Christopher Moltisanti, portrayed by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character of the HBO television series The Sopranos. He is Tony Soprano's protégé and a member of the DiMeo crime family, rising from associate to captain over the course of the series.
In the television series, Tony Soprano has been a father figure to Christopher since the death of his father, Dickie Moltisanti. Tony affectionately refers to Christopher as his "nephew," but he is actually a first cousin once removed of Tony's wife Carmela (Carmela's father Hugh and Chris's paternal grandmother Lena were brother and sister). Tony and Christopher knew each other before Tony met Carmela because their fathers were both involved in the Mafia and because they are both cousins, through unrelated sides, to Tony Blundetto; Christopher's girlfriend Adriana La Cerva also believes that Tony and Christopher are distantly related through Christopher's mother.
Christopher is a volatile, impulsive, and unpredictable young man, frustrated by his perceived lack of progress in the Mafia business. His violent behavior often causes friction between him and the rest of the North Jersey Mafia, which is especially troublesome for Tony Soprano, who attempts to guide Christopher towards becoming a major leader in the business. Throughout the series, Christopher struggles with substance abuse, which further complicates his relationship with the Mafia, especially when other Mafia members ostracize Christopher when he attempts to stay sober.
In Season 1, Christopher oversteps his authority when he hijacks trucks under the protection of captain Junior Soprano. To teach him a lesson, Junior orders his mock execution. In the second season, Chris is shot by his subordinates Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte but survives. Defending himself, he kills Gismonte, but Bevilaqua escapes by running. Bevilaqua is found at a park by Richie Aprile confidantes and is killed by Tony Soprano and Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero. Chris is hospitalized but recovers. Tony trusts Christopher with sensitive tasks, such as disposing of the bodies of murdered captains Richie Aprile and Ralph Cifaretto and arranging the assassination of New York boss Carmine Lupertazzi. In the third season, Chris finally becomes a made man. This leads to friction with Paulie Gualtieri, culminating in the Pine Barrens incident and although they make an uneasy truce, they clash again on several occasions. By the sixth season, Christopher is promoted to the role of captain, and Tony tells him that he will lead the family into the 21st century.
Christopher's character has a tumultuous and abusive relationship with Adriana, his long-term girlfriend, who becomes his fiancée. When Chris becomes enraged about rumors that Adriana and Tony are having an affair, he pulls a gun on Tony, who is ready to kill him for doing so. He is spared only after Tony Blundetto intercedes for him. In the fifth season, Chris learns that Adriana has been working as an informant for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and that she wants him to go into the Witness Protection Program with her. Valuing loyalty over love, Christopher reports Adriana's actions to Tony, who has Silvio Dante kill her. Christopher then marries his new girlfriend, Kelli Lombardo, and they have a daughter, Caitlyn. But his interest in his new wife soon wanes. He grows disillusioned with Tony and frustrated with his progress in the DiMeo crime family, and distances himself from the business by making a film and trying to become a Hollywood screenwriter. While the movie is a modest success, Chris grows irritated with his business partner J.T. Dolan and eventually ends up murdering him when Dolan refuses to listen to details of the murders he had witnessed previously.
Because of his substance abuse, Christopher spends significant amounts of time at AA meetings and rehabilitation centers. Despite wanting Christopher to succeed, Tony doubts his "nephew's" loyalty and suitability to be his successor, and he fears that Christopher's immaturity and frequent drug problems make him a ripe target to turn state's evidence. Christopher's efforts to stay clean of drugs and alcohol cause him to spend less time at their regular haunts, further arousing Tony's suspicions. Christopher causes a car crash as he is driving Tony home while high. After seeing that Caitlyn's baby seat has been completely destroyed in the accident and knowing she would have been killed if she were in the car, Tony has finally had enough and suffocates the badly injured Chris, finally ridding himself of his troublesome "nephew".
Biography Christopher Moltisanti was born in 1969 to Richard "Dickie" Moltisanti, a soldier in the DiMeo crime family, and Joanne Blundetto. In the episode "Cold Cuts" it is revealed that Chris grew up in the Rochelle Park section of Paramus, New Jersey next to the Westfield Garden State Plaza. When talking about his childhood with his cousin Tony Blundetto he describes himself as an urban youth, something Blundetto disagrees with.
When discussing making a biographical movie of Joe Gallo with Jon Favreau, Moltisanti mentions that he vaguely remembered Gallo being murdered in 1972, as he was only a kid (3 years old). Dickie is killed by a hitman sent by Junior Soprano when Chris is very young (although Junior kept his involvement hidden and the murder is blamed on another mobster named Jilly Ruffalo). Tony Soprano affectionately considers Christopher a "nephew," and looks out for him over the years. He is a fan of the television show Cops. Moltisanti is a roommate of Brendan Filone before his murder and engaged to Adriana La Cerva before her murder. Chris is a cousin once removed of Tony's wife Carmela, making him a second cousin to her children.
