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Mob Experts on The Sopranos, Week 7

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from: Jeffrey Goldberg
to: Terence Winter

Plot Ideas From G-Men

Posted Monday, April 19, 2004, at 7:04 PM ET

Who are these people?

Last year, each new episode of The Sopranos was analyzed by a group of shrinks; this year, each week two mob experts will discuss the lives and squabbles of America's favorite gangsters. This week, Jerry Capeci and Jeffrey Goldberg are joined by Terence Winter, a writer and an executive producer of The Sopranos.

Dear Terry,

Listen, I'm here for you. Any other bright ideas I have are yours. By the way, I don't think you should so airily dismiss the feng shui idea. It could open up the door to a whole Chinatown-evil-triad-Kurt Russell-Chow-Yun-Fat subplot. Speaking of bright ideas, a senior official in the national-security complex down here (I'm in Washington) called me not long ago with this one: He thought the Sopranos should weave in a homeland security story line, something about the Coast Guard or Tom Ridge secretly calling on the Jersey mob to secure the port of Newark from al-Qaida penetration. Very dramatic, huh? Paulie Walnuts vs. Ayman Zawahiri. I'd bet on Paulie.

Thanks for joining us today. If this Sopranos thing doesn't work out, I'm sure we can find room for you in print journalism.

Best,
Jeff

tv club
entries
1234567
from: Jeffrey Goldberg
to: Terence Winter

Plot Ideas From G-Men

Posted Monday, April 19, 2004, at 7:04 PM ET
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Jerry Capeci is author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia and Jerry Capeci's Gang Land: Fifteen Years of Covering the Mafia. His weekly column about organized crime, "Gang Land," appears in the New York Sun and at www.ganglandnews.com. Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for the Atlantic and the author of Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror. Terence Winter is a writer and an executive producer of The Sopranos. His teleplay "Pine Barrens," written with Tim Van Patten, won the 2001 Writers Guild Award and the Edgar Award.
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