Big Pussy was a longtime close friend and mob enforcer for Tony Soprano , and was also shown to be close friends with fellow DiMeo crime family mobsters Paulie "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri , Silvio Dante , and was once a close friend to Tony's uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano.
In the tie-in video game it is revealed he has an illegitimate son named Joey LaRocca. The son of Lino Bonpensiero, [ 1 ] Salvatore Bonpensiero started out as a cat burglar , and was affectionately known as Pussy, in reference to those talents. He operated an auto body shop with his brother Edward "Duke" Bonpensiero. Sal was a soldier in the Soprano crew, and he backed "Johnny Boy" Soprano's wishes to have Tony Soprano become capo following Johnny's death in In order to put his children through college, he dealt heroin on the side.
Sometime between and , Sal was caught by the FBI and decided to inform against the Soprano crew in order to avoid the possibility of life in prison. He was assigned Agent Skip Lipari as his handler. He was revealed as an informant in the episode " Do Not Resuscitate ".
In flashbacks to , it is shown that Sal was instrumental in organizing a sit-down between high-ranking capo Junior Soprano and acting boss Jackie Aprile Sr. However, Sal was suspiciously late for the sit-down and blamed the health problems of his comare 's mother.
In , he was arrested at a card game run by Soprano family capo Jimmy Altieri. He tried to escape but threw his back out and was caught. He was quickly bailed out, but was confined to his home due to injury.