Season 1 Christopher begins the series as Tony's driver and enforcer and is eager to rise through the ranks in the Mafia. He "makes his bones" by killing Emil Kolar in order to settle a dispute with the DiMeo crime family over the Triborough Towers garbage routes. He initially plans to place the body in a Kolar Bros. dumpster to send a warning, but Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero convinces him to put it elsewhere so that it would bring less heat to the crew. The murder haunts Chris's dreams, and he twice has to dig up and move Kolar's corpse.
Chris aids Brendan in hijacking Comley trucks, which are under Junior Soprano's protection. The two are ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution to Junior and leave the trucks alone. Chris and Brendan plan another heist while high on methamphetamine, but Chris backs down at the last minute out of loyalty to Tony. Brendan and two others go through with the heist, which ends in the accidental death of the driver.
Chris is reprimanded by Tony for not using his leadership to stop Brendan. Junior, angered that his authority was flouted, stages a mock execution for Chris in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Brendan is shot in the eye by Mikey Palmice. Christopher later avenges Brendan's death as part of Tony's revenge against Junior, when he and Paulie ambush and murder Mikey out in the woods.
Season 2 Chris is put in charge of the family's pump and dump scam, with Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte serving as his subordinates. Eventually, Bevilaqua and Gismonte decide to murder him to gain favor with Richie Aprile. The pair ambush Chris outside a diner and badly wound him, but he manages to kill Gismonte as Bevilaqua flees the scene. When Chris recovers from a coma, his spleen is removed and goes through a traumatic recovery process, having been clinically dead for about a minute.
Bevilaqua is eventually tracked down and executed by Tony and Big Pussy. Chris tells the crew that during his coma, he had seen himself in either hell or purgatory and warned them that Brendan and Mikey told him that three o'clock would be a significant time in their future.
Shortly before the shooting, Chris and Adriana had gotten into a fight causing Adriana to move in with her mother. Chris gets her back by proposing to her, against her mother's advice. Despite this, the two don't get married.
Following Richie's death at the hands of Janice, Tony calls Chris and Furio Giunta to dispose of his body. They use Satriale's bandsaw and processing room to dismember the corpse. At Meadow Soprano's graduation, Tony proposes to let Chris be made.
Season 3 During Chris's initiation ceremony, in "Fortunate Son", he notices a raven on the windowsill and takes this as a bad omen. As the family's newest member, he inherits a betting shop from his capo, Paulie Gualtieri and is charged with paying minimum weekly dues to him. There is friction when Chris has difficulty making payments to Paulie, who subsequently humiliates him. After the Pine Barrens incident, they agreed to bury the hatchet. Elsewhere, Chris opens the Crazy Horse Nightclub in Long Branch with Furio as a partner and Adriana as the front operator.
Chris is present when Jackie Aprile Jr. and his friends try to rob a card game run by Eugene Pontecorvo. Chris and acting capo Albert Barese fire back, killing Jackie Jr.'s friend Dino Zerilli as he tries to escape. Chris, jealous and resentful of Jackie Jr. as a rival for Tony's favor, expresses his intent to kill Jackie Jr. as retaliation for the heist, which Tony denies. This causes Chris to question Tony's leadership, calling him a hypocrite for not enforcing established rules of the mob protecting made men, which enrages Tony.
Eventually, Vito Spatafore carries out a contract killing on Jackie Jr. in the Boonton Projects, shooting him in the back of the head, on the orders of Ralph Cifaretto and Tony. At Jackie Jr.'s funeral, Chris is arrested on a gambling charge along with Patsy Parisi and Silvio Dante.
Season 4 To protect himself from prosecution, Tony makes Chris the main contact in criminal dealings. He then bonds his nephew to him by having him murder the recently retired Lieutenant Detective Barry Haydu, after telling Chris that Haydu had murdered his father. Christopher confronts Haydu at his home and Haydu denies having heard of Dickie Moltisanti and claimed that someone was "obviously" setting him up. However, he inadvertently admitted knowing Dickie Moltisanti by stating "Look, whoever told you I had anything to do with his death is lying!", before Christopher ever mentioned Dickie's death, whom Haydu supposedly did not even know.
Haydu's last words before he is killed by Christopher are "I'm sorry!" indicating that he was likely responsible. In "No Show", Chris is made acting capo of Paulie's crew while Paulie is imprisoned on a gun charge, being awarded a no-show job at the Esplanade construction site. His promotion irks Patsy, who has seniority. The two come to blows over Patsy's continued theft from the construction site, despite orders from Tony. Silvio was actually the guiding force behind Patsy's actions, as he was also jealous of Chris's promotion.
Chris's drug use spirals out of control following his temporary promotion. When Tony calls upon him to dispose of Ralph Cifaretto's body, he realizes that Chris is high on heroin. Although they successfully hide the body, Tony decides his nephew needs help. Later, Chris is carjacked by a Puerto Rican gang while trying to buy heroin. When Chris physically abuses Adriana, Tony organizes an intervention. However, the meeting ends badly when it is revealed that Chris had accidentally killed Adriana's dog by sitting on it when high. Tony, whose beloved racehorse was killed in a fire, possibly set by Ralph, becomes very angry. He insists Chris go into rehab and assigns Patsy to guard him.