Watch: Big Pussy Bonpensiero: The Rat Tony Couldn't Believe

Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero was Tony's friend for decades, and the discovery that he was wearing a wire broke something in Tony that never got repaired. Watch the video above, then read the story behind the show's first great betrayal.

Vincent Pastore's Pussy is flipped long before the audience learns it, squeezed by a heroin charge into becoming an FBI informant while playing the jovial best friend. Season 2 turns the screws through dreams, fevers and denial: Tony knows before he can admit it, and his subconscious, in the famous fever-dream sequences, tells him outright. The boat execution, staged as one last fishing trip among friends, is the moment the series announces what it is willing to do to the people you love watching.

Quick answer: Pussy informed for the FBI after being caught with heroin. Tony confirmed it, dreamed about it, denied it, and finally killed him on the boat.

Keep reading: Why Big Pussy Became an FBI Informant in The Sopranos · Tony Soprano Was Right About Everything

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