.gif)
Henry Hill (mobster)
Encyclopedia
Henry Hill is a former American
mobster, Lucchese crime family
associate, and FBI informant
whose life story was documented in the book Wiseguy
, written by crime reporter
Nicholas Pileggi
, and in the 1990 Martin Scorsese
film, Goodfellas
, in which Hill was played by Ray Liotta
.
. Hill grew up in a poor working class family in East New York, Brooklyn
. His father, Henry Hill, Sr., was an Irish-American
electrician
, and his mother, Carmella Costa Hill, was a Italian American
. Henry and his seven siblings lived in a small house. From an ea rly age Henry admired the local mobsters who socialized across the street from his home, including Paul Vario
, a "capo" in the Lucchese crime family
. In his early teens, Hill began running errands at Vario's cabstand, shoe shine stand, and pizzeria.
Hill's first experience in gang life began with parking cars and doing odd jobs like cleaning out Paul Vario
's boat and supplying Vario's crew with cold beer and wine. When Hill turned fourteen in 1957, Paul Vario
's younger brother, Vito "Tuddy" Vario, and older brother, Lenny Vario, presented Hill with a union card in the bricklayer
s' local on a construction site, and told Hill he would get paid $190 a week. He was given the card so that he could be put on a building contractor's payroll as a no-show and his salary divided among the Varios. The card also allowed Hill to facilitate pickup of daily policy bets and loan shark
payments from local construction sites. Hill would earn deep respect, not only because he knew Paul Vario
, but also because he was a member of the union.
Once Hill had this "legitimate" job, he dropped out of high school, devoting all his time to work for Vario's gangsters. Hill has said that he got home from the cabstand one night to find his father with a belt in one hand, and a letter from his truant
officer in the other. The letter stated that Hill hadn't been to school in months; it earned him a beating from his father. The next day Tuddy and his crew drove Hill over to the nearby post office to point out which mailman was his. According to Hill, once he pointed him out, "Out of the blue, two guys got out of the car and snatched the mailman." Tuddy warned him that if he delivered any more truancy notices to Hill's house, Tuddy was going to shove him into a pizza oven, feet first. Thereafter, until Hill's mother complained to the post office, no mail was ever delivered to Hill's house,
Hill's first encounter with arson occurred when a cabstand, the "Rebel Cab Company," opened on Glenmore Avenue, just around the corner from the Varios's cabstand. The owner of the "Rebel Cab Company," formerly of Alabama, was new to New York City
. Tuddy invited him to shut down his cabstand, citing not enough business for two, but he refused. Sometime after midnight, Tuddy, accompanied by Hill, drove to the rival "Rebel Cab Company" in Tuddy's car with a drum full of gasoline in the back seat.
Hill smashed the cab windows while Tuddy got gasoline-soaked newspapers. Hill was given match books by Tuddy, which, at a given signal, were to be tossed, lit, into each cab. Hill has stated that he heard one explosion after another, but was running so fast, he never had a chance to look back.
Hill's first arrest took place when he was 16. Hill and Paul Vario
's son Lenny, who was fifteen, attempted to use a stolen credit card to buy snow tires
for Tuddy's wife's car at a Texaco gas station. Tuddy had inadvertently given them a stolen credit card. When Hill and Lenny returned to Tuddy's, two police detectives grabbed Hill; Lenny took off. The police took Hill to Liberty Avenue station where Hill gave his name and nothing else. The police roughed him up but let him go, believing that a kid named Henry Hill would hardly hang out with the likes of Paul Vario
. His refusal to talk earned Hill the respect of the Lucchese family
associate Jimmy Burke; Jimmy saw great potential in young Henry. Burke, like Hill, was prevented from becoming a made
member of the Mafia because of his half-Irish ancestry. The Vario Crew
, however, were happy to have associates of any ethnicity, so long as they made money and failed to cooperate with the authorities.
In 1960, Hill joined the Army; he was stationed at Fort Bragg, near Fayetteville, North Carolina. Throughout his three-year enlistment, in the 82nd Airborne Division, Hill maintained contact with Vario and others in New York. He continued to hustle while still in the service. He sold extra food, loan shark
ed salary advances to fellow soldiers, sold tax-free cigarettes. Before his discharge, Hill spent two months in a military stockade for brawling with a farmer and Marines in bars, and stealing a sheriff's car. Hill claims the reason he joined the army was to stay away from his old friends; that the "heat" was too hot.
In 1963, Hill returned to New York and began the most notorious phase of his criminal career. Hill, along with Burke, Tommy DeSimone and others in Burke's Robert's Lounge
crew, hijacked trucks, sold stolen goods, imported and sold untaxed cigarettes, engaged in loan sharking and bookmaking, and planned airport robberies; The Air France Robbery in 1967 was one of their largest heists in history until the huge Lufthansa heist
in 1978. The crew also committed numerous mob-related murders.
In 1965, Paulie Jr., Paul Vario's younger son, wanted to go out with a girl named Diane, but only with another date, with a girl named Karen Friedman. Paulie Jr., desperate, made Hill go on a date at Frankie the Wop's restaurant, Villa Capra. The dinner turned out to be awful, according to Karen. When the next date came up, Hill stood her up. (In the movie, Goodfellas, it was Tommy DeSimone with Diane, Henry, and Karen) After, the two began going on dates at the nightclub Copacabana
, where Karen was introduced to Henry's lifestyle. She was impressed. In Wiseguy
, she states: "We always sat up close at the stage, and Sammy Davis Jr. sent us champagne." (In the movie, Goodfellas, it was Bobby Vinton
who had sent them the champagne). The two later eloped to North Carolina where they had a large wedding, attended by most of Hill's gangster friends.
pulled the Air France robbery
. Hill had heard from Robert "Frenchy" McMahon that his employer, Air France, was handling a shipment of $420,000. The main problem was a guard with a key to the safe. They identified the guard's weakness as women. They got the guard drunk and took him to a motel, where a prostitute waited to distract him. When the guard took off his pants, they took the key, copied it, then replaced it without his knowledge.
At 11:40pm on a Saturday, Hill and DeSimone drove to the Air France cargo parking lot in a rented car sporting false plates. They left with the $420,000 haul. Hill and DeSimone paid a $60,000 tribute
to each mob chief who considered Kennedy Airport their turf. They were Sebastian "Buster" Aloi, the 57-year-old capo
for the Colombo crime family
, and to their own capo
, Paul Vario
.
