An associate is a "friend of" or a "guy" of a current made-man
member of the mob.
Usually an associate conducts business with the mob(or just one
made-man), but some of them are low-form enforcers who do some
"dirty job" in order to raise in the ranks and become an official
member of the family(AKA soldier). Although an associate doesn't
necessarily have to be Italian, only those who are can be
officially become members of the family.