Tony was probably against his sister dating Richie. IIRC, Richie was house shopping with Janice at the same time he was looking to take out Tony as the boss. If Richie took over the family, would he have dumped her? Seems that he was dating her before Tony took over the family.
If Tony got whacked before Bobby B, would Bobby have dumped Janice? I'd say no. However, I agree that this relationship paid huge dividends for Bobby. He even beat up Anthony without any outward repercussions.
Ralphie was making a ton of money, yet wanted to move in with Janice. Was he a capo at the time or was dating Tony's sister going to make him a capo?
Janice was completely miscast. If she was going to be the irresistible milf, they could have picked an irresistible milf to play the part. For example, Sharon Stone was a great choice to play Ginger in Casino.
Richie and Janice did have a history prior to the show, but a big part of janice's attractiveness to those guys is that it gets them into tony's orbit. When you date janice you get sunday dinner's at the boss's house, get to be all family gatherings; you have direct and consistant access to tony, which a lot of the guys don't have. Richie got promoted to capo when he got out of jail but how many other capo's at that was tony talking with on a regular basis other than paulie? (unless you count junior as a capo, he was technically boss in rank but his crew consisted of just he and bobby)
I don't think janice was ever meant to be attractive and I think that's part of the psychological torment from their mother and it's effects are big theme of the show). I also think that part of the reason they had her get involved with those guys was to show her being manipulative just like her mother.