, and bought a restaurant called "The Suite" in Jamaica, Queens
. Hill had intended for the restaurant to remain legitimate, but it soon became a hangout for his former mob friends. On June 11, 1970, Hill and his crew threw a "welcome home" party at Robert's Lounge
(owned by Jimmy Burke) for William "Billy Batts" Devino
. Devino was a made man
in John Gotti
's crew near Fulton Street
, and a member of the Gambino crime family
. He had just finished a six-year term for drug possession
. The problem was that Devino and Burke had a beef at the time, Burke had taken over Devino's loanshark business while Devino was in prison. Not wanting to return the business, Burke decided to kill Devino instead. Hill states that Devino, not knowing that he's wanted dead, saw Tommy DeSimone and asked him if he still shined shoes; DeSimone took it as insult. Several minutes later, when the issue was apparently forgotten, DeSimone leaned over to Hill and Jimmy Burke and said "I'm gonna kill that fuck."
A couple weeks later, Devino went to "The Suite" where he drank with DeSimone's crew which included Henry Hill, DeSimone, and Jimmy Burke. Later that night, DeSimone left to take his girlfriend home. Burke then proceeded to make Devino comfortable. The only people who were present at the time besides the four men was Alex Coricone, who was with Hill's crew and was seated in the back with his girlfriend. Twenty minutes later, DeSimone returned with a .38 revolver and a plastic mattress cover. DeSimone walked over to Devino at the corner of the bar and yelled "Shine these these fuckin' shoes!" and pistol-whipped him and while Jimmy Burke held him down. Devino was so inebriated that he couldn't defend himself. By now Alex Coricone saw what was going on and started to walk over. Burke glared at Alex. "You want some?" Burke said. Hill said "Jimmy was ready to drop Billy and go after Alex." Hill then grabbed Alex and his girlfriend by the shoulders and maneuvered them out the door and locked it. Along with Hill, they later concealed Devino with the mattress cover and placed him in the trunk of Hill's car. Needing a shovel, they stopped at DeSimone's mother's, who made them coffee and breakfast. Later, on the Taconic State Parkway
, DeSimone at the wheel, they heard banging from the trunk and realized Devino was still alive. "We're on our way to bury him and he wasn't even dead," Hill said. Angrily, DeSimone stopped the car, reaching for the shovel. Once there were no more headlights behind them, DeSimone opened the trunk and smashed Devino with the shovel, while Burke beat him with a tire iron. When they were sure he was dead, they drove on.
They buried Devino; due to the frozen ground, the grave was shallow; they covered him with lime, and drove back to New York. Three months later, when the land was about to be developed into a housing project, Hill and DeSimone dug up Devino, tossed the decomposed remains into the back of Hill's brand-new Pontiac Catalina
convertible and dumped them in a New Jersey Junkyard (owned by Clyde Brooks). According to Hill, the car stank so badly after that, he later had to scrap the car.
The penalty for killing a made man
without permission is death.
. They went to Casey's parents', and met with Casey's cousin to collect a debt from a man named John Ciaccio.
Before entering Ciaccio's bar, Rosado's cousin handed Hill a .38 revolver. The cousins walked in first, followed by Hill and Burke. The cousins were yelling at Ciaccio in Spanish while Hill and Burke sat four tables away. Burke subsequently got up, grabbed Ciaccio and said, "Shut your mouth and walk out the door." Hill later reported: "There must have been twenty-five people in the place, but nobody did anything. Later they were all witnesses at the trial."
There was a retired New York police officer at the scene who took their license plate number. With the four men beating and pistol-whipping him, Ciaccio finally said he'd pay up, but only half, since the rest was owed to a doctor who beat him on a bet. Casey's cousin believed him because he knew the doctor from whom they later got the money. The four men spent the rest of the weekend drinking.
A month later, Hill, on his way to Robert's Lounge
, found twelve cars blocking the street. He turned on his radio and heard that the FBI were "arresting union officials," with "Jimmy Burke and others being sought." It turned out that Ciaccio's sister worked for the FBI. They were later arrested and put on trial for kidnapping
and murder
. On the stand, Rosado convinced the jury that Ciaccio was a liar, and they were able to beat the rap. However, the police went after them for an extortion
charge. Just before the three were to go to trial, Casey Rosado dropped dead from a heart attack while bending over to tie his shoe laces. He was forty-six. Since Rosado could no longer testify, Hill and Burke lost their chance to beat the charge.
On November 3, 1972, Hill and Burke were found guilty of extortion
.
, doing two and a half years for income tax evasion, and Johnny Dio, serving a long stretch for the acid blinding of newspaper columnist Victor Riesel
. Hill later lived with Vario, Dio, and Joe Pine, the boss of Connecticut. There were two-dozen rooms on each floor, all of them affiliated with the mob: the whole John Gotti
crew, Jimmy Doyle and his crew, "Ernie Boy" Abbamonte and "Joe Crow" Delvecchio, Vinnie Aloi
, and Frank Cotroni. By bribing
guards, they got away with sleeping on comfortable beds, drinking wine, and cooking with stoves crafted by Vario. Hill befriended a man from Pittsburgh, who taught Hill how to smuggle drugs into prison. They often played tennis with Jimmy Doyle, Bill Arico, and some of the shooters from the East Harlem Purple Gang
. Hill then used his Pittsburgh connection for drug smuggling in order to support Hill's family on the outside.
Within months, Hill started booking. Hugh Joseph Addonizio, the former mayor of Newark
, was one of Hill's best customers. Hill recalled him as "...a sweetheart of a guy but a degenerate gambler." Two years later, Hill was transferred to Federal Correctional Complex, Allenwood, where, with Karen's help, he continued to smuggle drugs and food. On July 12, 1978, Hill was granted early parole for being a model prisoner. He walked out of prison wearing a five-year old Brioni suit, seventy-eight dollars in his pocket, and drove home in a six-year old Buick
sedan.
scheme by convincing Boston College
center Rick Kuhn to participate. Kuhn encouraged teammates to join the scheme. It was to become quite a scandal
. Hill claimed to have an NBA referee
in his pocket. He worked games at Madison Square Garden
during the seventies. The referee had incurred gambling debts on horse races.
. "There were millions upon millions of dollars in untraceable fifty- and hundred-dollar bills, sitting out there in a cardboard vault at Kennedy Airport just waiting to get robbed," he stated. "It was the ultimate score."
At Robert's Lounge
, the crew met to discuss the heist. Afterwards, Hill became obsessed with Lufthansa. The only problem, Jimmy Burke hated Martin Krugman. Burke never trusted him again since an incident with Marty's commercial in the early 1970s.
