Good call TB. There is an irony in the GF in that Vito is a romanticized hero where as Michael is shown to be ruthless. It's only elluded to in the book that he gave orders to hurt someone (Amerigo Bonasera's daughter's assailents)and the assassination of the union hold-out on Johnny's production in GF I. This ellusion is not even present in the movie olbviously due to the extraneous nature of it. More-over we are only really shown the beginning of Vito's reign and his end, both of which are more positive. We never see his middle life, it's only elluded to.

Vito, I will venture more over, is more noble than not, but he is still a criminal. He has very stringent ideologies which almost make the whole concept of leading a crime family justifiable ro at least convincing. I think we are drawn into the closed world of GF I so completly that we tend to forget about the inequalities present and the actual negativity going on.