Henry’s confrontations with his old pals on the witness stand left him unmoved. Neither Jimmy Burke’s threatening glares nor the sight of the seventy-year-old Paul Vario seemed to disturb him. Vario, Burke, Mazzei, Basile, the basketball players—everyone Henry had committed crimes with became bargaining chips he used to buy his own freedom. He initiated the investigation into the mob’s “strangle-hold” on Kennedy Airport’s cargo business, along with Strike Force prosecutor Douglas Behm, that resulted in yet another indictment of Paul Vario, as well as indictments of Frank “Frankie the Wop” Manzo and other Lucchese family powers. He gave McDonald and his men as many cases as he could, and he sent away his old pals. It was effortless. He ate a mushroom-and-sausage pizza and drank Tab before taking the stand against Vario, and he negotiated a ten-thousand-dollar magazine article with Sports Illustrated before testifying about the Boston College point-shaving scheme that got twenty-six-year-old Rich Kuhn ten years in a federal prison. When Jimmy Burke was convicted of murder, Henry was almost gleeful. In the final showdown with Jimmy, Henry had survived, and he had used the government to pull the trigger.
Of course, no matter how Henry tried to rationalize what he had done, his survival depended upon his capacity for betrayal. He willingly turned on the world he knew and the men with whom he had been raised with the same nonchalance he had used in setting up a bookie joint or slipping a tail. For Henry Hill giving up the life was hard, but giving up his friends was easy.
In the end there were no pyrotechnics, no fiery blasts of Cagney gangster glory. Henry was not going out through a hole in the top of the world. He was going to survive any way he could. In fact, out of the entire crew Henry alone managed to survive.
Today Henry Hill and his wife live somewhere in America. As of this writing he has a successful business and lives in a $150,000 two-story neocolonial house in an area with such a low crime rate that garden-shed burglaries get headlines in the weekly press. His children go to private schools. He and Karen have their own cars, and she has embarked on a small business of her own. He has a Keogh plan. One of his few complaints is that he cannot get good Italian food in the area where he has been assigned to live by the witness program. A few days after his arrival there he went to a local “Italian-style” restaurant and found the marinara sauce without garlic, the linguini replaced by egg noodles, and slices of packaged white bread in plastic baskets on the tables.
But because of his continuing work with Ed McDonald and the Strike Force prosecutors, Henry gets fifteen hundred dollars a month as a government employee, travels to New York eight or nine times a year with all expenses paid, and has food from Little Italy sent in to him at the courts where he testifies and the hotels where he stays. He is always accompanied to New York by armed marshals to make sure he doesn’t get murdered or mugged. In fact, Henry is so carefully guarded and his new identity is so vigorously protected by the U.S. Marshal Service that even the Internal Revenue had to whistle when they tried to dun the old Henry Hill for his back taxes. Thanks to the government for which he works, Henry Hill has turned out to be the ultimate wiseguy.
Afterword
Prosecutors say the most dangerous time for witnesses is the period during which they are being debriefed and testifying. Since Henry Hill’s testimony lasted over five years and resulted in at least fifty convictions, there was lots of time and there were lots of defendants who wanted Henry Hill dead.
“Some of them thought I was staying in touch with my old girlfriends,” Hill said. “They had private investigators check the girls’ phone numbers. They’ve got connections to people in the phone company and credit card companies. They can find anybody. Their lawyers bribed court clerks to tell them when and where I was testifying. The feds knew all this and drove me in different cars every day with a different driver, tinted windows, vans, a car in front and a car behind just so nobody could get between us.”
It is still incredible to many of the prosecutors and agents who worked on the Henry Hill case that today, thirty years after he decided to flip, and twenty-five years after this book’s publication, Henry Hill turns out to be the last wiseguy in his crew still standing. His mentor, James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke, who failed to kill Hill on the ruse trip to Florida, was ultimately convicted of a murder on Hill’s testimony and died in prison in 1996 at sixty-five. Hill’s surrogate father and Lucchese crime family capo, Paul Vario, was convicted on Hill’s testimony and died in a federal prison in Texas in 1988 at seventy-four. Other members of the gang, whose freedom depended upon their getting rid of Henry, wound up either in prison, convicted on Hill’s testimony, or killed in routine occupational hazards that had nothing to do with Henry Hill.
