I think season 1's plot takes the real life DeCavalcante situation and morphs it with a psychology story about Tony and his mother. Remember, this is a show in which the very first scene has a mobster in a psychiatrist's waiting room.
Just to contrast this with the introduction of other tv/cinema mob characters, thef first scene of the Godfather shows Don Corleone being begged by a civilian to provide justice for his violated daughter.
The introduction to Henry Hill in Goodfells is him standing near the trunk of a car while Tommy hacks up Billy Batts.
The introduction to Ace Roethstein is him getting into a car that blows up.
In our introduction to Tony he is a confused gangster suffering from panic attacks.
There's a clear distinction here. This isn't your average gangster drama.
"...the successful annihilation of organized crime's subculture in America would rock the 'legitimate' world's foundation, which would ultimately force fundamental social changes and redistributions of wealth and power in this country. Meyer Lansky's dream was to bond the two worlds together so that one could not survive without the other." - Dan E. Moldea
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