SPOILERS
In ( I think) season 4, The FBI tells Adriana they have an audio recording of her discussing a cocaine deal, and if she doesn't inform on Tony they will send her to prison.
Don't they need PHYSICAL evidence of a crime, not just audio of someone talking ABOUT a crime, to make a real case?
I'm not sure about the law in the us, but I think they were trying to scare her into cooperating. The main threat from them was that tony soprano would know that she brought an FBI agent into his house
shareIt was a scare tactic, the best they could probably get her on is some kind of conspiracy. Although she probably had enough coke on hand for a search warrant to make her life difficult.
shareI really hated her FBI handler. From the beginning, I said [spoiler]this idiot is going to get her killed[/spoiler].
shareA "what if?" that the series never really had to confront:
What if...Adrianna had gone to Christopher -- or better yet, directly to Tony -- and told him IMMEDIATELY about the FBI having planted that woman on her and trying to turn her?
A scary decision point:
If Tony understood that Adrianna was letting HIM know as soon as SHE knew that the FBI had trapped her...Tony might have lent his lawyer to Adrianna to fight any minor level drug charges and help Ade do little jail time, if any.
OR
If Tony understood that Adrianna was letting HIM know as soon as SHE knew that the FBI had trapped her...Tony might decide, "I can't take any chances..Adrianna never should have let this woman get so close"...and STILL had her killed.
We will never know, but I have pondered it. Because Adrianna waits so long to tell Christopher, Tony's question TO Christopher is the chilling "How long?" (has she been working for the FBI.) And at THAT long...she had to be killed. Its the same question he asked Big Pussy.
Also entering into Tony's decision if Ade had come to him right away: she really didn't know much about his operations, so perhaps Tony could be understanding: if she knows nothing, she can tell nothing.
This is all "what if?" stuff, but I do wonder if some Mafia folks approached by the FBI like Ade was have survived by going to their bosses quickly and taking the jail time instead of cooperating.
Interesting question. I think that actual members of the Mafia generally do not get killed just for being arrested as long as they don’t cooperate. There are a host of live mafiosi in jail proving the point.
The calculus is different for someone else like Adriana, who wasn’t a member and who took no oath to keep their secrets. But that same distance from their criminal affairs might offer her some protection in the manner you laid out — as long as she used Gelman or some other “approved” attorney, she wouldn’t be touched.
Interesting question. I think that actual members of the Mafia generally do not get killed just for being arrested as long as they don’t cooperate. There are a host of live mafiosi in jail proving the point.
---
I think that is a "proof is there" analysis that if a mafiosi told his/her bosses right away, things might work out.
---
The calculus is different for someone else like Adriana, who wasn’t a member and who took no oath to keep their secrets.
---
Interesting point as well -- perhaps plays both ways. She didn't betray any oath, as Pussy did.
---
But that same distance from their criminal affairs might offer her some protection in the manner you laid out — as long as she used Gelman or some other “approved” attorney, she wouldn’t be touched.
---
I would like to think so -- as a "what if?" that the series had no interest in exploring. Rather, for much of the series(at mid-point, at least) the issue was: "What will Chris and Tony do if they find out about Adrianna?" There was some internet speculation that Chris would run with her -- and Chase laid some false clues that he might. But Chris didn't.
Part of my "What if?" ponderings are this, on this score:
Even if Ade came to Tony early on and let him know that the FBI was onto her, and even if nothing had happened yet -- Tony over the course of the show proved to be a paranoid and vindictive kind of sociopath who might say "Don't worry about it, I understand" NOW...but later elect to act on his paranoia and rage. (Example: Tony telling the State Assemblyman that it was OK if he dated the Russian mistress....until it WASN'T OK.)
I'm just not sure if Ade would have been entirely safe taking it to Tony early on. Which means she was likely doomed either way -- telling him early OR telling him (Chris) late. She might have been doomed from the moment the FBI chose her to zero in on.
Just a musing...its a good show, it creates that feeling...