The Sopranos - Foolish Killers
Oct. 14th, 2021 03:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerIt's no surprise that The Sopranos, a drama about organized crime, portrays a number of murders. What is surprising is that the career criminals who commit these murders aren't always too bright about it.
In the first episode of season 4 we see that gang captain Paulie is in jail. As we see him explain to an associate via phone, he was pulled over on a traffic violation in Ohio. Police searched the car, found a gun hidden under the seat, arrested him for that, then tested the gun and found it was used in an unsolved murder years ago. Paulie is being held on suspicion of murder.
Why would a gangster carry around a gun police are already searching for? That's the thing that seems foolish. A person who's committed several murders should know to get rid of the evidence. While that's often portrayed in fiction and jokes as "hide the bodies" it also means hiding the weapon. Throw it in a river, throw it in a dump; anything so authorites don't find it within 3 feet of you years later!
Now, this particular situation may not be all Paulie's fault. The murder in question appears to have happened in Youngstown, OH, 400 miles from where Paulie lives and commits most of his crime. Possibly the gun was sold to Paulie, or Paulie stole it from its previous owner, after it had been used in a murder. Paulie may not have known its history. Yet in the series's many on-screen murders, killers often hold onto their guns after the killings. There are definitely many cases of killers not thinking ahead.
But then again, who says "smart" and "murderer" have to go together? Let's be glad that often enough they don't.
In the first episode of season 4 we see that gang captain Paulie is in jail. As we see him explain to an associate via phone, he was pulled over on a traffic violation in Ohio. Police searched the car, found a gun hidden under the seat, arrested him for that, then tested the gun and found it was used in an unsolved murder years ago. Paulie is being held on suspicion of murder.
Why would a gangster carry around a gun police are already searching for? That's the thing that seems foolish. A person who's committed several murders should know to get rid of the evidence. While that's often portrayed in fiction and jokes as "hide the bodies" it also means hiding the weapon. Throw it in a river, throw it in a dump; anything so authorites don't find it within 3 feet of you years later!
Now, this particular situation may not be all Paulie's fault. The murder in question appears to have happened in Youngstown, OH, 400 miles from where Paulie lives and commits most of his crime. Possibly the gun was sold to Paulie, or Paulie stole it from its previous owner, after it had been used in a murder. Paulie may not have known its history. Yet in the series's many on-screen murders, killers often hold onto their guns after the killings. There are definitely many cases of killers not thinking ahead.
But then again, who says "smart" and "murderer" have to go together? Let's be glad that often enough they don't.
