Vito's most important attribute was his devotion to family. Among all the real life Dons, that attribute is most associated with Bonanno, so that's why I think he was the primary inspiration for Vito.
In terms of his personality and having some old world traditional values, you may be right. There's Vito's well-known line "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." Of the major bosses from that period, I can picture Bonanno saying something like this.
