THE STORY of an extended Italian-American family striving for success became a major cultural touchstone of the past decade. Unfortunately, that family, celebrated in the popular HBO series 'The Sopranos,' achieved upward mobility the stereotypical way: through crime and the Mafia. Coincidentally or not, the story of real-life Italian-Americans striving for success - and earning it legitimately - dominated Boston during Tony Soprano's mobbed-up television run. For a couple of years, three Italian-American sons of Boston jointly held the brass ring of political power. The overlap between Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi represented a brief but heady moment of consolidated triumph for Boston's Italian-Americans. But their fates diverged. In November, Menino won an unprecedented fifth term, which will make him the longest-serving mayor in Boston's history. Travaglini left office in 2007 to become a lobbyist. DiMasi resigned this year, caught up in a white-collar rendition of the ethnic stereotype glamorized by 'The Sopranos.' He was subsequently indicted on federal corruption charges. Even as Italian-Americans were wielding new power, old-school ethnic politics were evolving. The decade ended with the death of Edward M. Kennedy, a US senator for 47 years and the last brother born into America's most famous Irish-American family. The torch is up for grabs, and no family or tribe has a lock on writing the next success story. As Tony Soprano might say, it's nothing personal, just business. 