In November, Burke had everything planned for the robbery but wanted to wait until Christmastime. On Monday, December 11, 1978, at 3:12 in the morning, it was done. It turned out to be the biggest robbery in history at the time. Three days after, the FBI and NYPD determined it was the work of the Robert's Lounge
crew. They set up surveillance in Robert's Lounge
and followed the crew 24/7. The crew soon began to fall apart. Some associates and witnesses "ratted" out some associates affiliated with the robbery. Jimmy Burke killed half the people involved in the robbery for their share of the money and to make sure they didn't "rat
". The bodies of more than 12 suspects and witnesses were discovered in various places. Then Burke's son Frank James Burke
, who was also involved with the robbery, was killed in a drug deal gone bad. Martin Krugman was killed in "Vinnie's fence Company." His body was never found. Five people became informants.
Hill became increasingly paranoid; Burke had killed several of his friends following the Lufthansa Heist
. He also believed that his close friend Tommy DeSimone had been delivered by Vario into the hands of, (and murdered, by) the Gambino crime family
, for killing two "made"
members without permission.
, heroin, and quaaludes; he earned enormous amounts of money. A young kid who was a "mule" of Hill's "ratted" Hill out to narcotics detectives Daniel Mann and William Broder. "The Youngster" (so named by the detectives), informed them that the supplier [Henry Hill] is connected to the Lucchese crime family
and is a close friend to Paul Vario
and to Jimmy Burke and "had probably been in on the Lufthansa robbery
". Now knowing who Hill is and what he does put surveillance on him by taking pictures. They found out that Hill's old prison friend from Pittsburgh, ran a dog-grooming salon as a front. Mann and Broder had "thousands" of wiretaps of Hill. But Hill and his crew used coded language in the conversations. Hill's wiretap on March 29 is an example of the bizarre vocabulary:
. Hill heard on a wiretap that his associates, Angelo Sepe and Anthony Stabile were anxious to have Hill killed and that they were telling Burke that he "is no good", and that he "is a junkie". Burke told them "not to worry about it". Hill was more convinced by a surveillance tape played to him by federal investigators, in which Burke tells Vario of their need to have Hill "whacked". But Hill still wouldn't talk to the investigators, while in his cell, the officers will tell Hill that the prosecutor, Ed McDonald, wanted to speak with him, and Hill would yell "Fuck you and McDonald." While Hill was in his cell he became even more paranoid because he thought Burke had officers in the inside and would have him killed.
While Karen was worried, she kept getting calls from Jimmy Burke's wife, Mickey, asking when Hill was coming home, or if Karen needed anything. Hill knew the calls were from Jimmy. When Hill was finally released on bail, he met Burke at a restaurant they always went to, Burke told him that they should meet at a bar Hill never heard or seen before owned by Charlie the Jap. Hill never met him there, instead they met at Burke's sweatshop with Karen and asked for the address to Florida to kill Bobby Germaine's son with Anthony Stabile. Hill knew he was going to get killed in Florida, but he needed to stay on the streets to make money. McDonald didn't want to take any chances and arrested Hill as a material witness of Lufthansa. Hill then agreed to become an informant and signed an agreement with the United States Department of Justice Organized Crime Strike Force on May 27, 1980.
Jimmy Burke was given 20 years in prison for the 1978-79 Boston College point shaving scandal involving fixing Boston College basketball games and also later was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of scam artist Richard Eaton. Burke died of cancer while serving his life sentence, on April 13, 1996. He was 64.
Paul Vario received four years for helping Henry Hill obtain a no-show job to get him paroled from prison. Vario was also later sentenced to 10 years in prison for the extortion of air freight companies at JFK Airport. He died of respiratory failure
on November 22, 1988, at age 73 while incarcerated in the FCI Fort Worth Federal Prison
.
Hill, his wife Karen, and their two children (Gregg and Gina) entered the U.S. Marshals' Witness Protection Program in 1980, changed their names, and moved to undisclosed locations in Omaha, Nebraska
; Independence, Kentucky
; Redmond, Washington
; and Seattle, Washington
.
s-related charges in Seattle, where he was living in the Wedgwood
neighborhood under the name of Alex Canclini. In 1989, he and his wife Karen divorced after 25 years of marriage.
Due to his numerous crimes while in witness protection, Hill (along with his wife) was expelled from the program in the early 1990s. After the 1987 arrest, Hill claimed to be clean until he was arrested in North Platte, Nebraska
in March 2005. Hill had left his luggage at Lee Bird Field Airport in North Platte, Nebraska
, containing drug paraphernalia
, glass tubes with cocaine, and methamphetamine
residue.
In the fall of 2006, Hill appeared in a photo shoot along with Ray Liotta for Entertainment Weekly
. At Liotta's urging, Hill entered alcohol rehabilitation two days after the shoot.
Hill sells his artwork on eBay, and is a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show.
He returned to rehab in 2008, but during that period was arrested twice for public drunkenness.
He was sentenced to two years probation
on March 26, 2009. December 14, 2009 he was arrested in Fairview Heights, Illinois, for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest which Hill attributed to his drinking problems.
Hill worked for a time as a chef at an Italian restaurant in Nebraska and his spaghetti sauce, Sunday Gravy, was marketed over the internet. Hill opened another restaurant, Wiseguys, in West Haven, Connecticut
, in October 2007.
In reference to his many victims, Hill, who claims that he has never killed anyone [though he did admit on The Howard Stern Show to being ordered by Burke to kill three people, which he says he did comply with), stated in an interview in March 2008 with BBC
's Heather Alexander: "I don't give a heck what those people think; I'm doing the right thing now."
Hill currently lives in Topanga Canyon approximately four miles from Malibu, California, with his Italian-American fiancee, Lisa Caserta. Both have appeared in several documentaries and have made public appearances on various media programs including The Howard Stern Show. In 2010, Hill was inducted in the Museum of the American Gangster
in New York City. On June 8, 2011, a show about Hill's life aired on the National Geographic Channel
's Locked up Abroad
.
In August 2011, Henry Hill appeared in the special "Mob Week" on AMC. He, along with other former mob members, talked about The Godfather, Goodfellas and other such mob films. Henry travels around with Frank Cullotta and Tony Montana and the promote their brand the original O G S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mobster, Lucchese crime family
Lucchese crime family
The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano "Tommy" Reina serving as boss up until his murder...
associate, and FBI informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
whose life story was documented in the book Wiseguy
Wiseguy (book)
Wiseguy is a 1986 non-fiction book by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi that chronicles the story of Mafia mobster-turned-informant Henry Hill...
