The thing with Pie O My is whether Ralphie did or not is almost beside the point (although I think he did it, and Chase has nearly confirmed it in an interview), because Tony killing Ralphie was as much about Tracee the Bing stripper who Ralphie killed. There's even a shot at the end of the episode with Tony looking at a photo of her at the Bing. No doubt Tony has also shown a love an empathy with animals (way more than people) throughout the show, but it was inevitable that Tony was gonna take Ralphie out after the Tracee incident.
GOAT show
I miss it so much
With every rewatch I grow to dislike Tony even more. The last three seasons it's clear that he's is a despicable piece of shyt. Dude tried to bring down anyone around him. Think of that scene with Janus when she is trying to deal with her anger issues and it looks like she's made some progress, then Tony purposely goads her to make her flip. This kinda sums up Tony. It's a crabs in a barrel mentality. If he can't change to be a better person or be happy then no one else can. Same with the way he was always fukking with Chrissy for being sober.