My great-uncle and cousin were in a “family” - a well-known family. The show reflected some of what was told to me by him, and some of what I witnessed, sans any murders, he wasn’t involved in that element of the family, but my cousin, who knows - he was a bagman and shakedown member.
My uncle spent half his life in prison because he wouldn’t rat out the family. He even tried to get me to work for him when I got out of the Army in ‘82. But being a good Christian and not having a criminal bone in my body, it was easy to refuse. However, in the back of my head it was a tempting offer, one I almost couldn’t refuse.
My niece married the Son of a “made man”. His Father was President of the Ironworkers Union, was a Bookie, and addicted to gambling. To hear him talk about it, he would come home from “work” and move everything out of his house, he lost gambling. That happened 3 times I was told. He was a nice enough guy, first words he uttered when meeting him at the Airport picking his family up was, “Women in Seattle are fat cows” which is true. Then introductions happened.