FBI mugshot of Henry Hill taken in 1980.

Henry Hill (born June 11, 1943^[1]) is an Irish/Italian American former mobster, Lucchese crime family associate, and FBI informant whose life was immortalized in the book Wiseguy, written by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi, and the 1990 Martin Scorsese movie Goodfellas, in which Hill was played by Ray Liotta. He was the owner of a restaurant called The Suite. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 538 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (706 × 787 pixel, file size: 264 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) U.S. Marshals mugshot of Henry Hill taken in 1980 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 538 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (706 × 787 pixel, file size: 264 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) U.S. Marshals mugshot of Henry Hill taken in 1980 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert... June 11 is the 162nd day of the year (163rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mobster is a slang term for a person who participates in organized crime, which is known as belonging to the Mob. In western stories and movies, cowboys as mobsters are known as outlaws. ... The Lucchese crime family is one of the Five Families that controls organized crime activities in New York City, USA, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra). ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a federal criminal investigative, intelligence agency, and the primary investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... Nicholas Pileggi (born February 22, 1933 in New York City, New York) is an American author and screenwriter, best known for writing the book Wiseguy, which he adapted into the movie Goodfellas, and for writing the book and screenplay Casino. ... The year 1990 in film involved some significant events. ... Martin Marcantonio Luciano Scorsese (IPA: AmE: ; Ita: []) (born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, writer and producer and founder of the World Cinema Foundation. ... Goodfellas (also spelled GoodFellas) is a 1990 Mafia film directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the book Wiseguys by Nicholas Pileggi, the true story of mob informer Henry Hill. ... Ray Liotta[1] (born December 18, 1954) is a Golden Globe-nominated American actor. ... The Suite was a middle-class detached two-story nightclub on Queens Boulevard, on the border of Queens, New York and Forest Hills, Queens owned by Henry Hill from 1966 to 1972. ...

Early life

Henry Hill grew up in a poor working class family in East New York, Brooklyn, then a largely Italian neighborhood. His father was an electrician of Irish descent, his mother was of Sicilian descent, and they, Henry and his six siblings lived in a small house. From an early age he admired the local mafiosi that socialized across the street from his home, who included Paul Vario, a capo in the Lucchese crime family. In his early teens, he began running errands at Vario's cabstand, shoe shine stand, and pizzeria. East New York is a primarily low to middle income neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. ... Sicilian (Lu Sicilianu, Lingua Siciliana) is the Romance language spoken in Sicily, Italy. ... Paul Vario (July 9, 1914 - November 22, 1988) was a member of the U.S. Italian Mafia and a Caporegime in the Lucchese Family. ... The Lucchese crime family is one of the Five Families that controls organized crime activities in New York City, USA, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra). ... Pepperoni is one of the most popular toppings on American pizzas. ...

Hill's first arrest came when he attempted to use a stolen credit card to buy tires at a gas station. Refusing to say anything to the police, he earned the respect of many fellow mobsters especially truck hijacker and Lucchese Family associate Jimmy Burke, who saw great potential in young Henry. Hill soon dropped out of high school to devote all his time working for gangsters. Burke, like Hill, was unable to become a made member of the Mafia due to his Irish ancestry. However, the Mafia was happy to have associates of any ethnic background so long as they made money and did not cooperate with the authorities. Credit cards A credit card is a system of payment named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. ... For a table of tire companies, see List of tire companies. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Lucchese Family, also known as the Melquist Family, formed one the most powerful organized crime families in the United States. ... U.S. Marshals mugshot of James Jimmy the Gent Burke taken on April 12, 1979 not long after the Lufthansa heist. ...

In 1960, Hill joined the army and was stationed at Fort Bragg, near Fayetteville, North Carolina, for three years. He was a member of the 82nd Airborne paratrooper unit there, but he maintained contact with Vario and his other friends in New York the entire time. Hill continued to hustle while in the service, selling extra food, loan sharking salary advances to his fellow soldiers, and selling tax-free cigarettes. Before being discharged Hill spent two months in a military stockade for brawling and stealing a sheriff's car. Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Troopers of the 82nd training on Fort Bragg Paratroopers in training at Fort Bragg Fort Bragg is a major United States Army fort, in Cumberland and Hoke Counties, North Carolina, USA, near Fayetteville. ... Cross Creek Linear Park Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina. ... The 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army was formed originally as the 82nd Infantry Division on August 25, 1917, at Camp Gordon, Georgia. ... An American USMC Paratrooper using a MC1-B series parachute Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force. ...

In 1963, he returned to New York, beginning the most celebrated phase of his criminal career. Hill, along with close friends Burke, and 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, bookmaking, and planned airport robberies, carrying out the Air France Robbery in 1967 and the huge Lufthansa heist in 1978, and committed numerous mob related murders. Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... NY redirects here. ... Thomas Tommy DeSimone (c1950 - 1979) was a New York gangster and an associate of the Luchesse Mafia Family. ... Roberts Lounge was a bar that was owned by Jimmy Burke on Lefferts Boulevard in South Ozone Park, Queens. ... In 1967 mobster Henry Hill, aged 23, pulled off a robbery at the Air France air-cargo terminal in New Yorks JFK International Airport to the tune of $420,000. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ...

