Is this Guy still Active cause it says Former Associate and why is he not a Soldier
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mafia/s/PMdrEeMkGb

Honesty, I don't remember ever reading or hearing about the guy before you posted him here. I'm not familiar with him.

As far as him being labeled an "associate" as opposed to a soldier, there are many reasons why he may not have been inducted.

Maybe he didn't qualify, for whatever reason.

Or, quite possibly, he may not have wanted such a rigid position. Not all guys do. It obligates the person in a way that many fellas don't wanna be obligated. They'd rather have the benefit of affiliation, without the rigid lock-step obligations.

I wrote a very extensive expose' on this very subject that's on the ButtonGuys website for those of you interested in learning more about the nuances of "benefits" vs "deficits" of being inducted vs associate status, titled: The Truth About “Made Men” and “Associates”

https://thenewyorkmafia.com/made-guys-associates-of-the-mafia/

Well they Fact that he is Big Lou Vallarios a Former Capo in the Gambino Family would make sense he Would qualify to Member but that Fact you don’t here about the Mob anymore it’s like you don’t know what is what I mean how are these guys making Money still Or the ones that are Basically Retired it Looks like there aren’t A lot of Membership like they say then Genoveses have 250-300 members and the Gambino had 200 Members is that really accurate I’m 2024

Most of the former criminal rackets, labor unions they once controlled, and, subsequently, many of the legit or semi-legit businesses and industries they once controlled are no more.

Most rackets like liquor, gambling, porno, etc., have all been legalized.
Labor Unions have been stripped away under federal decree.
Businesses have evaporated because of the mob's loss of the unions that once influenced them.

People keep saying that all those rackets are no more, yet we still see arrests of multiple people still involved in many of those rackets. Not to mention newer rackets like that big $93 million healthcare fraud case that ensnared Tom Farese and Patsy Truglia. And not to mention many, many sophisticated new age rackets that oftentimes run into the tens of millions or sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars, that doesn't necessarily involve the Mafia, but very well could have and just might in the future. The mob will always find a way to make money.

But when it comes to the Memberships of the Families Despite all they Basically do as Far I See it is Gambling Loan Sharking Extortion and Drug Dealing and have at Least some Little interest in the Unions I would think but the Families do the Genovese’s and Gambino’s really have a Quantity of 200 Made Members I know the other 3 are Much Smaller especially the Colombo’s ?

So many people talk as if they know everything that's going on, when really we don't know what's going on until indictments come out or arrests are made. And people talk as if it's all a black-and-white issue, when really there's a lot of gray areas.

Their union control and influence on the docks, garbage collection, construction, and many other industries have diminished considerably though, next to nothing. Almost all dried up. Though they do use various companies for money laundering, and I can see them gaining a advantage through that. Cold hard cash still talks.