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I ain't sayin' nothin'!
~ Johnny's catchphrase
Tell him to suck a lemon.
~ Johnny's quote
YOU are a hybrid; Half idiot, half moron.
~ Johnny, to Louie after the latter asked to try out a car hybrid at the Lexus dealership

Johnny Tightlips, born Giovanni Silencio,[1] also known by his legal name, Jonathan Schmallippe,[2]is a frequently appearing mobster and the second-in-command of his old boss Fat Tony, as well as his current boss, Fit-Fat Tony.

Profile[]

Johnny is presumably in his 30s, and he works for the D'Amico Crime Family. He is a capo alongside Legs and Louie.

He has a grandmother (Who he affectionately calls "Granny")[3] and mother. Although in "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge,” when Fat Tony asked Johnny how his mother is, he reticently exclaims and then says “Oo-whee, who says I have a mother?".

Appearance[]

Johnny has short black wavy hair that is receding, thick black eyebrows, shifty eyes, and wears a plum purple suit, a pale purple shirt with dark purple pinstripes, a light purple necktie, plum purple pants, and dark plum purple shoes. In "Insane Clown Poppy" and "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge,” Johnny's skin color had a darker shade of yellow, then starting in Season 14, his skin is instead a normal yellow coloration. Also, the pinstripe linings on his shirt, his shirt’s sleeve rims underneath his suit’s sleeve rims, and even his eyebrows sometimes disappear and reappear in different shots in some episodes.

Personality[]

Johnny is obviously very stoic and anti-social. He’s shown to be more focused on the mafia’s functioning in recent episodes.[4][5] Fit-Fat Tony even complained once that he’s not really good at reading moods.[4] He is fairly mean to fellow mobsters such as Louie and Dan Gillick.

Even in his cameo appearance in "I'm Just a Girl Who Can't Say D'oh,” he is seen attending with his unnamed infant daughter, alongside Frankie the Squealer and his unnamed infant son, the same Daddy and Me class (A class for fathers and their babies) that Homer Simpson attended with Maggie Simpson, revealing that he and Frankie, like Fat Tony with Michael D'Amico, (As well as Legs and Louie with Calves and Louie Jr. respectively in the comics) are fathers as well. It was even hinted from his experience with his daughter in "A Made Maggie" that he does have a soft side for baby and child stuff when he was helping Fit-Fat Tony, Legs, and Louie open the Bambino Depot at the Springfield Mall when he secretly showed a soft side towards a teddy bear while smiling tenderly at it, only to quickly cast it aside gently and resuming his tough guy role. He was also keen on coloring in a coloring book for Ned Flanders to reduce stress in “The Many Saints of Springfield.”

History[]

Johnny first appeared in "Insane Clown Poppy,” where he is introduced by Louie as a suspected squealer alongside Frankie the Squealer during a mafia meeting. Later in the episode, he gets shot. When Louie asks him questions out of concern for him, he dodges them automatically and tells Louie to tell the mob doctor to "suck a lemon" rather than stating where he was shot.

His second appearance is in “Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge,” where he and his three other goons (Whom Fat Tony referred to as "[His] Joisey [Jersey] muscle.") go with Fat Tony, Legs, and Louie to the Simpsons’ house in an attempt to kill Homer out of revenge for his business, SpringShield, busting Fat Tony, Legs, and Louie for trying to illegally sell some ferrets disguised as toy poodles. Homer is then supported by a mysterious sniper, (Secretly revealed to be Maggie saving Homer from the mafia's wrath) Fat Tony asks Johnny if he can see the said mysterious sniper, to which Johnny simply replies that "[He] see[s] a lotta things." They all get shot by Maggie, who they didn’t know about, and then get arrested off-screen by Chief Wiggum, who got his job as a police chief back after Homer decides to quit and close down SpringShield due to him almost getting killed by the mafia for it.

