I'm pretty new to the site and enjoy it very much. Thank you to all of you for helping me out with my questions. Just curious, do you have to be Italian to be a member of the mafia? Can you be in it without being Italian, like say an associate?

Your father HAS to be Italian to become a soldier/made-man which is the lowest rank in the American La Cosa Nostra (MAFIA). Then when you prove you are loyal by earning alot of money or taking a good rap then you would eventually become promoted to Caporegime.

Any race can be associates

Dynamic - Ethnicity isn't really a problem now. They usually turn a blind eye to American's who might have a small Italian background. In this decade, Money is the key to get you respect and to get you a well known position in the organized crime underworld.

Thanks guys. I'm fairly new to the site and just have a lot of questions. I've had some dealings with the Colombos in legitimate business down here in Florida. They kind got me fascinated with learning more about them. They are pretty smart business people for sure. Just trying to learn as much as I can about them.

What ever you wanna ask use on this, message me or use the shout box.

You can be any ethnicity but I think most associates are italian though

Most are BLACK

Yeah, true. They usually do the dirty work and get caught. I don't know any black made-men.

lol.short answer? yes. the rule is one hundred percent italian.a lot of guy arent full italian, but its one of those winkwink nudge nudge things. if someone knows your not full italian, it can be used against you if the two of yous got a beef. then again its dangerous to know some one isnt full italian too. works both ways. back in the late 70s and early80 s,they made guys that were only half. i think that rule was repealed in the mid 80s?dont quote me on that.

You're right. Half Italian against a full Italian, the winner will be the full Italian. It was really only Carmine Galante who cared about that sort of things. He didn't take the chance of an arguement over a half Italian and instead took born Sicilian's and made them into his family. All of the made-members now in the Bonanno crime family probably have Italian born fathers because of what Carmine Galante did. Now it isn't a BIG deal as it was in the 1920s-60s, but will only make American's or American's that have a small Italian background so no beef is held.

i think your reading to much into this. you need to be 100 percent italian to be made. that is 'the rule'. the fact that the rules arent followed is a completely different subject all together.

knowing a guy is half italian is like knowing your friend is boning your skippers wife.you keep your mouth shut because you like him.say the two of yous have a beef,you have a 'falling out'. so to speak. you want him 'gone'. then you tell the skip about him and hes gone within the week.

Why disagree with me while I am agreeing and I am saying the same thing as you? A full Italian against a half Italian what will be the result? The full Italian will win. "You're right"

im noy disagreeing with you. your taking what im saying and getting something else out of it.

a half italian can go to a sit and win against anyone. 99 percent of the time, no one is going to take issue that hes half italian. especially if hes older.or if he got 'in' during the time that half italian was 'ok'.

the fine points..

today you need to be one hundred percent italian to be 'made'.

if you get 'made' under 'false pretenses', its a 'hanging offense'.

What is the sitution with Desjardins in Canada? Seems very influential.

Here's a thread on Desjardins made not that long ago -

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthr...true#Post678461

There's a ton of other threads on the Montreal situation in general qalso.

The majority would follow the full Italian. Being full Italian, I imagine you would get treated better because La Cosa Nostra was founded by the Italian's. I mean if someones mother is Italian and the father isn't Italian then you couldn't be inducted as a made-man but some do still get made. In the 21st cenutry, It isn't the biggest deal as it was back then. Today it is all about making money, having connection and having power.

you are over complicating things. dont make broad assumptions,i think your on the right track but youve read to much crime fiction novels or something.

So, you're saying that a guy who's father is Italian and mother is for example Irish will not get made?

This is what he said - i think your reading to much into this. you need to be 100 percent italian to be made. that is 'the rule'. the fact that the rules arent followed is a completely different subject all together.

The last sentence answers your question

exactly.i mean hell, if andy merola can get a button..,lol.ill just stop there.haha.

What are you talking about? The Associates are made up of all kinds of ethnic and religions, they are not solely all black. They are actually more Italians than any other group. To be made you have to be Italian on your father's side!

