Paulie Gualtieri Signal Corps, where he was eventually drummed out through Section 8 (discharged because of psychiatric reasons). Afterwards, he spent more time in and out of prison on various criminal charges. He eventually was inducted into the DiMeo crime family, becoming a close associate of Johnny Soprano and helping to mentor his son Tony. Paulie got his nickname "Paulie Walnuts" after hijacking a truck in the early 1990s which he believed was filled with television-sets, but only contained walnuts. His surname is taken from real life DeCavalcante crime family mobster Frank Gualtieri, who served under Vincent Palermo. In the episode "From
Paulie Gualtieri other's gardeners. Paulie's competition with and antagonism of Feech serves to highlight Feech's insubordinate tendencies, which cause Tony to "set up" Feech for a return to prison, making it easier for everyone. Between the fifth and sixth seasons, Chris is made Capo of Paulie's crew, with Paulie being elevated to underboss, albeit a nominal one. Paulie's reputation for withholding money from his payments "up the ladder" is observed in "Mayham." While Tony is in a coma, Paulie takes part in a heist with Cary De Bartolo that leads to a score of $1,000,000 in Colombian drug money, which is to