For instance, in 1985, Anthony Stabile, forty-four, the lethal Burke hit man, who the federal marshals were particularly concerned about, wound up getting killed in an unrelated drug dispute. Stabile was shot twice in the head, stuffed in the trunk of his new Cadillac Coupe de Ville and set on fire in Ozone Park, Queens. Angelo Sepe, forty-three, another member of the Vario crew looking to get Hill, wound up getting shot and killed himself on July 18, 1984. Sepe was killed in the basement of his apartment in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, after threatening to kill a member of Sammy “The Bull” Gravano’s crew. The hitmen, using silencers, first killed Sepe in the entryway of his apartment and then killed his girlfriend, Joanna Lombardo, who was asleep in the bedroom, to erase even the possibility of a witness.
Since 1980, when Henry Hill, Karen, and their two children entered the witness-protection program, the threats have been serious enough for the government to move them at least a dozen times. One night, the Hills had to leave their house so quickly that when Hill’s son’s girlfriend came to pick him up for school in the morning, she found an empty house and no forwarding address. The feds warned Hill’s son about not contacting the girl under any circumstances.
While in the witness-protection program, Hill was addicted to alcohol, speed, and cocaine. He was arrested on drug related charges several times. When temporarily in jail he used his assumed names until the feds got him out. The local cops who arrested him usually had no idea who he was. In 1989, Hill and Karen divorced after twenty-five years of marriage, with Karen receiving custody of the children. Hill was finally removed from the witness program in 1996 upon the death of Jimmy Burke. He continued to have problems with the law (for drunk driving arrests) until 2006, when the actor Ray Liotta, who played Henry Hill in Goodfellas, convinced him to enter a serious rehabilitation program. After many earlier attempts, Hill says, it worked.
“After thirty years on the lam,” Hill says, “now I feel safe enough to travel under my own name, appear on radio and television shows promoting my books, and go to restaurants and malls with my kids and grandchildren. I’m just like everybody else, almost.”
—Nicholas Pileggi
May 2011
Index
A
Abbandando, Frank “Dasher,” 31
Air France heist, 96–104
aborted stick up in, 97
Hill’s spending spree after, 104
inside information in, 96–102
newspaper stories on, 103
storeroom key acquired for, 96–102
success of, 103
time chosen for, 101–02
and tribute payments to mob chiefs, 103–04
airline ticket racket, 82–109
Al and Evelyn’s (delicatessen), 19, 20
Allegro, Joey, 82, 89, 120
Allenwood Correctional Facility, 155, 165–71
drug dealing at, 168–69
food strike at, 165
Hill’s early parole from, 169–71
Hill’s transfer to, 165–69
inmates in, 167–68
religious furloughs from, 168
Aloi, Sebastian “Buster,” 103, 128
Aloi, Vinnie, 128
in Lewisburg, 151, 153
Amelia, Skinny Bobby, 82
Apalachin, N.Y., meeting at (1957)
, 20, 36
Aqueduct Raceway, 30
Arico, William: 268
Hill’s testimony and, 256
in Lewisburg, 153, 156
robberies committed by, 173
Army, U.S., 36–40
