Watch: Hesh Rabkin: The Last of the Old School

Hesh Rabkin is the elder statesman of Tony's world: a record man who built his fortune on Black artists' royalties and became the family's memory, banker and conscience-for-hire. Watch the video above, then read Hesh's story.

Jerry Adler plays Hesh as the bridge to the old world, a contemporary of Johnny Boy Soprano who survived by being useful and liquid rather than feared. His storylines carry the show's interest in the mob's actual economics and its racial history: the music business thefts of the 1950s echo through his fortune. His late rupture with Tony, over a loan and a threat neither man bothers to hide the meaning of, is one of the final season's coldest threads: even the oldest friendship in the series gets priced before the end.

Quick answer: Hesh is the family's elder advisor and banker, a survivor from Johnny Boy's era whose friendship with Tony finally breaks over money.

Keep reading: How Tony and Hesh’s Friendship Fell Apart in The Sopranos · Watch: The Ducks Are Literally the Whole Show, The Sopranos Ducks Explained

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