He didn't say all he said most i don't know if that's true or not but you're putting words into his mouth

i figured he was being sarcastic.lol. with a guy named dicknose.who can tell?lol. of coarse i dont exactly set a great example.lol

Boston (or New England but he was based in Boston) boss Frank Salemme was half a mick. In fact to look at his mug he was practically 3 fifths the whole gallon of Bushmills.

What's more his best pal was Steve Flemmi who didn't even want his button or anything to do with that ginzo stuff cos basically him and WHitey did what they damn pleased anyway. And that's the way he liked it. Also they were cracked and got their kicks out of doing sick shit. But what does that make Salemme? He was best buddies with the guy. A boss. That's cracked too.

Salemme, New England and the rest of the Boston crews were more or less one and the same. Even Anguilo said "They are us". So they were under their wing and getting the protection but weren't paying the proper respect and hiding alot of the tributes they was suposed to be handing over. "We ain't making no money" Whitey said and everyone knew that was bullshit. Because those crews do pay tributes and even today what's left of those crews in Southie anyway have to do the same.

Right now even today there's probably one or two made men that are half Italian. In this June 22, 2011, meeting with a senior Gambino crime family member, Dinunzio allegedly discussed the rules for being made:-

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/April/12-crm-533.html

In discussing a fellow LCN member, Dinunzio allegedly stated, “You know what I can’t understand? How the hell did he get made, because he’s half Irish…I don’t understand that...that’s not the rules…you gotta do one hundred percent (Italian).


So even if it ain't happening now it has obviously happened in the past.

I don't think that sitonmyface11 ever questioned that. It's a matter of what the "rules" are supposed to be. And as everyone here knows, Cosa Nostra "rules" are broken every day.

Craig DePalma's mother was Jewish. Greg got him straightened out anyway. Junior Gotti's Mom is half-Jewish, and he made it all the way to acting boss.

I use those guys as examples because they're both well known to the people who follow this stuff. There are others whom you've never heard of that I won't list. I also use Craig and Junior because they have something in common: Both of them had powerful Rabbis. And that's what it's all about in that life: Who you know and who you're related to. The mob brats will always get special treatment. That's just the way it is.

Bottom line: It wouldn't shock me to find out that a few half-Italians have slipped in since they tightened up "the rules" a few years ago. Especially if they have a father who's a made guy himself.

exactly.another good example is andy merola. now he may or may not be actually italian. iv heard he is but the guy sounded like he was defending him. he was raised as 'knapik'. supposedly his father real name was merola. the point is, there is doubt. years ago he wouldnt be made if you couldnt 'trace' his roots. but like pizzaboy said.he had some one watching hhis back. jackie sayed this guy is 'one of us'. and at the time, no one was in a position to question him. when merola was proposed, no body could have 'beefed' on it based on the fact that he wasnt italian. [assuming he isnt]. bringing a beef on those grounds would be disrespectful to his guy,calling him a 'liar'. and at the time, calling a person in jackies position, is a 'hanging offense'. its kindof complicated, but it is the political 'angle', so to speak.

I don't dispute any of that or what has already been said. But the main reason I mentioned Salemme was he made boss. And he didn't slip through the cracks neither. He was declined at one point but then made his move for power when he came out of the joint at some time in the mid-80's or whatever time it was.

I don't doubt that there are many more guys out there who I'm unaware of. In fact I'd be surprised if there wasn't but my focus was mainly on the fact that this guy was not only a made guy but one that was a boss. And not a boss of Cleveland or Kansas City neither.

I know Boston was a pretty messed up scene at one time. But that's pretty messed up even for a city like Boston.

The rules should respect the full Italian. The full should get a better say. Half Italian isn't as great as being a full Italian, you understand what I mean by that?

Pizzaboy - The mother has nothing to do with the traditional rules. The father must be Italian and John Gotti Sr was Italian because of his grandfather.

Unless you are Andrew Campos, Capo of the Gambinos, whose mom was italian and his fathere a Puerto Rican