Satriale's Pork Store

Satriale's Pork Store is a fictional establishment on the HBO series The Sopranos. As told in the television show, during the 1970s, the pork store was taken over by Johnny Boy Soprano, a member of The DiMeo Crime Family, when Francis Satriale failed to make payments on a gambling debt and later committed suicide. Since then, it has become a regular hangout for current members of the Gualtieri and Soprano crews.

Location

Satriale's Pork Store is a meat market in the North Ward, Newark, New Jersey. The interior walls of the storeroom where Emil "E-Mail" Kolar is murdered by Christopher Moltisanti has black and white framed photographs of classic actors and entertainers, like Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson and Dean Martin hanging on the walls. These actors were also known to portray anti-hero mob characters, and in some cases even associated themselves with real mobsters, during their careers which gained them their fame.

Although a mob-owned establishment, Satriale's runs a legitimate business selling a variety of meats, pork and sausage, along with deli-style sandwiches. The store also has a coffee bar which sells pastries and espresso as seen in several episodes. In the large storefront windows hung cured hams and trussed pig carcasses, coils of pink-and-beige sausages, including a denuded chicken with its beak still in place. It is also prominently featured in the video game The Sopranos: Road to Respect. Satriale's is based on Sacco's Meat Market located at 806 3rd Avenue in Elizabeth, New Jersey which served as the unofficial criminal headquarters of "Uncle Joe" Giacobbe, a veteran made man in the DeCavalcante crime family. The Sopranos character, Corrado Soprano is based on Giacobbe.

Important events that have occurred in the pork store

• Tony Soprano witnessed a violent encounter involving Mr. Satriale and his father, leading to his first panic attack later that day.
• Christopher Moltisanti shot his first victim, Emil "E-Mail" Kolar, in the rear of the store.
• Christopher suffers nightmares about killing Kolar which take place in Satriale's.
• After an explosive argument where Tony yells at Christopher and Brendan Filone about their successful hijacking of a Comley Trucking transport truck, a trucking company that operates under the "protection" of Tony's uncle Corrado Soprano, Brendan is picked up and thrown out of the back room and into the kitchen where he rolls over a table of fresh meat chops. He made the statement that Tony is really boss of the family since Jackie Aprile Sr. became the "Chemo"sabe, a reference to Jackie's cancer. This greatly angers Tony.
• Christopher and Furio Giunta disposed of Richie Aprile's remains by using the meat saw and butchers knives to dismember his body.
• Tony and Ralph Cifaretto are forced to make a decision regarding Jackie Aprile, Jr.'s future.
• Finn revealed to Tony and other capos and associates his encounter with Vito two years prior where Vito was giving oral sex to a security guard in a car. Finn's story played a pivotal role in determining whether the rumors of Vito's sexuality were factual.
• Tony meets with Bobby Baccalieri to discuss the takeover of Corrado Soprano's businesses and where the DiMeo crime family stands at that time.
• Silvio Dante and Carlo Gervasi murder Lupertazzi family soldier Fat Dom Giamello after he makes a series of jokes concerning Vito's murder and the sexual preferences of New Jersey men.
• Tony Blundetto gives Silvio Dante, Paulie Gualtieri and Vito Spatafore back massages and angers Tony Soprano by speaking back to him in front of his fellow mobsters.
• Agent Harris plies Tony for information on suspected terrorists and warns him about the attempt on his life from Phil Leotardo.
• Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero dresses as Santa Claus for the neighborhood children and give out toys every Christmas. During one Christmas Eve Salvatore becomes drunk and temperamental angering some of the children. It is later surmised that Bonpensiero was wearing a secretly hidden FBI wire on his person during the festivities. After he is murdered, Bobby Baccalieri assumes the role as Santa Claus.
• In The Sopranos: Road to Respect a Health inspector discovers that the kitchen is filthy and states that he has found rat dropping in the kitchen and wants to report it. LaRocca successfully persuades the health inspector to not write up the citation forcing the restaurant's closure.
• In The Sopranos: Road to Respect Joey LaRocca, the illegitimate son of Salvatore Bonpensiero is initiated into the DiMeo crime family led by Tony Soprano.
• Shortly after being released from the hospital after being shot by Uncle Junior, Tony, in order to prove to his fellow mobsters that he still has the strength to run things, assaults one of his newly hired bodyguards.

Production

• In the pilot, Satriale's was originally known as Centanni's Meat Market, a real butchery in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The meat market was supposed to be a recurring location but because it was a real business it could not keep closing for shooting. After the show was picked up by HBO, the producers leased a building with a store front in Kearny, New Jersey which has housed Satriale's ever since. The exterior and decor of Satriale's is based on that for Centanni's.
• In October 2007 the Satriale's building was demolished to make room for a new condominium development named "The Soprano." Pieces of the façade are being sold on the internet. Owner Manny Costeira told the Associated Press that condo units will be priced at $325,000 to $385,000.

External links

• Those Computer Guys. "Sopranos Authentic Memoribilia Real Satriales Brick from THE Pork Store". Porkstone.com. http://www.porkstone.com/index.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-11. 
• "New Jersey Online - The Sopranos". NJ.com. http://www.nj.com/sopranos/stories/030401locations.html. Retrieved 2009-09-11.