"considering what happened in the pilot as canon" is a terrible idea.

The Pilot was filmed like an year before the rest of the first season, and among others, that very line you mentioned is totally out of sync with the rest of the series. it implies that Tony and Artie hadn't been in touch for years but it was later established that Artie was Tony's one big friend outside the "life" and Silvio would have to know him way better than "some guy named Artie Bucco".