37 Facts About Silvio Dante

Silvio Manfred Dante is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos, portrayed by Steven Van Zandt.

Silvio Dante is the consigliere and right-hand man to Tony Soprano in the DiMeo crime family.

Silvio Dante's father was Joseph "Beppo" Dante, of Calabrian origin, a member of Knights of Columbus and mob soldier who was gunned down in 1959.

Silvio Dante's support was instrumental in ensuring Tony took over as capo following the death of his father.

Where many of Tony's men immediately become hot-headed and readily resort to violence, Silvio Dante generally helps to mediate situations and gets along with everyone.

Silvio Dante is most often the one to quote Mafia rules and norms when a tough decision is to be made, even if he ends up disagreeing with Tony.

Silvio Dante's move to consigliere once Tony becomes acting boss seems completely natural.

Silvio Dante remains Tony's most reliable adviser and enforcer, only displaying his aggression in a small number of incidents.

An enraged Silvio Dante attacked Fat Dom by hitting him in the back of the head with a handheld vacuum and then holding his arms behind his back, which allowed Carlo to stab Dom repeatedly in the abdomen with a large kitchen knife.

Silvio Dante loves and cares about, and is a strong father to his teenage daughter Heather, whom he calls The Principessa.

Silvio Dante says that Heather disapproves of his profession, calling it "degrading to women".

When his daughter's soccer coach was found to be involved with one of his young players, Silvio Dante looked for vengeance but followed Tony's decision to let the authorities deal with him.

Silvio Dante has a long record of executing traitors throughout the show, including Jimmy Altieri at the end of season 1, Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero in season 2, and Adriana La Cerva in season 5.

In Season 6, Silvio Dante carries out the execution of Burt Gervasi, garroting him after he discovers that he had been working with the Lupertazzi crime family.

Silvio Dante's judgment wavered when he realized Tony was positioning Christopher Moltisanti as an intermediary between himself and the rest of the organization because of Christopher's and Tony's blood ties.

Silvio Dante responded by encouraging Gualtieri crew soldier Patsy Parisi to steal from the Esplanade construction site against Tony's and Christopher's orders.

Silvio Dante found it hard to let the conflict die even once Tony had exhausted all avenues of winning the dispute.

Silvio Dante did not take this uncharacteristic behavior any further and although Tony noticed it, nothing became of it.

Since Christopher returned from rehab, his relationship with Silvio Dante seems to have returned to their previous friendly association.

Silvio Dante maintains a realistic relationship with Paulie Gualtieri, well aware of Paulie's tight-fisted attitude towards money and dangerous tendencies.

Silvio Dante has remarked to Tony that they know that Paulie does not kick up his full amount.

Silvio Dante tried to warn Paulie that his distractedness had been noticed when Paulie let his loyalties to the Soprano family waver, not long after Silvio Dante's own crisis of faith in Tony.

When Tony ends up in a coma after being shot by his uncle in a fit of dementia, it falls upon Silvio Dante to take the reins as acting boss of the Soprano family.

However, Silvio Dante was indecisive in his handling of a dispute between Vito and Bobby Baccalieri over a collection route.

When Vito Spatafore was outed to the organization, Silvio Dante convinced Tony of the need to restrain his desire to "give him a pass" because of the effect it would have on the other captains' view of his leadership.

When Tony responded with distasteful jokes about Bobby's serious injury, a look from Silvio Dante was enough to tell him he was being unfair.

When Vito came back from New Hampshire, Silvio Dante said that there would be popular sentiment to get rid of him, but Tony initially decided to let Vito run a prostitution ring in Atlantic City.

Silvio Dante had always pushed for Vito to be taken care of and told Tony that it was the right move and not to beat himself up over the issue.

Silvio Dante initially told Tony that they should go after one of Phil's men but Tony was trying to avoid a war and instead decided to blow up Phil's wire room in Sheepshead Bay.

Silvio Dante told Dom to leave, but when Dom continued his ridicule, anger got the best of the usually calm consigliere as he smashed his hand-held vacuum over Dom's head and held him while Carlo stabbed him to death.

Silvio Dante advised Tony not to enter, but he couldn't stop Tony from finding Dom.

Burt goes to Silvio Dante to join in a coup d'etat against the boss, but Silvio Dante responds by strangling him to death at his home a short time later.

Silvio Dante tries taking a pistol off of the back seat, only to be shot in the back.

Silvio Dante manages to grab his pistol in time while Parisi holds them off.

Silvio Dante is shot once more in the chest, while Patsy runs into the woods, fleeing for his life.

Paulie later tells Tony that Silvio Dante survived the assassination attempt but is in a coma.

Silvio Dante auditioned for the role of Tony Soprano, but both HBO and Van Zandt himself felt that the role should go to an experienced actor, so Chase decided to create a role specifically for Van Zandt.