The days of being 100% Italian to get your button have long gone. Pappa could have been made. From my understanding you must be Italian on your fathers side these days and it was that way when Pappa was on the streets.
It was that way in the early '90s when Pappa was on the street. But they've supposedly gone back to the 100% rule nowadays.
It's a selective rule anyway. Rules are made to be broken by big enough earners and scions of mob royalty, and they always have been. Craig DePalma's Mom is Jewish and Junior Gotti's Mom is half-Jewish. There are plenty of other examples, but those two are fairly recent (late '80s, early '90s) and high profile.