, written by crime reporter
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Nicholas Pileggi
Nicholas Pileggi
Nicholas Pileggi is an Italian-American author and screenwriter.-Career:Pileggi is best known for writing the book Wiseguy, which he adapted into the movie Goodfellas, and for writing the book and screenplay Casino. The movie versions of both were co-written and directed by Martin Scorsese...
, and in the 1990 Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
film, Goodfellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
, in which Hill was played by Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta
[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...
.
Early life
Henry Hill, Jr. was born on June 11, 1943, Brownsville, BrooklynBrownsville, Brooklyn
Brownsville is a residential neighborhood located in eastern Brooklyn, New York City.The total land area is one square mile, and the ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11212....
. Hill grew up in a poor working class family in East New York, Brooklyn
East New York, Brooklyn
East New York is a residential neighborhood located in the Eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 5...
. His father, Henry Hill, Sr., was an Irish-American
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
electrician
Electrician
An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. Electricians may also...
, and his mother, Carmella Costa Hill, was a Italian American
Italian American
An Italian American , is an American of Italian ancestry. The designation may also refer to someone possessing Italian and American dual citizenship...
. Henry and his seven siblings lived in a small house. From
Paul Vario
Paul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
, a "capo" in the Lucchese crime family
Lucchese crime family
The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano "Tommy" Reina serving as boss up until his murder...
. In his early teens, Hill began running errands at Vario's cabstand, shoe shine stand, and pizzeria.
Hill's first experience in gang life began with parking cars and doing odd jobs like cleaning out Paul Vario
Paul Vario
Paul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
's boat and supplying Vario's crew with cold beer and wine. When Hill turned fourteen in 1957, Paul Vario
Paul Vario
Paul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
's younger brother, Vito "Tuddy" Vario, and older brother, Lenny Vario, presented Hill with a union card in the bricklayer
Bricklayer
A bricklayer or mason is a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The term also refers to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. In British and Australian English, a bricklayer is colloquially known as a "brickie".The training of a trade in...
s' local on a construction site, and told Hill he would get paid $190 a week. He was given the card so that he could be put on a building contractor's payroll as a no-show and his salary divided among the Varios. The card also allowed Hill to facilitate pickup of daily policy bets and loan shark
Loan shark
A loan shark is a person or body that offers unsecured loans at illegally high interest rates to individuals, often enforcing repayment by blackmail or threats of violence....
payments from local construction sites. Hill would earn deep respect, not only because he knew Paul Vario
Paul Vario
Paul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
, but also because he was a member of the union.
Once Hill had this "legitimate" job, he dropped out of high school, devoting all his time to work for Vario's gangsters. Hill has said that he got home from the cabstand one night to find his father with a belt in one hand, and a letter from his truant
TruANT
Truant is Alien Ant Farm's second album. It was released on August 8, 2003 by DreamWorks Records. The producers of the album were Stone Temple Pilots' guitarist and bassist Robert DeLeo and Dean DeLeo....
officer in the other. The letter stated that Hill hadn't been to school in months; it earned him a beating from his father. The next day Tuddy and his crew drove Hill over to the nearby post office to point out which mailman was his. According to Hill, once he pointed him out, "Out of the blue, two guys got out of the car and snatched the mailman." Tuddy warned him that if he delivered any more truancy notices to Hill's house, Tuddy was going to shove him into a pizza oven, feet first. Thereafter, until Hill's mother complained to the post office, no mail was ever delivered to Hill's house,
Hill's first encounter with arson occurred when a cabstand, the "Rebel Cab Company," opened on Glenmore Avenue, just around the corner from the Varios's cabstand. The owner of the "Rebel Cab Company," formerly of Alabama, was new to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Tuddy invited him to shut down his cabstand, citing not enough business for two, but he refused. Sometime after midnight, Tuddy, accompanied by Hill, drove to the rival "Rebel Cab Company" in Tuddy's car with a drum full of gasoline in the back seat.
Hill smashed the cab windows while Tuddy got gasoline-soaked newspapers. Hill was given match books by Tuddy, which, at a given signal, were to be tossed, lit, into each cab. Hill has stated that he heard one explosion after another, but was running so fast, he never had a chance to look back.
Hill's first arrest took place when he was 16. Hill and Paul Vario
Paul Vario
Paul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
's son Lenny, who was fifteen, attempted to use a stolen credit card to buy snow tires
Snow tires
Snow tires are tires designed for use in winter conditions, such as snow and ice. They are an alternative to the use of snow chains.Snow tires are usually tires with a different rubber composition from all-weather tires...
for Tuddy's wife's car at a Texaco gas station. Tuddy had inadvertently given them a stolen credit card. When Hill and Lenny returned to Tuddy's, two police detectives grabbed Hill; Lenny took off. The police took Hill to Liberty Avenue station where Hill gave his name and nothing else. The police roughed him up but let him go, believing that a kid named Henry Hill would hardly hang out with the likes of Paul Vario
Paul Vario
Paul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
. His refusal to talk earned Hill the respect of the Lucchese family
Lucchese crime family
The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano "Tommy" Reina serving as boss up until his murder...
associate Jimmy Burke; Jimmy saw great potential in young Henry. Burke, like Hill, was prevented from becoming a made
Made man
A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy...
member of the Mafia because of his half-Irish ancestry. The Vario Crew
The Vario Crew
The Vario Crew is a group operating within the Lucchese crime family. It was once controlled by powerful Capo Paul Vario from the early 1950s into the early 1980s, when Vario and Jimmy Burke were betrayed by Henry Hill. Hill betrayed the crew by testifying against many members and his life-story...
, however, were happy to have associates of any ethnicity, so long as they made money and failed to cooperate with the authorities.
In 1960, Hill joined the Army; he was stationed at Fort Bragg, near Fayetteville, North Carolina. Throughout his three-year enlistment, in the 82nd Airborne Division, Hill maintained contact with Vario and others in New York. He continued to hustle while still in the service. He sold extra food, loan shark
Loan shark
A loan shark is a person or body that offers unsecured loans at illegally high interest rates to individuals, often enforcing repayment by blackmail or threats of violence....
ed salary advances to fellow soldiers, sold tax-free cigarettes. Before his discharge, Hill spent two months in a military stockade for brawling with a farmer and Marines in bars, and stealing a sheriff's car. Hill claims the reason he joined the army was to stay away from his old friends; that the "heat" was too hot.
