I am from Europe, middle-class, late thirties. No Italian or Afro-American connections. I have seen both of them for the first time this year. So, I dunno.

I love the Wire for it's general authenticity, great characters and uncompromising bleakness.

Sopranos are exaggerated (in fact, here they are often shelved in "comedy"). It works excellently at first, but IMHO somewhat runs out of steam later, even though there are a few great episodes here and there. Also, the murders become ever more unbelievable, I am sorry to say, both in frequency and in motivation.
I could buy people getting away with it in slums of Baltimore, but not in the middle-class environment of whatever New Jersey city/town the Sopranos are set in.