The other day I talked about the questions I got asked
during The Sopranos premiere on Sunday evening, and how "Who's that Gene guy?" was the
reigning champ. Since then, I could easily add "What did Junior say before he shot Tony?" to the list of
growing curiosities. So, after some intense research (called a friend who called a friend who speaks italian, and whom
I apparently owe a drink to at a bar now), I've discovered just what he said. Even turning on the subtitles for the
episode didn't help, they just read Junior: (mumbles in italian) Malanga!, so it may not have been the
clearest recording that I emailed, but I was told that it sounded like Junior said "Cazzata Malanga!"So what does Cazzata Malanga mean? Cazzata translates (I was told) into "worthless" or "piece of garbage", definitely derogatory. Malanga, for those long term and keen-eared fans, you'll remember as being the guy that Junior wanted to whack all the way back in season 1. Junior wanted the deed done at Vesuvio's (Artie's place) and Tony didn't, which is what led to the fallout between uncle and nephew. To me, this is just to further the point that Junior is finally senile; he's not faking, he's not lying, he just actually is crazy. Let me know what you think.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-15-2006 @ 2:30PM
Erik said...
I didn't think anyone thought he was faking it anymore. During the trial, yes. Last season when he kept making the comments about Tony, he was losing it. At first we all thought he was a bastard, but when Tony ran into the Dr. and found out Junior was really sick, Tony forgave him and we all knew he was going to slip into his own world, ala Tony's mother. It's been two years now and we see the end result of Junior. Remember when he went to look for Tony's father? He's not faking and hasn't been for a long time.
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3-15-2006 @ 3:06PM
James T M Lennox said...
Live in Glasgow Scotland United Kingdom.
Downloaded the episode yesterday & have been wondering all day at work exactly what Junior said, thanks for the info, appreciated
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3-15-2006 @ 3:38PM
rico said...
I think I read somewhere that Junior uttered an epithet directed at an old arch-enemy, someone whose name was Malenga. So he said something like *mumble* (first name) Malenga, like "Screw you, Anthony Malenga!" With alzheimers, and general end-of-life issues, you tend to only remember the stuff that's been in your head for years and years and years. My grandfather had alzheimers, and he looked - freakishly enough - just like Junior, so these forgetful episodes are eerily similar. My other grandfather (who was perfectly healthy enough to work until a month before he died), on his deathbed, did not recognize me at all. He kept calling me someone else's name; came to find out later from a relative that he thought I was his little brother, who died some eighty years previous. I think the Junior situation is really going to come to a head in the next couple of weeks.
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3-15-2006 @ 5:19PM
Randy said...
That sounds right. I mean Malenga was "Little Pussy" from the first season. And if I remember this episode correctly, Junior was going on about him during the easter egg hunt for the $40K in the backyard: it would certainly tie into the story, since he was on his mind.
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3-20-2006 @ 11:22AM
A. Molinaro said...
I am Italian-American and have a cousin who lives in New Jersey very close to where HBO films the show. He speaks fluent Italian and he said that "Cazzate/Cazzata" means "bulls**t" or "full of s**t". I did a little further online research and found an Italian adult slang section on About.com and they define cazzata as "bloody nonsense."
Basically, Junior was saying that "You are full of s**t, Malanga!"
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4-04-2006 @ 4:56PM
S.Paria said...
cazzata
(in plural) nonsense eg "Sono cazzate" ("That's bullshit")
a worthless or useless thing
I think Junior means: You're a faget, you don't have guts malanga
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