The only two times he ever got emotional were in "Moe Baby Blues" when he broke down crying along with Fat Tony's gang, the Castellaneta Family, and President of the Italian-American Anti-Defamation League upon being touched by Moe Szyslak telling them about how Maggie changed his perspective on life and presented her to all of them during an "Italian-American-Mexican Standoff" at Luigi's so Moe can save Maggie and escape the situation. And in “Top Goon,” when he, Legs, and Louie, upon being touched by Moe’s kind speech to Nelson Muntz, even to the extent of Johnny pulling a piece of bologna to wipe a tear away like a handkerchief, confide to Fit-Fat Tony about their relationship with him and how he sees them as weapons, which makes the three capos break down crying at the revelation.

In "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer," he, while visiting an unconscious Fat Tony at the hospital after their rival mobsters, the Calabresis, knocked him out with non-fatal gunshot wounds, actually showed some concern for Fat Tony, admitting that if the Calabresis aren't taken care of, they will put Fat Tony, who is going through a "Morphine mambo," in a "Dirt nap." He then comforts Fat Tony’s son, Michael, by encouraging him to temporarily take his father's place as the mafia’s don until Fat Tony is recovers. Afterwards, on their way out of the room, Johnny describes Louie to his face that he is a "Hybrid; Half idiot, half moron" when Louie asked to try out a new car hybrid at the Lexus dealership on the way back to the Legitimate Businessman's Social Club because he wasn't reading the room while they're still in Micheal's earshot.

In "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh," it’s revealed that, upon learning from Wiggum that Batman will be at his son, Ralph Wiggum’s, birthday party, Johnny, along with Fat Tony, Legs, and Louie, is terrified of Batman, admitting that "[He] ain’t messing with no caped crusader!”, due to the fact that Batman would beat a villain up for a confession.

In their brief cameo in "Rednecks and Broomsticks," Johnny, Legs and Louie hold Frankie the Squealer at gunpoint, threatening him into literally digging his own grave in the snow. Frankie asks what they'd do if he didn't comply, to which Johnny offers to dig the grave for him. Frankie angrily dismisses this since he knows that Johnny has a bad back and proceeds to take the shovel Legs so he can start digging.

In "What to Expect When Bart's Expecting," upon finding out that Bart Simpson had successfully impregnated Fit-Fat Tony’s darling horse with a male foal with Homer’s help within 24 hours upon the two's abduction by the mafia, Louie points out that he had never seen Johnny Tightlips so happy (although we only see Johnny being as poker-faced as ever on the outside.)

In "Penny-Wiseguys", Homer mentions to Dan Gillick, in order to "convince" the latter to spare Johnny and the mafia members he was ordered to "Rub out" by Fit-Fat Tony, that Johnny digs wells while vacationing in Darfur in his spare time,, indicating that Johnny, despite being a criminal mobster, also shows an altruistic side when it comes to charity work. (Although Dan had already asked Homer to stop him from killing Johnny and the other mobsters)

Although very laconic and professionally loyal in nature, he is shown to dislike Fit-fat Tony enough to betray him twice. As seen in “The Fat Blue Line,” after Fit-fat Tony gets released from prison for pick-pocketing (a crime he didn't commit despite all odds), he walks in on his mob celebrating their new leadership, which Frankie accidentally reveals to be none other than Johnny Tightlips. When Tony confronts Johnny on this, Johnny tells him that his taciturn nature is actually due to him being uncomfortable in social situations, and after watching a advertisement about a clown dating the Sun, he brought up a possible prescription for Paxil, an antidepressant that's also used for treating social anxiety disorder, to his personal doctor, and the medication in turn gave him the confidence to betray Tony. The two attempt to have a shoot-out only to be interrupted by Homer and Chief Wiggum. After Fit-Fat Tony cleared his name and exposed Johnny as the real wallet pickpocket with the police's help, Johnny gets arrested after he accidentally almost killed Homer by shooting him in his rear when Johnny meant to shoot Fit-Fat Tony.

