Peter Schibetta

Peter Schibetta is a fictional character on the HBO series "Oz", portrayed by Eddie Malavarca.

"Prisoner #98S112. Convicted May 19, 1998 - Five counts of money laundering and extortion. Sentence: 35 years, eligible for parole in 20."

He is the son of Nino Schibetta, the first leader of Oz's Italians shown on the series. Once inside, he enlists the warden's brother Mark to murder someone in repayment of a debt owed to Schibetta. Schibetta then exploits his knowledge of Mark's crime as a way of blackmailing Warden Glynn himself. When Mark finally confesses to the murder, Glynn is freed from the Italians' control and goes after Schibetta with a vengeance. When Schibetta is raped, first by Simon Adebisi and later by the Aryans Vernon Schillinger and James Robson, Glynn makes no effort to punish his abusers, and even tacitly endorses the rapes as a way to keep Peter Schibetta and others like him under control. When Schibetta is eventually murdered, the warden shows little interest in finding and punishing his killers.

eason 1

Peter Schibetta visits his father and tells him about his dying mother and the situation with deceased inmate Dino Ortolani. Nino tells him that Dino's family has revenge coming to his killer and that Peter's Mother should be examined by a Jewish doctor, since Nino believes they are the best available.

eason 2

Peter Schibetta is imprisoned for money laundering and runs the Italian Mafia when his father Nino turns up dead. Once in prison, he tries to dominate every situation he is in as if he were still running the Family; he shows no fear or respect to any other inmate, especially African-Americans. His self-declared war with the black inmates grows especially intense when Ryan O'Reily tells him that his father was murdered by Simon Adebisi (Nino had actually been murdered jointly by Adebisi and O'Reily). Schibetta asks Miguel Alvarez to murder Adebisi for a partnership in the drug trade.

Glynn quickly becomes irritated by Peter's constant blackmailing and veiled threats towards his brother. Glynn angrily tells Peter that while Nino might have asked for an occasional small favor for him and his friends in return for keeping Glynn's secret, he would not have been constantly trying to order Glynn around his own prison. Peter responds indifferently, and continues to blackmail Glynn. Glynn finally confronts his brother and regretfully tells him that he must turn himself in for the murder he committed.

After Glynn's brother confesses to his crime, an enraged Glynn transfers the Italian Mob to work in the women's dress factory as revenge for blackmailing him. Soon after, Schibetta is poisoned by Adebisi, who gives him a partially opened chocolate bar tainted with rat poison. Staff member Lenny Burrano, an Italian gangster who works as an inside consultant for the Family, tells him that the family is embarrassed by his "leadership," and if he does not kill Adebisi, his position of leadership will be revoked. Schibetta and fellow wiseguy Chucky Pancamo attempt to murder Adebisi in the kitchen, but Adebisi overpowers Pancamo and beats him senseless with a can of peaches, and then brutally sodomizes Schibetta. Peter has a nervous breakdown, hallucinating that his father is still alive, and is sent to the psychiatric ward. His godfather, Antonio Nappa, arrives in Oz and, with Burrano's help, gets Glynn to conduct a "random" drug test in order to deprive Adebisi of heroin. But Schibetta's days as a respected leader are already over, and his humiliation at the hands of Adebisi gives him a stigma he will never get rid of. He also knows he has disgraced his father's memory and the mafia as well. It will take years for him to return to Em City, and by that point, everyone in Oz, including the mafia, will have little use for him.

eason 3

Schibetta is in the psych ward. Adebisi is also there for a little while as he goes into severe heroin withdrawal. He defends Schibetta when another inmate attacks him. Schibetta is in terrible shape and looks very pathetic. This convinces the staff to let Adebisi out of the psych unit while Schibetta remains inside, still traumatized. Sheibetta is not seen during the rest of the season (nor in the next 2 seasons). Adebisi is able to convince the mafia he is no threat, but secretly infects Nappa with AIDS, and then for some strange reason, is able to form a partnership with Pancamo, who has Nappa killed in the meantime when Nappa goes against the Italian's code of silence by writing his memoirs. This new partnership with the man who raped their former leader shows that the Italians have forgotten about Schibetta.

eason 5

Peter Schibetta is released from the psych ward after four years. He is now Pancamo's second in command but wants to run things like before. Several inmates, however, do not show him the respect he had when he first arrived in Oz; in their eyes, Adebisi made him his "prag" (sex slave) by raping him. Pancamo and the other Italians don't look to thrilled at the prospect of having Peter back, as he is a shameful memory from the past. But the mafia tries to welcome him back, hoping maybe somehow down the line he can change his image and prove his toughness again.

Things get complicated when the Aryan Brotherhood learns that Pancamo ordered a hit on Hank Schillinger, the son of their leader, Vern Schillinger. Pancamo is hospitalized and the Latinos, the Italian's usual drug-trafficking partners, go to work with Burr Redding and the Homeboys instead. Seeking revenge, Schibetta goes to Kareem Said asking to help him murder Schillinger. Said refuses, saying that Schibetta will "always be known as one of Adebisi's bitches," and the other Italian mobsters led by Zanghi agree and decide not to retaliate unless Pancamo gives the order. Schibetta sees this as a way to prove his worth and goes after the Aryans alone. His attempt on Schillinger fails, however, and Schillinger, James Robson, and another Aryan gang-rape him over a pool table, abusing him with slurs on his ethnicity and manhood. During this scene Schillinger remarks "I always wondered if I was bigger than Adebisi". Schibetta is taken into the psych ward again and is counseled by Sister Peter Marie, while the Aryans now get a good laugh whenever they look at their pool table.

Schibetta is then threatened by Schillinger with the prospect of another rape or even death if he talks too much. Sister Pete goes to Glynn explaining that she wants justice for Schibetta, but Glynn says that the rape was justified in that it made him less of a discipline problem. Sister Pete insists on counseling Schibetta, but he ultimately suffers a mental breakdown.

eason 6

Peter Schibetta is released from the psych ward and is told from a reliable source that Ryan O'Reily helped Simon Adebisi kill his father, Nino. He is intent to start getting revenge on all of those who did him harm, starting with the last man responsible for Nino's death. With revenge on his mind, he arranges for people O'Reily loves to get the "evil eye," essentially a death curse which his wife's grandmother may cast after obtaining a person's personal possession. First dead is Father Daniel Meehan, a priest who is trying to appeal O'Reily's brother Cyril's death sentence; the priest dies of brain damage and is found dead in a pile of feces. Schibetta tells O'Reily that Meehan is dead because of him and that there will be others. O'Reily responds by going to Pancamo and telling him that Schibetta plans to curse everyone he holds a grudge against. Pancamo, who believes in Sicilian curses, fears that Schibetta might want him dead for failing to protect him from Adebisi years ago. In the meantime, Schibetta steals O'Reily's mother's car keys to put the curse on her. Pancamo and Frank Urbano stop him however, gouging out his eye to prevent him from passing the curse onto them. Glynn does not conduct a rigorous investigation of his old enemy's murder.

External links

* [http://www.hbo.com/oz/groups/italians.shtml Official biography at Oz website]