Double Double Entendres: Fresh Kills & Family Business

Hear this right…. Here!
EXIT 14b-a; I-95s to: I-78 to Staten Island, Jersey City & Bayonne, New Jersey

Onramp to I-278s; New Jersey, Goethals across I-95 to Elizabeth, NJ & Staten Island NY


You are surrounded by miles of salt marsh which were once considered useless except as a dump yard for New York City’s garbage.  Now we know New Jersey’s salt marshes are in fact an essential nursery for many species of commercial fish like stripe bass and flounder as well as hundreds of species of wading birds like egrets and herons. ​

Tony Soprano knows something about Fresh Kills.   Tony Soprano is in the waste removal business. A lot of his garbage ended up in these wetlands. “The Sopranos” television show made much use of the wetlands in and around Staten Island and  North Jersey.  Utilizing the gritty beauty and the sad industrial patches of these wetlands, scenes were shot showing recyclables being dumped,  hijacked trucks getting offloaded, and bodies being disappeared. ​

In reality there are many mob bodies buried out there since much of the show's inspiration derived from true life. Just look around. How hard is it to hide a body in all that swamp?


The Sopranos is a crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around the fictional character, New Jersey-based mobster Tony Soprano  played by the late great James Gandolfini.  The series portrays the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the conflict of his family life with his well...   "family" life.

Drawing heavily from his personal experiences growing up in New Jersey, David Chase says he tried to "apply his own family dynamic to mobsters.” For instance, the tumultuous relationship between Tony Soprano and his mother, Livia, is partially based on Chase's relationship with his own mother.  Chase was also in therapy at the time and modeled the character of Doctor Jennifer Melfi after his own psychiatrist.

The TV show is widely regarded as one of the greatest television series of all time. The series also won a multitude of awards, including Peabody Awards for its first two seasons, 21 Primetime Emmy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards. A staple of 2000s American popular culture, the series has been the subject of controversy and parody.  It has spawned books, a video game, high-charting soundtrack albums, and a large amount of assorted merchandise. ​​

In 2013, the Writers Guild of America named The Sopranos the best-written TV series of all time while TV Guide ranked it the best television series of all time.


Chase had been fascinated by the mafia from an early age, witnessing such people growing up. The series is partly inspired by the Boiardo family and the DeCavalcante family.  Both were prominent New Jersey organized crime families when Chase was growing up near here in Clifton and North Caldwell. ​

What you may ask does a guy named David Chase know about Italian mob guys? Well, David Chase's real name is David DeCeasare.   And in case you were wondering, David Chase is indeed a family man -- but is not in the Family! After all, David kills it on TV. So he does not need to dump any bodies out here, in New Jersey's bountiful eco-sensitive Fresh Kills.


#Sopranos #TonySoprano #FreshKills #Meadowlands #NewJersey #StatenIsland #DavidChase #Boiardo

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