Despite the betrayal, Johnny ends up being reaccepted back into Fit-Fat Tony's capo after being released from jail. (Probably because Fit-Fat Tony admitted earlier in the same episode that he trusts Johnny, and he, offscreen, probably decided, along with the other mafia members who also reaccepted Fit-Fat Tony as their boss again, to forgive Johnny for his actions against Fit-Fat Tony)

In his cameo appearance in "Diary Queen," Johnny and the rest of the main gang try to dispose of Frankie's corpse in a river. Johnny asks why the corpse is floating, only to be answered by Frankie springing to life to tell them he isn't dead yet while attempting to swim away. Johnny proceeds to try shooting Frankie while he's getting away, but it's unclear if he successfully landed a hit. Louie asks Fit-Fat Tony if they can kill Bart and Milhouse Van Houten upon spotting them as witnesses to this event, but Fit-Fat Tony tells him no because they don't kill nosy children unless they are 18 years old or over.

In "A Made Maggie," Johnny attempts to betray Fit-Fat Tony again by killing him out of frustration when he sees how soft his boss has become to Maggie and spending more time with her and her family instead of the mafia ever since Fit-Fat Tony became her godfather under Homer and Marge Simpson’s request. Johnny makes a deal with Don Castellaneta and his mafia to get rid of Fit-Fat Tony at the "Itchy and Scratchy's Christmas on Ice" presentation, and even attempted to bribe Legs and Louie into helping him out on this. However, Legs and Louie end up saving Fit-Fat Tony from that fate instead by restraining Johnny on the ice rink, both of them saying that Fit-Fat Tony claimed to be their "cousin" (although they get confused on whose cousin he is, implying he may just be lying to both of them individually). Fit-Fat Tony ends up punishing Johnny for another attempted betrayal by punching him right in front of Maggie and her family, resulting the Simpsons and Fit-Fat Tony deciding that Fit-Fat Tony would be better off not being Maggie's godfather.

In “Top Goon,” the mafia (Including him) accepts Nelson as one of them. Later in the episode, he, along with the other capos, take guard as Nelson goes to punish King Toot. Moe quickly comes to intervene, and while his speech moves Johnny to tears, this also makes the capos open up about their feelings on their relationship with Fit-Fat Tony, believing that Fit-Fat Tony just sees them as “Weapons.” All three capos break down crying at the revelation, and it turns out they're right about this by showing them transform into anthropomorphic weapons from Tony's point of view. Johnny in particular is depicted as a red bench vise labeled "Snitch-pro head vise."

In “The Many Saints of Springfield,” the mafia assists Ned Flanders in his Left Hand Emporium business to pay off his debt. However, after Lisa Simpson reveals the truth to Ned, Johnny arrives to see what’s up in a threatening way, resulting in Ned sending Lisa away to safety in pretend anger against Homer. Later, Johnny, along with Legs and Louie, try to interrogate Homer on Ned's location since the latter escaped the mafia after confronting Fit-Fat Tony, only for Homer to escape Johnny's arm lock when Louie accidentally cuts himself and blinds Johnny with his blood. Later, Johnny and Louie learn that Ned returned to Fit-Fat Tony and attempted to kill him, only for Ned to expose his hidden wire underneath his fake mustache, leading to the mafia getting arrested.

Speech[]

Johnny Tightlips, as his nickname implies, is very tight-lipped. Although he was the only other suspect besides the more obvious Frankie the Squealer, the only reason might be because he refused to deny the accusation, which is a testament to his dedication to the omertà, the mafia code of silence (or his own social anxiety). But oftentimes his reticence tends to be unhelpful to himself and/or others. When Homer and Krusty the Clown are caught by Fat Tony trying to steal several violin cases containing tommy guns in an attempt to take back a violin belonging to Krusty's daughter during a mafia summit at Fat Tony's mansion, a shootout ensues and Johnny gets shot. When Louie asks where he is injured, he says, "I ain't sayin' nothin'!". When Louie asks again on what he should tell the doctor, Johnny says, "Tell him to suck a lemon."