In 1963, Hill returned to New York and began the most notorious phase of his criminal career. Hill, along with Burke, Tommy DeSimone and others in Burke's Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge was a saloon that was owned by Lucchese crime family associate James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke. Robert's Lounge was located at 114-45 Lefferts Boulevard in South Ozone Park, Queens, near the John F. Kennedy International Airport Air Cargo Center...
crew, hijacked trucks, sold stolen goods, imported and sold untaxed cigarettes, engaged in loan sharking and bookmaking, and planned airport robberies; The Air France Robbery in 1967 was one of their largest heists in history until the huge Lufthansa heist
Lufthansa heist
The Lufthansa heist was a robbery at John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 11, 1978. An estimated $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels were stolen, at the time making it the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil...
in 1978. The crew also committed numerous mob-related murders.
In 1965, Paulie Jr., Paul Vario's younger son, wanted to go out with a girl named Diane, but only with another date, with a girl named Karen Friedman. Paulie Jr., desperate, made Hill go on a date at Frankie the Wop's restaurant, Villa Capra. The dinner turned out to be awful, according to Karen. When the next date came up, Hill stood her up. (In the movie, Goodfellas, it was Tommy DeSimone with Diane, Henry, and Karen) After, the two began going on dates at the nightclub Copacabana
Copacabana (nightclub)
The Copacabana is a famous New York City nightclub. Many entertainers, among them Danny Thomas, Pat Cooper and the comedy team of Martin and Lewis, made their debuts at the Copacabana. The 1978 Barry Manilow song "Copacabana" is named after, and is about the nightclub. Part of the 2003 Yerba...
, where Karen was introduced to Henry's lifestyle. She was impressed. In Wiseguy
Wiseguy (book)
Wiseguy is a 1986 non-fiction book by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi that chronicles the story of Mafia mobster-turned-informant Henry Hill...
, she states: "We always sat up close at the stage, and Sammy Davis Jr. sent us champagne." (In the movie, Goodfellas, it was Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton is an American pop music singer of Polish origin. In pop music circles, he became known as "The Polish Prince".-Early life:...
who had sent them the champagne). The two later eloped to North Carolina where they had a large wedding, attended by most of Hill's gangster friends.
Air France robbery
On April 7, 1967, Hill and Thomas DeSimoneThomas DeSimone
Thomas "Two-Gun Tommy" Anthony DeSimone was an Italian-American gangster and associate of the Lucchese crime family in New York. Also known as "Tommy D" or "Tommy Two-Guns", he was a grandson and nephew of Los Angeles mob bosses Rosario DeSimone and Frank DeSimone...
pulled the Air France robbery
Air France Robbery (1967)
In 1967, $420,000 in cash was stolen from the Air France cargo terminal at New York City's JFK International Airport. While there were a large number of cargo thefts at JFK airport in 1967, this was the largest cash robbery that had taken place at the time. It was carried out by Henry Hill,...
. Hill had heard from Robert "Frenchy" McMahon that his employer, Air France, was handling a shipment of $420,000. The main problem was a guard with a key to the safe. They identified the guard's weakness as women. They got the guard drunk and took him to a motel, where a prostitute waited to distract him. When the guard took off his pants, they took the key, copied it, then replaced it without his knowledge.
At 11:40pm on a Saturday, Hill and DeSimone drove to the Air France cargo parking lot in a rented car sporting false plates. They left with the $420,000 haul. Hill and DeSimone paid a $60,000 tribute
Tribute
A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...
to each mob chief who considered Kennedy Airport their turf. They were Sebastian "Buster" Aloi, the 57-year-old capo
Caporegime
A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to just a capo, is a term used in the Mafia for a high ranking made member of a crime family who heads a "crew" of soldiers and has major social status and influence in the organization...
for the Colombo crime family
Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
, and to their own capo
Caporegime
A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to just a capo, is a term used in the Mafia for a high ranking made member of a crime family who heads a "crew" of soldiers and has major social status and influence in the organization...
, Paul Vario
Paul Vario
Paul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
.
Billy Batts
After the birth of their second child in 1969, Hill and Karen rented an apartment in a two-family home in Island Park, New YorkIsland Park, New York
Island Park is a village located in Nassau County, New York in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the village had a total population of 4,655.Island Park is located in the town of Hempstead.-Geography:...
, and bought a restaurant called "The Suite" in Jamaica, Queens
Jamaica, Queens
Jamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. It was settled under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland as Rustdorp. Under British rule, the Village of Jamaica became the center of the "Town of Jamaica"...
. Hill had intended for the restaurant to remain legitimate, but it soon became a hangout for his former mob friends. On June 11, 1970, Hill and his crew threw a "welcome home" party at Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge was a saloon that was owned by Lucchese crime family associate James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke. Robert's Lounge was located at 114-45 Lefferts Boulevard in South Ozone Park, Queens, near the John F. Kennedy International Airport Air Cargo Center...
(owned by Jimmy Burke) for William "Billy Batts" Devino
William Devino
William "Billy Batts" Devino was a New York mobster with the Gambino crime family who was a longtime friend of John Gotti in the 1960s...
. Devino was a made man
Made man
A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy...
in John Gotti
John Gotti
John Joseph Gotti, Jr was an American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti grew up in poverty. He and his brothers turned to a life of crime at an early age...
's crew near Fulton Street
Fulton Street (Brooklyn)
Fulton Street, named after engineer Robert Fulton, exists mainly in two parts in what are today two boroughs of New York City which Fulton linked by his steam ferries, and each segment has its own distinct identity. This entry deals with Fulton Street in Brooklyn, which now begins at the...
, and a member of the Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
. He had just finished a six-year term for drug possession
Drug possession
Drug possession is the crime of having one or more illegal drugs in one's possession, either for personal use, distribution, sale or otherwise. Illegal drugs fall into different categories and sentences vary depending on the amount, type of drug, circumstances, and jurisdiction.A person has...
. The problem was that Devino and Burke had a beef at the time, Burke had taken over Devino's loanshark business while Devino was in prison. Not wanting to return the business, Burke decided to kill Devino instead. Hill states that Devino, not knowing that he's wanted dead, saw Tommy DeSimone and asked him if he still shined shoes; DeSimone took it as insult. Several minutes later, when the issue was apparently forgotten, DeSimone leaned over to Hill and Jimmy Burke and said "I'm gonna kill that fuck."
