It's kinda sad to see our romantic idea of the Goodfellas story, but as most things in life, every story is usually grittier and more complicated than we think.
Romantic idea? The film, with the exception of the players being better looking, shows the guy becoming a drug addict, cheating on his wife, getting arrested and going to jail, ratting on his life long friends, and having to live like an asshole afterwards. All this while people are murdering their friends and his own are friends are trying to kill him. THAT'S the romantic idea you see? It's cleaned up for Hollywood, but when you talk about a romantic idealized story about the Mafia its no Godfather.
