The Sopranos: 10 Best Minor Characters

When we started our journey with Tony and his saga, we quickly realised that he had been doing this quite some time and had made more than a few connections along the way.

One of those connections was police office Vin Makazian. As an informer to Tony, he was vital in keeping Tony's therapy a secret and even went so far as to batter Melfi's male company when he thought that she was cheating on Tony.

His loyalty was incredibly strong to the DiMeo crime family and he reaped the rewards of his loyalty. Though Tony was never to see him as a friend, Vin believed very much that he and Tony were friends and that they had a bond beyond their professional one.

In the end, Vin was to be arrested during a raid on a brothel he frequented and he committed suicide upon his release. Makazian was in the show for such a small amount of time but had a real impact on Tony when he died.

Vin Makazien was played by the great John Heard, who passed away in recent years. Which makes his great scenes with James Gandolfini all the more prominent, knowing that both men are no longer with us.