Yes, the other members of the rat pack were "friends" as well but again I think they sort of had to be as they owed their careers to la famiglia as you know who owned the casinos, theaters, and other venues they preformed at. I thought this was common knowledge though about Mr. S, and the others doing private performances and being promoted in Casinos, etc.?

I don't really pay attention to the other people you listed so I did not know they were like that. I watched some of the Sopranos but not every single episode or all of the seasons.

Some of my Italian/Italian-American friends found the show and the characters very offensive and quasi-racist caricatures or bad tiresome stereotypes of Italians/Italian-American people.