A couple weeks later, Devino went to "The Suite" where he drank with DeSimone's crew which included Henry Hill, DeSimone, and Jimmy Burke. Later that night, DeSimone left to take his girlfriend home. Burke then proceeded to make Devino comfortable. The only people who were present at the time besides the four men was Alex Coricone, who was with Hill's crew and was seated in the back with his girlfriend. Twenty minutes later, DeSimone returned with a .38 revolver and a plastic mattress cover. DeSimone walked over to Devino at the corner of the bar and yelled "Shine these these fuckin' shoes!" and pistol-whipped him and while Jimmy Burke held him down. Devino was so inebriated that he couldn't defend himself. By now Alex Coricone saw what was going on and started to walk over. Burke glared at Alex. "You want some?" Burke said. Hill said "Jimmy was ready to drop Billy and go after Alex." Hill then grabbed Alex and his girlfriend by the shoulders and maneuvered them out the door and locked it. Along with Hill, they later concealed Devino with the mattress cover and placed him in the trunk of Hill's car. Needing a shovel, they stopped at DeSimone's mother's, who made them coffee and breakfast. Later, on the Taconic State Parkway
Taconic State Parkway
The Taconic State Parkway , is a divided highway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest parkway in the U.S. state of New York. It follows a generally northward route midway between the Hudson River and the Connecticut and Massachusetts state lines...
, DeSimone at the wheel, they heard banging from the trunk and realized Devino was still alive. "We're on our way to bury him and he wasn't even dead," Hill said. Angrily, DeSimone stopped the car, reaching for the shovel. Once there were no more headlights behind them, DeSimone opened the trunk and smashed Devino with the shovel, while Burke beat him with a tire iron. When they were sure he was dead, they drove on.
They buried Devino; due to the frozen ground, the grave was shallow; they covered him with lime, and drove back to New York. Three months later, when the land was about to be developed into a housing project, Hill and DeSimone dug up Devino, tossed the decomposed remains into the back of Hill's brand-new Pontiac Catalina
Pontiac Catalina
The Pontiac Catalina was part of Pontiac's full-sized automobile line. Initially, the name was used strictly to denote hardtop body styles, first appearing in the 1950 Chieftain Eight and DeLuxe Eight lines...
convertible and dumped them in a New Jersey Junkyard (owned by Clyde Brooks). According to Hill, the car stank so badly after that, he later had to scrap the car.
The penalty for killing a made man
Made man
A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy...
without permission is death.
Vacation in Florida
Karen and Hill split up for a while; Hill had been cheating with a woman named Linda. Hill then went with Casey Rosado and Jimmy Burke on a vacation to Tampa, FloridaTampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
. They went to Casey's parents', and met with Casey's cousin to collect a debt from a man named John Ciaccio.
Before entering Ciaccio's bar, Rosado's cousin handed Hill a .38 revolver. The cousins walked in first, followed by Hill and Burke. The cousins were yelling at Ciaccio in Spanish while Hill and Burke sat four tables away. Burke subsequently got up, grabbed Ciaccio and said, "Shut your mouth and walk out the door." Hill later reported: "There must have been twenty-five people in the place, but nobody did anything. Later they were all witnesses at the trial."
There was a retired New York police officer at the scene who took their license plate number. With the four men beating and pistol-whipping him, Ciaccio finally said he'd pay up, but only half, since the rest was owed to a doctor who beat him on a bet. Casey's cousin believed him because he knew the doctor from whom they later got the money. The four men spent the rest of the weekend drinking.
A month later, Hill, on his way to Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge was a saloon that was owned by Lucchese crime family associate James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke. Robert's Lounge was located at 114-45 Lefferts Boulevard in South Ozone Park, Queens, near the John F. Kennedy International Airport Air Cargo Center...
, found twelve cars blocking the street. He turned on his radio and heard that the FBI were "arresting union officials," with "Jimmy Burke and others being sought." It turned out that Ciaccio's sister worked for the FBI. They were later arrested and put on trial for kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
. On the stand, Rosado convinced the jury that Ciaccio was a liar, and they were able to beat the rap. However, the police went after them for an extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
charge. Just before the three were to go to trial, Casey Rosado dropped dead from a heart attack while bending over to tie his shoe laces. He was forty-six. Since Rosado could no longer testify, Hill and Burke lost their chance to beat the charge.
On November 3, 1972, Hill and Burke were found guilty of extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
.
Imprisonment
Hill and Burke served six years of their 10-year sentences in different prisons. The first real prison Hill ever went to was the United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg. At the time, Lewisburg had a large population of organized-crime members, including Paul VarioPaul Vario
Paul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
, doing two and a half years for income tax evasion, and Johnny Dio, serving a long stretch for the acid blinding of newspaper columnist Victor Riesel
Victor Riesel
Victor Riesel was an American newspaper journalist and columnist who specialized in news related to labor unions. At the height of his career, his column on labor union issues was syndicated to 356 newspapers in the United States...
. Hill later lived with Vario, Dio, and Joe Pine, the boss of Connecticut. There were two-dozen rooms on each floor, all of them affiliated with the mob: the whole John Gotti
John Gotti
John Joseph Gotti, Jr was an American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti grew up in poverty. He and his brothers turned to a life of crime at an early age...
crew, Jimmy Doyle and his crew, "Ernie Boy" Abbamonte and "Joe Crow" Delvecchio, Vinnie Aloi
Vincenzo Aloi
Vincenzo "Vinny" Aloi is a New York City mobster involved in stock fraud who briefly served as the acting boss of the Colombo crime family.-Made man to acting boss:...
, and Frank Cotroni. By bribing
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
guards, they got away with sleeping on comfortable beds, drinking wine, and cooking with stoves crafted by Vario. Hill befriended a man from Pittsburgh, who taught Hill how to smuggle drugs into prison. They often played tennis with Jimmy Doyle, Bill Arico, and some of the shooters from the East Harlem Purple Gang
East Harlem Purple Gang
The East Harlem Purple Gang was a semi-independent group of Italian American hit-men and heroin dealers who according to Federal prosecutors dominated heroin distribution in East Harlem and the Bronx during the late 1970s in New York City...
. Hill then used his Pittsburgh connection for drug smuggling in order to support Hill's family on the outside.
