), the other mobsters laud him for being a model "stand up guy". The one exception is Eugene Pontecorvo, who, when Agent Sanseverino tells him that the FBI had lost a major asset, asks if Curto had been an informant. How much damage, if any, Curto caused the Soprano crime family is never determined during the run of the show.

References

  1. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=sMB1MHrE3oYC&pg=PA237&dq=%22raymond+curto%22#v=onepage&q=%22raymond%20curto%22&f=false
  2. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=l9y2lyY8VbcC&pg=PA222&dq=%22raymond+curto%22#v=onepage&q=%22raymond%20curto%22&f=false
  3. ↑ Anthony Schneider (February 3, 2004). Tony Soprano on Management. Penguin. Tony runs a hierarchical business. Sil is consiglieri; Paulie, Raymond Curto and, later, Gigi and Ralph are captains.
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