As a customary practice of La Cosa Nostra, an associate only gets made when he kills someone. On the rare occasions, some are made when they earn good.
John Pappa. a Colombo family associate killed Joseph Scopo during the third Colombo family war, but was never awarded his status. Do other posters here feel that he shouldn't have been made? He tried to endear himself to the family hierarchs by even killing one of his friends who wa bragging about the Scopo murder. Its probably that the Colombo hierarchs saw Pappa as a liability, killing people just for the hell of it. One victim was an innocent American citizen who was killed in a dare.
In the end, Pappa can be cast in the same light as the Gambino killer, Roy DeMeo, but can most definately be cast as another Colombo wannabe like Johnny Capone, as one who tries to get into the family, does what is said and gets nowhere, so they do more and more, putting their backs into it before finally getting life or a lengthy sentence behind bars. Some people try to prove themselves a little too much.