“..humanizes the Corleone family, makes them sympathetic, puts you in a position to root for them and forgive the things they do for the rest of the movie...”
Precisely my original point... I found the Sopranos to be even more humanizing of that lifestyle.
RE Hayes Code: It wasn’t such a bad thing - society reflected Hollywood, and Hollywood - to a degree - reflected the society of the day. Like it does now, and it’s not very flattering...
The Hayes Code was a joke which made for all sorts of incoherent narrative elements in the films of the day.