I always liked how they made them out to be a small time crime family past its prime plus the fact that they were NJ and not one of the NY families. Thought it was a more interesting twist than the typical big powerful NY Mafia in its prime story.
Ironically a lot of critics I've heard were saying the show was unrealistic in how it portrayed them to be far more rich and powerful than they would be in real life. But I never got that impression from watching the show.
I think it has to do with the fact that in the series, DiMeo family is described as running North Jersey, which isn't the case in real life. I don't know which family it is exactly, but a faction of one of the Five Families is the strongest Mafia body in NJ.
Which tells you all about how powerful DeCavalcantes are, when just a faction of a NY family is more powerful than the entire DeCavalcante family.
