As somebody else mentioned the Decalvacantes was a weak mafia family. now the Sopranos made them out to be as strong as New York which is ridiculos but they were basically the minor league mafia in a sense
They were pretty weak nationally under Sammy DeCavalcante's reign, but I think they were fairly respected when Vinny Palermo was running things. Of course, when he flipped the domino effect did some irreversible damage. That's the way I see it.