In 1965, Hill met his wife Karen. The two first eloped to North Carolina, and later had a large Jewish wedding, to which most of Hill's gangster friends were invited. After the birth of their 2 children they rented an apartment in a 2-family home in Island Park, NY (1968). Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Henry Hill (mobster). ... Official language(s) English Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Area  Ranked 28th  - Total 53,865 sq mi (139,509 km²)  - Width 150 miles (240 km)  - Length 560[1] miles (901 km)  - % water 9. ...

Fallout between Hill, Vario, and Burke

Hill was paroled in 1978 after serving six years of a ten-year prison sentence for extortion. Hill and Burke had severely beat up and pistol whipped a gambler in Tampa, Florida who owed a union official friend of theirs a large gambling debt. Burke was also released on parole around the same time as Hill. Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ... Nickname: Location in Hillsborough County and the state of Florida. ...

While in prison, Hill had made contact with a Pittsburgh drug dealer named Paul Mazzei. Hill had sold drugs while in prison to help support his wife and two children on the outside. After his parole, Vario revealed he knew about Hill dealing drugs while he was in prison and warned him now that he was out, not to deal behind the family's back. Vario strongly opposed the trade of drugs in his crew because prison sentences imposed on anyone convicted of drug trafficking were so lengthy that the accused would often become informants in exchange for a lighter sentence (this turned out to be exactly what Hill would do). Hill nevertheless started a major interstate drug trafficking operation with Mazzei, the potential to earn large amounts of money being too great to resist. City nickname: The Steel City Location in the state of Pennsylvania Founded 1758 Mayor Tom Murphy (Dem) Area  - Total  - Water 151. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Retail selling Street selling is the bottom of the chain and can be accomplished through purchasing from prostitutes, through cloaked retail stores or refuse houses for users in the act located in red-light districts which often also deal in paraphernalia, dealers marketing merriment at night clubs and other events...

Hill began wholesaling marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and quaaludes, earning enormous amounts of money. He grew increasingly at odds with Vario and the Lucchese Family because of his fear of being killed if they found out he was trafficking in drugs. After the murders of several of his friends by Burke following the Lufthansa Heist and the disappearance of his close friend Tommy DeSimone, who, Hill believed, had been delivered by Vario into the hands of, and murdered by the Gambino crime family for killing two made members without permission, he became increasingly paranoid. A Cannabis sativa plant The drug cannabis, also called marijuana, is produced from parts of the cannabis plant, primarily the cured flowers and gathered trichomes of the female plant. ... Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. ... Heroin (INN: diacetylmorphine, BAN: diamorphine) is an opioid synthesized directly from the extracts of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum. ... Methaqualone1 is an addictive, sedative drug. ... The Lucchese Family, also known as the Melquist Family, formed one the most powerful organized crime families in the United States. ... Thomas Tommy DeSimone (c1950 - 1979) was a New York gangster and an associate of the Luchesse Mafia Family. ... John Gotti, The Dapper Don The Gambino Crime Family is one of the Five Families that controls organized crime activities based in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or La Cosa Nostra). ...

Hill and Mazzei also set up a point shaving scheme, which was put in place when Mazzei convinced Boston College center Rick Kuhn to participate. Kuhn encouraged teammates to join the scheme, which became a scandal. Hill also claimed to have an NBA referee who worked games at Madison Square Garden during the seventies in his pocket, because of the debt he accrued gambling on horse races. ^[2] This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For similarly-named academic institutions, see Boston (disambiguation). ... The 1978-79 Boston College basketball team ended its season with a 22-9 record. ... The National Basketball Association of the United States and Canada, commonly known as the NBA, is the premier professional basketball league in North America. ... A referee is a person who has authority to make decisions about play in many sports. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

In 1980, Hill was arrested on a narcotics trafficking charge, bonded out of jail, and shortly afterwards, was re-arrested as a material witness in the Lufthansa robbery. He became convinced that his former associates planned to have him killed, viz. Vario, for dealing drugs, and Burke, to prevent Hill from implicating him in the Lufthansa robbery. This fear was confirmed by a surveillance tape played to him by federal investigators, in which Burke tells Vario of their need to have Hill "whacked." ^[3] Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ...

As an informant and after

Hill chose to become an informant to avoid a prison sentence and possible execution by the Mafia. Henry Hill's testimony led to 50 convictions. Jimmy Burke was given 20 years in prison for fixing Boston College basketball games and also later 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. U.S. Marshals mugshot of James Jimmy the Gent Burke taken on April 12, 1979 not long after the Lufthansa heist. ... The 1978-79 Boston College basketball team ended its season with a 22-9 record. ...

Paul Vario received 4 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 extortion of airfreight companies at JFK Airport. He died, aged 73, on November 22, 1988 while in a Texas prison, of respiratory failure. John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA Airport Code: JFK, ICAO Airport Code: KJFK) is the main international airport in New York City, and is one of the largest airports in the world. ...

