The Sopranos was created by a guy named Frank Renzulli from East Boston, Massachusetts, my home town also, when Frankie said he was going to Hollywood we all thought he was crazy, guess he wasn't, the mob family he wrote about was taken from East Boston, Maverick Square to be exact, the local wiseguy there was Joe "JR" Russo, Joe stood as my confirmation Godfather in 195something, Boston has always been known as the gang that couldn't shoot straight
Chase created it but Frank Renzulli was a major reason the first couple seasons stood out. Great writer.
As for inspiration, if you look at the entire series, there's evidence of the writers getting material from the entire NY/NJ underworld. But the concept of a small, Jersey family is obviously based on the DeCavalcantes. There's no denying that.
And, as I've said before, it seems the Lupertazzi family was more about symbolizing "New York" in general than meant to be any specific real life family.
