The Devil's Advocate
Call me Dad
Tony had a deep seated connection with animals. Remember he got depressed, had an anxiety attack and fainted over the ducks from season 1? He yelled that Pie O My was "an innocent creature" just like he did when Ralph killed the stripper.
But, yeah he shouldn't have killed Ralph. The mafia is a business and Ralph was an earner(remember the NY boss wouldn't let the capo kill him even after he made fun of how fat his wife was because he brought in so much money) so Tony made a mistake. Then again, like it's already been pointed out, Tony was a hypocritical sociopath.
people really don't understand how deep this show went... its hard to keep up over 5-6-7 years... week breaks... then 3 actual mother nature seasons off air...
but i went back and watched the whole serious again back to back... that animal shyt was all because he was a sociopath... towards the last few eps, when dr melfi quit on him... all her friends were pointing out how therapy doesn't work with sociopaths.. she went into her medical book and read how they act...............
it was word for word explaining every move tony made... how they get sentimental to animals, the crocodile tears, the justifying, the whole damn show. that's why she finally quit.. she knew a few seasons back it wasn't helping her.. she was addicted to him and he was using her (even if he didn't know) to justify and help his every move. so when she quit him, he got killed