Gallo was an adult film and B-movie director and producer from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. He was the director of at least 29 recorded adult film titles. He was also the producer of the B movies Babewatch 3 and Babewatch 4. While a filmmaker, Gallo met and married adult entertainment star Tabitha Stevens; their short-lived marriage included a Jerry Springer Show episode titled "I'm Married to a Porn Star!" They divorced in 1997.
According to published author and pornography gossip columnist Luke Ford, Gallo was a one of the biggest cocaine smugglers and gangsters in the Los Angeles area in the late 80's and early 1990s. Gallo eventually became connected with the Milano crime family under capo Vincent "Jimmy" Caci, with whom he was arrested in 1998 by the FBI in connection with the Las Vegas RICO cases "Operation Thin Crust" and "Operation Button Down." In the early 2000s, Gallo moved to New York City and joined the Colombo crime family under soldier Edward Garaofalo and eventually caporegime Theodore Persico, Jr. In 2004, Gallo became a government witness against Persico and the Colombo family; court documents show that Gallo frequently wore a wire and recorded conversations with Persico. Gallo has also claimed responsibility for the arrest of Lucchese crime family capo John Baudanza and Colombo soldier Craig Marino. Gallo has published personal photos from his time with both in Jerry Capeci's This Week in Gangland column and on his own blog.
Following the death of convicted hitman Charles Harrelson, Gallo was interviewed and identified as a "convicted Mafia associate" and friend of Harrelson's in the Sunday 2007 issue of The Sunday Times..