Not sure if this has been discussed yet, but I've been away from the boards for a long time.

From what I've gathered in "Joey the Hitman" (reliability disputed), a lot of the myths that came from the Godfather and Goodfellas are still in place -- such as taking care of the family of a wiseguy in the pokie. I mean, those myths gotta come from somewhere and we can't base the entire actions of the Mafia on some anecdotal evidence about one or two high-ranking people.