Satriale's Pork Store is a fictional establishment on the HBO series The Sopranos. During the 1970s, the pork store was taken over by Johnny Soprano, a capo in the DiMeo crime family, when Francis Satriale failed to make payments on a gambling debt. Since then, it has become a regular hangout for current members of the DiMeo crime family.
Location
Satriale's Pork Store is a meat market in Kearny, 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 associated with real mobsters during their careers.
Although a mob-owned establishment, Satriale's runs a legitimate business selling a variety of meats, pork and sausage, along with deli-style sandwiches. There is a careless driver known as Carmine who speeds his Chevrolet Camaro up and down the street in front of the market to the disdain of Tony and the others, eventually being involved in a small fender bender outside the front of the store that Silvio Dante and Furio Giunta deals with in the episode "House Arrest". FBI Agent Dwight Harris who investigates Tony Soprano and the members of his family throughout the show loves their veal Parmesan sandwiches. The store also has a coffee bar which sells pastries and espresso as seen in several episodes. In the large storefront windows hang 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. Anthony Infante, John Sacrimoni's brother-in-law refers to Satriale's as a "chickery," or a "poultry hatchery" when talking to imprisoned John in code, despite it not actually raising and hatching its own poultry.
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, Junior 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.
- 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 true.
- 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.
- Silvio Dante and Paulie Gualtieri beat Ariel, the brother-in-law of Hillel Teittleman in a room in the upper floor of the store and debate with Tony whether or not to murder him.
- 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 droppings 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.
- 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 located at 815 2nd Avenue 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, a former automotive-parts business, which housed Satriale's throughout the series. The exterior and decor of Satriale's is based on that for Centanni's.
The filming location was at 101 Kearny Ave in Kearny, NJ. In October 2007, the building was demolished and remains vacant. It is used as a public parking lot.
External links
- "New Jersey Online - The Sopranos". NJ.com. Retrieved 2009-09-11.Â
