Micheal Franzese was on Adam Carolla's podcast a while back. Great listen. He said that one of his big regrets was passing on being a consultant for The Sopranos. He was asked before it got picked up by HBO and became a huge success---he didn't think it was worth his time getting involved, no one could have predicted the phenomenon coming based on what he was presented at the time. He said he was a big fan of the show and he realized that Livia and some of the conversations in the early episodes had to have been based on his Mom and specific things that were picked up on secret wiretaps the Feds had in his parents house for years. He didn't say exactly what, just said he was certain that was the case. Also, Chase has said the character of Livia was very much based on his own Ma.