Hill incarcerated in, 39
Hill’s enlistment in, 27
Hill’s illegal operations in, 39
Hill’s love for, 39
Hill’s visit home from, 39
arson jobs, 25, 52
Asaro, Jerry, 44,
Karen Hill’s dealings with, 160
Asaro, Vincent, 44, 119
Atlas, Ralph, 99
Auburn (prison), 85
Azores, 41–44
fight with German chef at, 44
front man at, 43
Hill hired by, 41
Lucchese’s nightly visits to, 41, 42
B
Bamboo, Sonny (Angelo McConnanch), 90–91
Bamboo Lounge, 90–91
bankers, stolen securities and, 91
bank forgery, 85
bank loans, 53
Barberra, Eddy, 35
Barbieri, Janet, 203, 205
Barron, Hope, 201
Barzie, Tino (Dante Barzottini), 82
Basile, Philip, 169–70, 173
Hill’s testimony against, 256
basketball point-shaving scheme, see Boston College basketball point-shaving scheme
Bassey, Shirley, 61
Batts, Billy, 115–18, 196
Beans, Vinne, 47
Beansie (counterfeiter), 17
Behm, Douglas, 257
Belmont Raceway, 30
Benny Field’s, 15
Berman, Otto “Abbadabba,” 30
Bernstein, Jerry D., 256
Bilello, Larry, 24
Bivona, Theresa, 35–36
Bobby’s (restaurant), 105
Bonanno crime family, 3, 44
bookmaking operations, 104–07
apartments rented for, 106
Hill arrested for, 106–07
and point-shaving in basketball games, 1, 174, 179, 191
police corruption and, 105–07
straighten-up day in, 105
Bosch, Albert H., 92
Boston College basketball point-shaving scheme,
bookies lined up for, 175
Burke’s and Vario’s approval of, 174–75
failure of, 179
McDonald and, 255–56
players lined up for, 174–78
test games in, 176–78
Branco’s Bar, 35
bricklayer’s local union:
Hill given membership card for, 22
Hill’s employment in, 40–41, 66, 67, 75
Bridal Land, 127–28
Broder, William, 221
Brown, Tommy, see Lucchese,
Gaetano “Three Fingers Brown”
Brownsville–East New York, N.Y., 29–36
ethnic population of, 29
famous mobsters of, 2, 30–31
as perfect place for mob, 29–31
police relations with mobsters in, 32
street crime in, 34–36
Vario gang members in, 31
wiseguy mentality in, 32–33
wiseguys protected in, 33–36
Bruno’s (restaurant), 31
Buchalter, Louis “Lepke,” 30
Bureau of Prisons, U.S., 146
Community Treatment Center of, 182
Hill’s prison farm assignment and, 154–55
Hill’s “rehabilitation” and, 169
Liddy’s food strike and, 165
reduced sentences and, 147
Burke, Frank James, 21, 113
Lufthansa heist and, 185
Burke, James “Jimmy the Gent,” 2, 20–22, 31, 82–92, 97, 108, 121–23, 197–98
in Allenwood, 165, 168
in basketball point-shaving scheme, 174, 179
Batts murder and, 116–18
best friend killed by, 114
as big tipper, 21
childhood of, 84–85
cigarette smuggling business of, 46–47, 72, 75, 76, 114
Colombo and Lucchese families’ negotiations over, 84
Eaton Murder and, 207, 257
Edwards murder and, 194–195
FBI surveillance of, 200–01
Florida vacation of, 139–43
gambling habits of, 55
generosity of, 21, 83
guns bought by, 173, 212–13
at halfway house, 182
Hill’s drug arrest and, 233–34, 238–39
and Hill’s fight with Linda’s boss, 128
Hill’s testimony against, 257–58
increasing craziness of, 213
Kennedy Airport operations of, 82–83, 86–92, 96–99
Krugman’s haranguing of, 193, 195
in Lufthansa heist, 182–85, 190–97, 200–02, 203, 209, 213
marriage of, 78, 83
mob life entered by, 85
police on payroll of, 82
prison sentences served by, 83, 148, 165–66, 258
as small-time entrepreneur, 31
