He dropped out of school after the 9th grade [1] and spent time in and out of juvenile correctional facilities during his early youth. His mother, later discovered to be his aunt, worked at a Krespe's Department store in Newark during Paulie's childhood and early adulthood, but has since retired. Paulie's grandfather, who immigrated to the United States in , is from Ariano Irpino, a municipality in the province of Avellino, in the Campania region of Italy.
Paulie spent four years in the US Army Signal Corps, where he was eventually drummed out through Section 8 discharged because of psychiatric reasons.
Although Paulie did not have a long military career, he is still proud of it, and few of the other characters in the series had military experience. Afterwards, he spent more time in and out of prison on various criminal charges. In , Paulie was promoted to Underboss , and Christopher Moltisanti was put in charge of Paulie's crew, which happened to be Tony's crew earlier. Paulie got his nickname "Paulie Walnuts" due to hijacking a truck in the early s which he believed to be filled with television sets, but only contained walnuts.
Paulie is one of the most colorful characters on the show. Paulie has displayed kindness and loyalty, and usually cracks jokes. However, despite his seniority, Paulie is one of the more eccentric of Tony's associates and is arguably one of the most ruthless, as expressed by his paranoia, mysophobia, competitiveness, miserly nature, impulsive violence and often childlike dependence on Tony's approval. In the season one finale, " I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano ", Tony told his crew that he had been in therapy for almost a year, when Paulie revealed that he too had seen a therapist, from whom he 'learned some coping skills'.
Nevertheless, Paulie is recognized throughout the series as one of the top earners and one of Tony's most trustworthy friends in his "inner circle" of Paulie, Silvio Dante , and Christopher Moltisanti.
