Watch: Tony Blundetto: The Cousin Tony Had to Kill

Steve Buscemi's Tony Blundetto, "Tony B," is the cousin Tony Soprano loved like a brother, and the man whose return from prison forced the series' most painful execution. Watch the video above, then read the story.

Tony B comes home after fifteen years determined to go straight, studying for a masseuse license while the life pulls at him with money he can't earn honestly. Underneath sits the show's buried guilt: the night Tony B was arrested, young Tony Soprano was absent because of a panic attack, a secret that has poisoned him for decades. When Tony B kills a New York captain's brother and Phil Leotardo demands delivery, Tony chooses to do the job himself, quickly, as mercy, and the choice costs him his soul's last alibi anyway.

Quick answer: Tony killed his own cousin to spare him Phil's torture and to stop a war, carrying out the hit himself as the only mercy left.

Keep reading: Why Livia Soprano Tried to Have Tony Killed in Season 1 · Why Tony Didn’t Kill Coach Hauser in The Sopranos—Explained

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