Forty years later, that affiliation remains a big deal for mob maven Artie Nash.
Gallo’s membership card, dated Dec. 31, 1971, and signed with perfect penmanship, is among the artifacts in an exhibit recalling the legendary gangster whose last meal came with a lead dessert.
The mob anti-hero “was someone who captured our imagination,” said Nash, who runs the MOB Scene museum on Broome St
“Joey didn’t believe in anybody holding power over him. He felt the rules of ‘The Life’ didn’t apply to him.”
It was the mob life that cost Gallo his own: Gunned down on April 7, 1972, inside Umberto’s Clam House at 5 a.m. after an all-night 43rd birthday celebration.
His new bride and 10-year-old stepdaughter watched in horror as the bullets flew on Mulberry St. Earlier in the evening, the Gallos partied with actor Jerry Orbach — later Detective Lenny Briscoeon “Law & Order.
Gallo’s widow provided Nash with an assortment of photos and other personal items.
There are shots of Gallo’s wedding, letters sent from prison, a prayer card from his wake — and a condolence message from his parole officer.
“In my short acquaintance with your husband, Joe impressed me as a fine human being,” wrote Ben Lichtenstein.
Gallo was a cooler, smarter version of John Gotti — media-savvy, quick with a quip, fearless.
The gangster was a hipster, appearing before a congressional organized crime committee in black Ray-Bans. He once cracked that the carpet in future Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s office was perfect for a craps game.
Gallo was a cinematic presence, his wardrobe patterned after movie gangster George Raft and his attitude clipped from actor Richard Widmark in” Kiss of Death
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Hollywood goodfella 
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