Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood
| "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood" | |
|---|---|
| The Sopranos episode | |
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| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Allen Coulter |
| Written by | David Chase |
| Cinematography by | Alik Sakharov |
| Production code | 302 |
| Original air date | March 4, 2001 |
| Running time | 49 minutes |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood" is the twenty-seventh episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and is the first of the show's third season. It was written by David Chase, directed by Allen Coulter and originally aired on March 4, 2001.
* = credit only
FBI agents are listening to recorded conversations between FBI informant Big Pussy Bonpensiero and Tony. Agent Skip Lipari and his colleagues agree that Pussy is likely dead; without his court testimony, several of their more promising cases against Tony are now unprosecutable. As the agents discuss the possibility of wiretapping Tony's conversations, Lipari recalls that Tony takes his associates down to his basement to discuss private matters that cannot be discussed away from home, counting on the noise of the vast 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) home's five central air conditioning units to mask any conversation. If the FBI were to obtain a search warrant and plant a listening device in the basement near where Tony's conversations take place, they would be able to maintain a high level of surveillance on the Soprano home. Chief Frank Cubitoso goes to obtain the court order but is warned by the judge not to linger there for too long. The FBI identify a one-hour-and-forty-five-minute period each Tuesday when nobody is home. When the Sopranos leave for their activities on Tuesday and the maid goes to English lessons and a picnic with her husband, the FBI "breaks into" the Soprano home to look around the basement and discover an old reading lamp which could serve as a decoy for a hidden microphone. They take several pictures of the lamp and plan to create an exact replica of it with an embedded listening device, then return the following Tuesday to plant it. However, the FBI's plans are temporarily foiled when the house's 120-gallon water heater explodes and the basement is flooded. The maid discovers the mess and calls Tony and Carmela, who return home and gather old relics and boxes before they are destroyed by the water. Tony then calls on his plumber, Mr. Ruggerio to ask him to fix the mess. The following week, after the water heater is fixed and the basement is put back in order, the FBI agents plant the new lamp and quickly leave before the maid returns from lunch.
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