To my understanding, people that are actual members of the mob can’t be approached by associates or even another made guy without a third person who knows them both. Now my question here is, how does an associate have direct contact with a Capo/Upper Echelon member for example, I don’t know if this is accurate but Ronald Trucchio being a protege of John Gotti & he got made in 1988. Mark Reiter & Gene Gotti, Henry Hill, Jimmy Burke & Paul Vario, etc. Didn’t the Mafia use the made man status, or official member of a family as a wall of protection against less “stand-up” guys who hold no loyalty to Omertà and are prone to snitching?

when you get out of the 1980s you will find out sammy gravano, phil leonetti, ralph natale and joe massino all turned so i dont think that rule holds any real weight in 2020, maybe in rare instances but the general flock don't worry about it.

Firstly, the rules are disregarded all the time. Secondly, I think the third person introduction, "friend of ours" thing is only for Cosa Nostra discussions. If you couldn't talk about criminal business with outsiders then they would never be able to recruit new members.

The label associate is very broad. Going by the strict definition an associate is someone who is on record and officially registered with a member. Members at every level of the family hierarchy have associates on record with them. Soldiers have associates, captains have associates, administration members have associates. The idea of associates being simply lowest level grunts is absolutely not the case (and the idea of soldiers being the buffers between top ranking guys is equally wrong).

The level of influence and power different associates have varies wildly. Joe Watts was a Gambino family associate who was treated more like an unofficial captain, whereas Henry Hill would be an example of a low-ranking associate. There's extreme diversity in the world of associates and, typically, the higher ranking members in LCN families go on record to claim the most valuable associates for themselves (e.g., top-level union officials).

If we were to look, as a case study, at Nicky Scarfo - the boss of Philadelphia and Atlantic City in the 1980s:

Scarfo had dozens of associates being on record with him across his career as a made man. On the lowest level you have wannabes and hangers on you can use to do menial tasks and run errands. Then you get guys who are friends or relatives who perhaps won't rise very high but go on record with Scarfo because they know him. Then you have guys like Saul Kane, who would be members if they were Italian but cannot be made and never technically rise above the rank of associate despite having tremendous power in the underworld. Then you have the guys who you want to propose for membership (for Scarfo that applied to Phil Leonetti, the Merlino brothers, etc.) and will move up in the ranks. Then you have other associates who gravitate towards you once you become a high ranking member - top union officials like Steven Traitz, bar owners who will pay tribute and give free food and drink in return for protection and clout, etc.

Regarding your point about introductions:

Two members can only be introduced to each other as members by a third member who has already been introduced to both of them. That is still a strict rule. Even when both members already knew each other socially or as associates, a formal introduction has to be made again. E.g., John Gotti didn't preside over his son's making ceremony. Sammy Gravano and other members who were present at Junior's initiation were the only ones who could introduce him as a member. So, after the ceremony, Gravano took Junior to meet his father and he introduced them as members.