Within months, Hill started booking. Hugh Joseph Addonizio, the former mayor of Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, was one of Hill's best customers. Hill recalled him as "...a sweetheart of a guy but a degenerate gambler." Two years later, Hill was transferred to Federal Correctional Complex, Allenwood, where, with Karen's help, he continued to smuggle drugs and food. On July 12, 1978, Hill was granted early parole for being a model prisoner. He walked out of prison wearing a five-year old Brioni suit, seventy-eight dollars in his pocket, and drove home in a six-year old Buick
Buick
Buick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...
sedan.
Basketball scandal
Hill and his Pittsburgh connection set up a point shavingPoint shaving
In organized sports, point shaving is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to prevent a team from covering a published point spread. Unlike other forms of match fixing, sports betting invariably motivates point shaving. A point shaving scheme generally involves a sports gambler and one...
scheme by convincing Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
center Rick Kuhn to participate. Kuhn encouraged teammates to join the scheme. It was to become quite a scandal
Boston College basketball point shaving scandal of 1978-79
The Boston College basketball point shaving scandal of 1978-79 involved a scheme in which underworld figures recruited and bribed some Boston College basketball players to ensure the team would not win by the required margin allowing the gamblers in the know to place wagers against that team and...
. Hill claimed to have an NBA referee
Official (basketball)
In basketball, an official is a person who has the responsibility to enforce the rules and maintain the order of the game. The title of official also applies to the scorers and timekeepers, as well as other personnel that have an active task in maintaining the game...
in his pocket. He worked games at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
during the seventies. The referee had incurred gambling debts on horse races.
Lufthansa heist
Two months after Hill's release from prison, Hill's bookmaker Martin Krugman described the Lufthansa HeistLufthansa heist
The Lufthansa heist was a robbery at John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 11, 1978. An estimated $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels were stolen, at the time making it the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil...
. "There were millions upon millions of dollars in untraceable fifty- and hundred-dollar bills, sitting out there in a cardboard vault at Kennedy Airport just waiting to get robbed," he stated. "It was the ultimate score."
At Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge was a saloon that was owned by Lucchese crime family associate James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke. Robert's Lounge was located at 114-45 Lefferts Boulevard in South Ozone Park, Queens, near the John F. Kennedy International Airport Air Cargo Center...
, the crew met to discuss the heist. Afterwards, Hill became obsessed with Lufthansa. The only problem, Jimmy Burke hated Martin Krugman. Burke never trusted him again since an incident with Marty's commercial in the early 1970s.
In November, Burke had everything planned for the robbery but wanted to wait until Christmastime. On Monday, December 11, 1978, at 3:12 in the morning, it was done. It turned out to be the biggest robbery in history at the time. Three days after, the FBI and NYPD determined it was the work of the Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge was a saloon that was owned by Lucchese crime family associate James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke. Robert's Lounge was located at 114-45 Lefferts Boulevard in South Ozone Park, Queens, near the John F. Kennedy International Airport Air Cargo Center...
crew. They set up surveillance in Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge was a saloon that was owned by Lucchese crime family associate James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke. Robert's Lounge was located at 114-45 Lefferts Boulevard in South Ozone Park, Queens, near the John F. Kennedy International Airport Air Cargo Center...
and followed the crew 24/7. The crew soon began to fall apart. Some associates and witnesses "ratted" out some associates affiliated with the robbery. Jimmy Burke killed half the people involved in the robbery for their share of the money and to make sure they didn't "rat
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
". The bodies of more than 12 suspects and witnesses were discovered in various places. Then Burke's son Frank James Burke
Frank James Burke
Frank James Burke-Conway was a Gambino crime family mob associate and the son of mobster Jimmy Burke.-Mob relations:...
, who was also involved with the robbery, was killed in a drug deal gone bad. Martin Krugman was killed in "Vinnie's fence Company." His body was never found. Five people became informants.
Hill became increasingly paranoid; Burke had killed several of his friends following the Lufthansa Heist
Lufthansa heist
The Lufthansa heist was a robbery at John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 11, 1978. An estimated $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels were stolen, at the time making it the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil...
. He also believed that his close friend Tommy DeSimone had been delivered by Vario into the hands of, (and murdered, by) the Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
, for killing two "made"
Made man
A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy...
members without permission.
Drug business
Hill began wholesaling marijuana, cocaineCocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
, heroin, and quaaludes; he earned enormous amounts of money. A young kid who was a "mule" of Hill's "ratted" Hill out to narcotics detectives Daniel Mann and William Broder. "The Youngster" (so named by the detectives), informed them that the supplier [Henry Hill] is connected to the Lucchese crime family
Lucchese crime family
The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano "Tommy" Reina serving as boss up until his murder...
and is a close friend to Paul Vario
Paul Vario
Paul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
and to Jimmy Burke and "had probably been in on the Lufthansa robbery
Lufthansa heist
The Lufthansa heist was a robbery at John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 11, 1978. An estimated $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels were stolen, at the time making it the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil...
". Now knowing who Hill is and what he does put surveillance on him by taking pictures. They found out that Hill's old prison friend from Pittsburgh, ran a dog-grooming salon as a front. Mann and Broder had "thousands" of wiretaps of Hill. But Hill and his crew used coded language in the conversations. Hill's wiretap on March 29 is an example of the bizarre vocabulary:
Arrest
On April 27, 1980, Hill was arrested on a narcotics-trafficking charge. He became convinced that his former associates planned to have him killed: Vario, for dealing drugs; and Burke, to prevent Hill from implicating him in the Lufthansa HeistLufthansa heist
The Lufthansa heist was a robbery at John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 11, 1978. An estimated $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels were stolen, at the time making it the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil...
. Hill heard on a wiretap that his associates, Angelo Sepe and Anthony Stabile were anxious to have Hill killed and that they were telling Burke that he "is no good", and that he "is a junkie". Burke told them "not to worry about it". Hill was more convinced by a surveillance tape played to him by federal investigators, in which Burke tells Vario of their need to have Hill "whacked". But Hill still wouldn't talk to the investigators, while in his cell, the officers will tell Hill that the prosecutor, Ed McDonald, wanted to speak with him, and Hill would yell "Fuck you and McDonald." While Hill was in his cell he became even more paranoid because he thought Burke had officers in the inside and would have him killed.
