1) Was the "No facial hair rule" ever actually a rule in the Mafia or is that just a myth started by Donnie Brasco?
Selwyn Raab, in his authoritative "The Five Families," says it was a rule that applied to all the Five Families, long before the Brasco affair.
2) What was Joey Gallo's official ranking? I've heard of him and his brothers having guys around them but never heard of whether Joey was a Soldier or a Capo. How respected was he by Gambino and the other Bosses? Did any of them support his play to take over the Profaci Family?
The Gallo brothers were a faction in the Profaci family. The eldest brother, Larry, may have been a crew chief at one time, but they declared war on Profaci ca. 1960, and were basically on their own after that. Your namesake was widely regarded as a pazzo by everyone else in the Mafia, and with good reason. No one took him seriously after he got out of prison.
3) What is the most powerful American family at the moment?
Some people here think it's the Genovese Family.
4) Who is the REAL father of American La Cosa Nostra: Salvatore Maranzano or Lucky Luciano? Lucky gets the credit usually, but Marazano created the "Family" structure of Capos, Soldiers, etc and the idea of the Five Families and the Commission and the "Making" ceremony.
Maranzano did all of that, but he was a "moustache Pete," clinging more to Sicily than America. Luciano, though born in Sicily, was a thoroughly American businessman with thoroughly American ideas--such as creating the Commission as a kind of Board of Directors for organized crime, and using non-Sicilians and even non-Italians if they had something to contribute to the enterprise.
5) Can you be half Italian and be made today?
According to some sources, people whose father was Italian (mother not Italian) could be made at one time, but that apparently has been rescinded--now two Italian parents are required.
Keep in mind that the "rules" aren't always binding--Dons are all-powerful and can do just about what they want.
6) Was there ever a figure named "Jack the Barber" or something like that who was a Capo or at least a Soldier in Bensonhurst--I'm talking back in the '60s and '70s? What about a guy with the last name Scotto--same neighborhood, same time period?
Perhaps you're thinking of Joseph Barbara, the host of the infamous Apalachin conference in 1957. He was sometimes known as "Jack Barber."