Hill, his wife Karen, and their two children entered the U.S. Marshals' Witness Protection Program, changed their names, and moved to undisclosed locations in Omaha, Nebraska, then Independence, Kentucky, and eventually Redmond, Washington. The United States Marshals Service, part of the United States Department of Justice, is the United States oldest federal law enforcement agency. ... In the United States, the Witness Protection Program (also known as WITSEC) is established by the Witness Protection Act, which in turn sets out the manner in which the U.S. Attorney General may provide for the relocation and protection of a witness or potential witness of the federal government... Nickname: Motto: (Latin) Courageously in every enterprise Location in Nebraska Coordinates: , Country United States State Nebraska County Douglas Founded 1854 Incorporated 1857 Government  - Mayor Michael Fahey (D)  - City Clerk Buster Brown  - City Council District 1: Jim Suttle District 2: Frank Brown District 3: Jim Vokal District 4: Garry Gernandt (Council... Independence is a city located in Kenton County, Kentucky. ... Location of Redmond within King County, and King County within Washington. ...

Hill was arrested in 1987 in Seattle, Washington on narcotics-related charges. In 1989, Hill and his wife Karen were divorced after 24 years of marriage. Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... “Seattle” redirects here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ...

Hill (along with his wife) was expelled from the witness protection program in the early 1980s.

After the Seattle incident, 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. Grain elevator along the Union Pacific Railroad in downtown North Platte North Platte is a city in Lincoln County in southwestern Nebraska on I-80 where the South Platte River and the North Platte River join to form the Platte River. ... ← - 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in March • 31 – Terri Schiavo • 30 – Mitch Hedberg • 29 – Johnnie Cochran • 27 – Wilfred Bigelow • 26 – Paul Hester • 26 – James Callaghan • 21 – Jeff Weise • 21 – Bobby Short • 19 – John De Lorean • 18 – Gary Bertini • 17 – George F... North Platte Regional Airport Lee Bird Field (IATA: LBF, ICAO: KLBF) is a public airport located in North Platte, Nebraska. ... Grain elevator along the Union Pacific Railroad in downtown North Platte North Platte is a city in Lincoln County in southwestern Nebraska on I-80 where the South Platte River and the North Platte River join to form the Platte River. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the psychostimulant, d-methamphetamine. ...

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. As of February 2007 the website had been taken down^{[citation needed]}.

Hill battled alcoholism for years, claiming at one point that prison had saved his life. In fall 2006, Hill appeared in a photo shoot along with Ray Liotta for Entertainment Weekly. The small section beneath the photo stated that Hill had turned to drinking and was bouncing in between prison and homelessness in Venice, California. According to the article, Liotta convinced Hill to enter alcohol rehabilitation^{[citation needed]}. Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated EW) is a magazine published by Time Inc. ...

Books

Hill has authored or co-authored three books:

• (2002) The Wiseguy Cookbook
• (2003) A Goodfella's Guide to New York
• (2004) Gangsters and Goodfellas : Wiseguys, Witness Protection, and Life on the Run

Trivia

• According to Martin Scorsese and Ray Liotta, the real Hill has a cameo in GoodFellas as a chef in the three-minute non-stop tracking shot of Henry and Karen going through the Copacabana's kitchen facilities.
• Despite having put Paul Vario in prison, where he died, Hill says in Gangsters and GoodFellas that if the Vario family saw him in New York, they would probably say hi to him.
• Henry Hill appeared on Sirius Satellite Radio’s The Howard Stern Show on Thursday, January 26, 2006 to promote his Sunday Gravy pasta sauce. A very drunken Hill had to be babied out of the studio after the appearance, which was videotaped for On Demand Television’s Howard TV. In a funnier moment from the appearance, Stern 100 reporter [Lisa G. [1]] misunderstood Henry’s request for a caramel macchiato as “I want to come on your face”.
• April 22, 2007: Henry Hill is currently shooting pilots for a Reality Show with Executive Producer Michael Shevloff.
• On the special 2-DVD Edition of Goodfellas, he and Edward McDonald provided commentary in a section called "Cop and Crook".

See also

• The Real GoodFella

A programme aired on British TV in April of 2006, it was made by Class Films and narrated by Richard Dilance. ...

Notes

1. ^ Nicholas Pileggi (1985). Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-44734-3. p.13,28 gives 1943 as year of birth.
2. ^ Mike Philbrick. Reformed mobster believes Donaghy might not be alone. ESPN Page 2 http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=philbrick/070727&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos1
3. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=philbrick/070727&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos1

First season cast of Wiseguy Wiseguy (1987-1990) was a U.S. television program about Vincent Vinnie Terranova, an undercover agent of the OCB (Organized Crime Bureau), a fictional division of the FBI. Produced by Stephen J. Cannell, the show differed from previous crime dramas in its use of story...

Sources

• The Heist By Ernest Volkman & John Cummings (1986)
• Wiseguy By Nicholas Pileggi (1990)
• Fixed: How Goodfellas Bought Boston College Basketball By David Porter (2000)
• On The Run - A Mafia Childhood By Gregg & Gina Hill (2004)
• Gangsters and Goodfellas: Wiseguys . . . and Life on the Run By Henry Hill & Gus Russo (2005)
• Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish-American Gangster By T. J. English (2005)