sons of, 21, 113, 161
Spider’s murder and, 119
stealing loved by, 85–86
at Varios’ card games, 21
violent reputation of, 22, 83
water fights loved by, 130
wife’s ex-boyfriend killed by, 83–84
Burke, Jesse James, 21, 161
Burke, Mickey, 72, 76, 78, 114
Hill’s drug arrest and, 233
marriage of, 83
Burns, Petey, 35
“busting out joints,” 53
C
Cafora, Fat Louie, 184, 190
Capone, Al, 30
Capo Trucking Company, 47
card and dice games, 11, 19–21, 109
in army, 37
Burke’s attendance at, 20–21
run by professionals, 20
Carmen (wiseguy’s wife), 70
cars, stolen, 48
Cerami, Dominick, 85
checks, fraudulent, 85
Chicago, Ill., South Side in, 34
Christmas trees, phony, 18
Ciaccio, John, 140, 142
cigarettes, hijacking of, 120–22
cigarette smuggling business:
Hill arrested for, 72–75
Hill’s first involvement in, 46–47
Karen Hill’s views on, 72,
and murder of Burke’s best friend, 114
trucks needed for, 47
Cobb, Ernie, 177
college sports, betting on, 55
point-shaving and, 174–79, 191, 255
Colombia Restaurant, 140
Colombo crime family, 128
Burke’s services for, 84
tribute paid to, 103–04
Confidential Investigating Unit, 106
construction work: falsified payrolls in, 22
Vario’s connections to, 10–11 see also bricklayers local union
Cooperman, Robin 172, 212, 216–17, 223, 226
drug traces in dirty dishes of, 229
Copa, 61
Corcione, Alex, 108, 116
Corcione, Mickey, 108
Costello, Frank, 30
counterfeit money, 17–18, 48
credit-card fraud, 18–19, 45–46, 48, 82, 108
company connections and, 45
Henry’s first arrest for, 26–27
“under the limit” buyers in, 46
D
Daniels, Billy, 133
Davis, Sammy, Jr., 62
Delenhauser, Louis “Cop-out Louie,” 27
DePasquale, Steve, 49
DeSimone, Angela, 71
DeSimone, Helene, 68
DeSimone, Tommy, 32, 71, 82, 104, 108, 130–31, 139, 173
in Air France heist, 99, 102
Batts murdered by, 115–19, 196
in cigarette smuggling business, 47–48
Frankie
Burke’s first hit and, 113
at halfway house, 182
Hill’s partnership with, 47–48, 73
in Kennedy Airport hijackings, 87, 89, 120–23
in Lufthansa heist, 184, 190, 192–193, 195, 200
murder of, 196–197, 206–07
prison sentence of, 148
Remo murdered by, 114
Spider murdered by, 114
Diamond, Stanley, 82, 89, 121–23, 148
dice games, see card and dice games
Dillon, Dennis, 224
Dio, Johnny, 86, 88
prison sentence of, 147, 150–53, 157
Don Pepe’s Vesuvio Restaurant, 120,
Doyle, Jimmy, 153
drug dealing: in Allenwood, 168–69
Burke’s involvement in, 196
code terms in, 225–26
crew used in, 172
Hill arrested for, 1–2, 211–18
Hill’s drug use and, 211
informants in, 219–21
Karen Hill’s role, 152, 162–63, 164, 215–17 232–35, 247
in Lewisburg, 156–57 162–63, 221
Mazzei as partner in, 156, 171–72, 217, 227–28
Vario’s opposition to, 172, 234, 237
wiretaps in, 222–23, 224, 225–26 see also Hill, Henry, narcotics case against
E
Easter, as big-money holiday, 17
Eaton, Richard, 207
Edwards, Parnell Steven “Stacks,” 46, 88
in Lufthansa heist, 184
murder of, 206
Eirich, Rudi, 186–87
electronic bugging devices, 200–01, 222–23, 225
Empire Room, 61
Euclid Avenue Taxicab and Limousine Service, 5–15
ambience of, 5–6, 8
competition of, 24–26
as gathering place for hoods, 8
Hill hired by, 6, 10–11
Hill’s childhood fascination with, 5–6, 9, 11–12
Hill’s income from, 13–15