While Karen was worried, she kept getting calls from Jimmy Burke's wife, Mickey, asking when Hill was coming home, or if Karen needed anything. Hill knew the calls were from Jimmy. When Hill was finally released on bail, he met Burke at a restaurant they always went to, Burke told him that they should meet at a bar Hill never heard or seen before owned by Charlie the Jap. Hill never met him there, instead they met at Burke's sweatshop with Karen and asked for the address to Florida to kill Bobby Germaine's son with Anthony Stabile. Hill knew he was going to get killed in Florida, but he needed to stay on the streets to make money. McDonald didn't want to take any chances and arrested Hill as a material witness of Lufthansa. Hill then agreed to become an informant and signed an agreement with the United States Department of Justice Organized Crime Strike Force on May 27, 1980.
Informant and the witness protection program
To avoid a possible execution by his crew or going to prison for his crimes; his testimony led to 50 convictions.Jimmy Burke was given 20 years in prison for the 1978-79 Boston College point shaving scandal involving fixing Boston College basketball games and also later was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of scam artist Richard Eaton. Burke died of cancer while serving his life sentence, on April 13, 1996. He was 64.
Paul Vario received four years for helping Henry Hill obtain a no-show job to get him paroled from prison. Vario was also later sentenced to 10 years in prison for the extortion of air freight companies at JFK Airport. He died of respiratory failure
Respiratory failure
The term respiratory failure, in medicine, is used to describe inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, with the result that arterial oxygen and/or carbon dioxide levels cannot be maintained within their normal ranges. A drop in blood oxygenation is known as hypoxemia; a rise in arterial...
on November 22, 1988, at age 73 while incarcerated in the FCI Fort Worth Federal Prison
Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Worth
Federal Correctional Institution Fort Worth, is a low security institution in Fort Worth, Texas housing male offenders.FCI Fort Worth is located in the southeastern corner of Fort Worth...
.
Hill, his wife Karen, and their two children (Gregg and Gina) entered the U.S. Marshals' Witness Protection Program in 1980, changed their names, and moved to undisclosed locations in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
; Independence, Kentucky
Independence, Kentucky
Independence is a suburban city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 14,982 at the 2000 census and estimated to be 22,105 in 2009. It is one of two county seats of Kenton County...
; Redmond, Washington
Redmond, Washington
Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 54,144 at the 2010 census,up from 45,256 in 2000....
; and Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
.
Later life
Hill was arrested in 1987 on narcoticNarcotic
The term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...
s-related charges in Seattle, where he was living in the Wedgwood
Wedgwood, Seattle, Washington
Wedgwood is a middle class residential neighborhood of northeast Seattle, Washington, with a modest commercial strip. Wedgwood is located about two miles north, and slightly east, of the University of Washington; it is about six miles northeast of Downtown...
neighborhood under the name of Alex Canclini. In 1989, he and his wife Karen divorced after 25 years of marriage.
Due to his numerous crimes while in witness protection, Hill (along with his wife) was expelled from the program in the early 1990s. After the 1987 arrest, Hill claimed to be clean until he was arrested in North Platte, Nebraska
North Platte, Nebraska
North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the southwestern part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River...
in March 2005. Hill had left his luggage at Lee Bird Field Airport in North Platte, Nebraska
North Platte, Nebraska
North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the southwestern part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River...
, containing drug paraphernalia
Drug paraphernalia
Drug paraphernalia is a term used, often with a slightly negative connotation due to its use in criminal law field e.g. "possession of drug paraphernalia", to denote any equipment, product, or material that is modified for making, using, or concealing drugs, typically for recreational purposes...
, glass tubes with cocaine, and methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
residue.
In the fall of 2006, Hill appeared in a photo shoot along with Ray Liotta for Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
. At Liotta's urging, Hill entered alcohol rehabilitation two days after the shoot.
Hill sells his artwork on eBay, and is a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show.
He returned to rehab in 2008, but during that period was arrested twice for public drunkenness.
He was sentenced to two years probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
on March 26, 2009. December 14, 2009 he was arrested in Fairview Heights, Illinois, for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest which Hill attributed to his drinking problems.
Hill worked for a time as a chef at an Italian restaurant in Nebraska and his spaghetti sauce, Sunday Gravy, was marketed over the internet. Hill opened another restaurant, Wiseguys, in West Haven, Connecticut
West Haven, Connecticut
West Haven is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 52,721.-History:...
, in October 2007.
In reference to his many victims, Hill, who claims that he has never killed anyone [though he did admit on The Howard Stern Show to being ordered by Burke to kill three people, which he says he did comply with), stated in an interview in March 2008 with BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Heather Alexander: "I don't give a heck what those people think; I'm doing the right thing now."
Hill currently lives in Topanga Canyon approximately four miles from Malibu, California, with his Italian-American fiancee, Lisa Caserta. Both have appeared in several documentaries and have made public appearances on various media programs including The Howard Stern Show. In 2010, Hill was inducted in the Museum of the American Gangster
Museum of the American Gangster
The Museum of the American Gangster is a two-room museum located at 80 St. Mark's Place in New York City. Opened in 2010, it is located upstairs from a former speakeasy in a neighborhood once frequented by Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, and John Gotti...
in New York City. On June 8, 2011, a show about Hill's life aired on the National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
's Locked up Abroad
Banged Up Abroad
Banged Up Abroad is a British documentary/docudrama television series created by Bart Layton that was produced for Channel Five and that premiered in March 2006...
.
In August 2011, Henry Hill appeared in the special "Mob Week" on AMC. He, along with other former mob members, talked about The Godfather, Goodfellas and other such mob films. Henry travels around with Frank Cullotta and Tony Montana and the promote their brand the original O G S.
See also
- The Big HeistThe Big HeistThe Big Heist is an American television movie which aired in 2001, on the A&E Television Networks.The film portrays the events of the 1978 Lufthansa Heist. The events and characters depicted in the film were also the subject of the much more well-known 1990 film Goodfellas, directed by Martin...
- GoodFellasGoodfellasGoodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
- My Blue HeavenMy Blue Heaven (1990 film)My Blue Heaven is a 1990 comedy film directed by Herbert Ross, written by Nora Ephron and starring Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, and Joan Cusack.It has been noted for its relationship to the movie Goodfellas, which was released one month after this film...
- The Real GoodFellaThe Real GoodFellaThe Real GoodFella is a programme that aired on British TV in April 2006. It was made by Class Films and is narrated by Richard Dillane.The show features Henry Hill, Martin Scorsese , Nicholas Pileggi , Gus Russo , Marie Jones , Alfie McNeil...
External links
- GoodFella Henry Official Site
- Henry's New Site
- ZZZlist Interview with Henry Hill
- The Smoking Gun: Goodfella Henry Hill In Drug Bust
- The Smoking Gun: Henry Hill mugshots