Nino Schibetta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nino Schibetta, played by Tony Musante, is a fictional character in the HBO series Oz. A Mafia chieftain and former leader of the prison's Italian gang. he is serving a sentence of 120 years for two counts of conspiracy to commit murder.
Until his death, he is the most powerful prisoner in Oz; he is more capable of making decisions than several of the unit managers due to his influence. Anything he wants, such as a single cell in Em City, is given to him without question. Warden Glynn respects him more than any other inmate mainly because during his existence, he is a respectable businessman competently running the kitchen. Glynn's brother has committed a murder for the mob, a fact which is used as leverage by the mafioso inmates. He dies a slow, painful death at the hands of Ryan O'Reilly and Simon Adebisi. After he dies, his son Peter Schibetta comes to Oz and seeks revenge.
[edit] Season 1
Nino runs the Italians and is capable of getting any prisoner anything illegal. He also gets whichever cell he wants and food that no other prisoner can think about getting. He is connected on the staff to several Italian and Non-Italian members alike (Such as prison investigator Lenny Burrano) who are more loyal to him than to their jobs. Nino treats other inmates fairly for the most part but has them killed immediately if they do anything to disrespect him or his Italian gang members. Prisoner Dino Ortolani is his key enforcer and a major problem. Dino is a very stereotypical Italian gangster in that he is very bossy, hotheaded, racist, homophobic, and physically intimidating. Dino beats a homosexual inmate who happens to be the brother of Jefferson Keane, leader of the Homeboys gang in Oz. This causes bad things to happen between the Homeboys and Italians resulting in the deaths of Ortolani and Homeboy Johnny Post. In the meantime, his son Peter visits worried about the death of his mother, Nino's wife who is in her last days at the hospital. Ryan O'Reilly, an Irish hoodlum and cunning sociopath in the meantime is somehow linked to every death and is playing for both the Black and Italian gangsters at the same time. Meanwhile, after all the deaths and a warning about drug dealing from Tim McManus and Warden Leo Glynn, the Italians and Homeboys make peace for the time being and work together. Also in the drug dealing business, CO Mike Healy has an operation with O'Reilly that is competing with Schibetta. As a result, Schibetta tells O'Reilly that he will be a permanent ally of the Italians if he shuts down Healy's operation. O'Reilly does this and pretends to be loyal to Nino but works with Simon Adebisi grinding ground glass into Nino's food over the period of a few months. This is so they can take over the drug trade. They are careful to make sure Schibetta cannot see this and as a result, they go unnoticed and Nino dies from an internal hemorrhage. His son Peter comes to Oz in Season 2 for money laundering and proves to be nowhere near the man that Nino was in any way.
