"Vito and Michael were both evil, no doubt about that and who would claim otherwise?"

Actually, I don't think they were evil, particularly Vito. Charles Manson--yes. John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy--yes. Mrs. Iselin (Angela Lansbury's character in the first "Manchurian Candidate" movie)--yes. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney--yes. But Vito and Michael--no.

Both men were engaged in methods of earning income (extortion, racketeering etc.) that are at best quite shady. Yet there are legal ways of making a living that are equally questionable, if not more so. Is forcing businesses to pay protection money really worse than denying people healthcare coverage? In Part II, either Michael or Tom has a prostitute killed to retaliate against a corrupt, bigoted senator. While the senator definitely deserved retaliation, the prostitute hadn't done anything on her part to deserve to be killed. But even this isn't nearly as bad as invading a country without any provocation and getting tens, if not hundreds of thousands of equally innocent people killed to avenge your father (Bush's animosity toward Saddam appears to have been driven by Saddam's assassination attempt on his father in 1993).

I actually admire Vito tremendously, he's one of my two favorite movie characters (the other is Indiana Jones). The reason is because Vito has an incredible combination of toughness, muscle and ruthlessness on the one hand, and compassion and wisdom on the other. This is rare in someone in a position of power. Combined with his incredible "rags to riches" story, it makes him a highly appealing character.