What was Joe Gallo's rank?

I've read variously that he was a Capo or a Soldier, or even an unmade Associate. Which is it?

Capo.

How big was his crew, at it's height? Any figures? I remember reading Snake Persico was one of his crew members at one point.....

Also, was he an active member when he was released from jail in '71? My understanding--I'm probably wrong here--seems to be he was kind of semi-retired after he got out of jail, whether by choice or by being frozen out, I don't know.

Willie, while I'm sure your curiosity is sincere, you really need to start reading more books, newspapers, FBI reports etc... Just a tip, and question everything; crime writing in general and mob writing especially is often VERY sloppy.

Also, assuming you mean "Crazy" Joey Gallo, not Joe N. Gallo...

I'm unaware of any evidence that suggests he was ever more than a disgruntled soldier; therefore NOT a capo.

Last I checked, brother Albert Gallo is still around (though he long ago moved to the Genovese, allegedly); it might be worth coming into BK or sending him a postcard and asking him.

I think Albert Gallo is a member of Frank "Punchy" Illianos crew, who was also a member of the Gallo crew who moved to the Genovese i could be wrong though.

I've never seen anything to indicate he was a capo

I think Albert and Punchy are co-captains of a Genovese crew now

Not a capo. Soldier at best. Iv heard a guy swear up and down he wasnt made, but that he was a big hitter with a following very close to him. Think a modern day joe watts with a bunch of brothers and cousins following him around. I honestly think him being made would make more sense, but id never swear to it.

Punchy and Allie were swapped to the westside, THEN made.

Not saying you're wrong but where did you get this? I always thought Frank was the capo?

Sorry for the bad info, I'd always thought he was a capo to pull-off such a big rebellion and have such a big following.

They are like nicky and lenny.

Crazy Joe Gallo was a soldier. I don't know if he had other soldiers working with him or if ALL his guys were non made associates he recruited for the rebellion against Profaci.
One of the other excellent New York guys can answer that better than me.

It's not bad info at all, it's just never been confirmed that he was a capo. A logical guess would be he was, but as far as i know it hasn't been confirmed. Two posters i think could answer that question is Hairyknucles and Faithful.

By the way does anyone know who took over from Frank Abbatemarco the apparent capo of the Gallos?

In the Profaci era, two out of three of the Gallo brothers became made men, Larry and Joey. Albert was too young. Here's something that no one will tell you, Joey might have been the face of the Gallo Crew but Larry was the boss, brains, and leader of it all. Joey always deferred to Larry. Larry just wasn't insane enough to make too many headlines. Remember when Joe Colombo, Joe Magliocco and two other Profaci bosses were held for ransom by the Gallo crew? Joey suggest they shoot the hostages and Larry slapped him across his face. Had Larry not died of cancer I'm not sure what would have happened but he had enough clout to be brought back in as a capo by Joe Colombo.

In a nutshell Joey was a soldier. This is just off a memory. I had a file on the Gallo war that I wrote myself but lost when my phone died out. I know a lot about the Gallo era Profaci family. For instance, the Gallos were made under the instruction of Profaci himself and against the advice of his Consigliere Charles LoCicero. It was LoCicero who arranged for the release of the aforementioned Gallo hostages on behalf of Profaci, and he accomplished all of this only to be demoted to soldier by Joe Magliocco, who believed he was 'flirting with the Gallos'. This is to say the one guy who tried to stop them from gaining influence got demoted for associating with them. LoCicero got killed a few years later by the Bonannos for backing the Bonanno rebel faction.

What was Joe Gallo's rank? You mean what was Joe Gallo's position within the Profaci Family.

Rank sounds like he was in the United States Armed Forces. LOL

You have asked this question a couple of times before, using different handles. I wonder why are you doing this?

Joe Gallo was in the United States Armed Forces with the Rank of 'Commander'.

He was a KGB agent with the rank of Kommisar, but to the rest of us he was a soldier

Interesting stuff. How did you get this information?

Thanks man. Mainly from here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/americanmafia/message/7227

The anecdotal stuff is from CI's whose information ended up in FBI files on the Profaci/Colombo family, which of course are now on maryferrell. Search Joe Colombo on maryferrell and you'll learn a lot. He's always been a shadowy figure.

Thanx for the info.

On that big television program the other night about New York and Joe Colombo, they stated Crazy Joe was a Captain. I really don't know if he was a Captain or a Soldier in New York Terms.

I tend to believe he was a Soldier (New York made Guy) and had a few other soldiers and other associates he recruited to join in with him in the rebellion at the beginning in 1962.

However, when he got out of prison years later, maybe he was a Captain? Don't know enough about New York to give a definitive answer.

Ya i dont know why that documentary just came out and said he was a captain. I think the only other made guy in his "crew" was his brother larry. But some of the other guys from his gang went on to be pretty heavy hitters, punchy is west side captain, albert gallo is under punchy, vic amuso who needs no introduction and carmine persico, who got his nickname the snake for betraying the gallo brothers i believe.

Pretty sure he was just a soldier but I believe his reputation and fame have pushed him higher in the ranks than he really was.

IIRC, part of the whole beef between he and old man Profaci was that he didn't get Frankie Shots's crew as promised and thus never became a capo. He died less than a year after he got out of the can and I don't think he was involved too heavily in anything, unless you believe that he had a hand in killing Colombo.

Most of these documentaries are based on heresay and sloppy journalism themselves. I remember reading John Davis's book on the Gambinos (basically a Gotti bio) and he stated that Joe Adonis was consigliere or a captain under Mangano when even most contemporary people in the know placed him under Lucky.

Is his brother Albert still active? I saw somewhere that he was a captain in Genovese Family.

Hes in punchy illianos(former gallo crew memembers crew). I think he mightve been an acting captain at one point but im not sure.

Here's my speculation

Joe worked under some other guy (what was his name?)

Then coming up to 1960 he became a Captain but didn't have the time to bring his allies into the family

You know I'm surprised they never made a film about Joe in the past with Robert Duvall playing Crazy Joe they look slightly alike

He was under Frankie Shots' crew. After Frankie was whacked he was supposed to get his crew as part of the deal but Old Man Profaci reneged on the deal which contributed to the war. I guess you could say he ran his own "rebel" crew during the war but as it wasn't recognized by the family as such than it isn't really official.

To put it briefly, Joe never got higher than soldier.

Wasn't his brother Larry a Capo?

And no Larry wasn't Capo he was more of Joes crews Consigliere