According to the omertà, one must never tell the authorities about the criminal activity of themselves or others, even if someone else has wronged them. With this context, we could infer that Johnny's insistence on secrecy (besides his social anxiety) could be that he simply doesn't distinguish between government/legal authority and the authority of his superiors within the mob, such as Fat and Fit-fat Tony, which therefore leads to self-defeating behavior.

He has, however, elaborated sometimes. For example, he did explain to Homer, when Fat Tony tells Homer that there was a way to settle his debt (via using his house as a movie set for an adult film,) that the title of their adult film is Lemony Lick-It: A Series of Horny Events.[6]

In "Moe Baby Blues," when Louie was worried about killing his mother because she makes good pasta sauce, Johnny reveals that it comes from a can, after which Louie rebukes his worries by saying "She's a corpse."

He also explains to Louie that Fat Tony "[Has] got a thing for the Ya-Yas." when Louie complained to him in question about why they have to watch The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood on the mafia's private jet. ("Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington")

He speaks occasionally in "22 For 30," even revealing he has a grandmother, whom he affectionately calls "Granny," when he sees his Black Lincoln Continental with a license plate number that reads "ZERO2SAY" being towed away from a no parking area with her inside it while he's being interviewed at the La Coffee Nostra Cafe.

He also admitted that his and the other members of the mafia’s nicknames are pretty judgmental after Louie pointed out in agreement with him that Homer literally eats more than Frankie Eats Too Much in “The Many Saints of Springfield.”

Non-Canon[]

How the Test Was Won - Marge kissing Lindsey The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened/existed.

Episodes[]

Johnny was seen watching a beauty show on TV with Louie in "Uncut Femmes" while Fit-Fat Tony watched over Ralph while Homer and Wiggum were searching for Marge and Sarah Wiggum after their wives got kidnapped.

In "A Serious Flanders: Part One," he and the rest of Fit-Fat Tony's gang tried to threaten Kostas Becker to leave Springfield at Krusty Burger, but Kostas attacks them, killing him alongside the murdered Mr. Burns, Fit-Fat Tony, Legs, Louie, and Disco Stu.

Games[]

In The Simpsons: Tapped Out, Fat Tony puts Johnny in charge of Plato's Republic Casino. (In Johnny’s quest “Casinofellas”) He has to beat up Moe for allegedly paying minors to play online poker. Johnny gets caught by Wiggum. He later gets his cousin, Joey Cantmakeapizza, to be hired at Fat Tony’s pizza parlor. After the online casino gets closed, Fat Tony has Johnny in charge of moderating the casino’s page on SpringFace.

Behind the Laughter[]

Creation[]

Johnny is a reference to Frank "Tight Lips" Gusenberg, who was shot down in the real life St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago and repeatedly replied, "Nobody shot me.", before dying at a local Chicago hospital.

On the audio commentary for “Insane Clown Poppy,” it was discussed that the original name for him would be "Tightlips Johnny."

Trivia[]

  • He is called the Goons in The Simpsons Arcade Game.
  • Fat Tony called him "[His] Joisey [Jersey] muscle," implying he lived or at least operated in New Jersey until he became part of Fat Tony's close caporegime. [7]
  • His birth name "Silencio" is a misspelling of the Italian word "Silenzio," which means "Silence." ("Silencio" is the Spanish/Portuguese spelling) Even his legal last name "Schmallippe" means "Narrow lip" in German, indicating that he might also be of German heritage besides his native Italian heritage.

Appearances[]

(Note: If you're on mobile and can't see the titles, please go onto the wiki-Simpsons article)

Season 12[]

Season 13[]

Season 14[]

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Season 36[]

Video Games[]

Movie[]

Comic Books[]

Citations[]

The Simpsons Characters
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Springfield Mafia
Don Vittorio DiMaggio | Fit Fat Tony | Louie | Legs | Joey | Johnny Tightlips | Michael D'Amico | Frankie the Squealer | Jimmy the Snitch | Joey the Arsonist | Mickey "No Loose Ends" | Bruno Wife-Banger
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