Goodfellas, the 1990 Martin Scorsese-directed crime film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, follows the 1955 to 1980 rise and fall of Hill and his Lucchese crime family associates. [41] Hill fathered a third child during this time. The Director made transcripts of these sessions, took the lines he liked best, and put them into a revised script the cast worked from during principal photography. Hill was sentenced to four years' probation on March 26. About three months after Bentvena's murder, Burke's friend sold the dog kennel to housing developers, and Burke ordered Hill and DeSimone to exhume Bentvena's corpse and dispose of it elsewhere. During one visit to Stern's show posted online, Hill arrived obviously inebriated, asking for a drink with a beer already in his hand. [30] Hill was cremated the day after his death. [46] The cast did not meet Hill until a few weeks before the film's premiere. [12], In June 1960, at around 17 years old, Hill joined the United States Army, serving with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Coll escaped conviction due to a lack of credible witnesses. In a statement to ABCNews.com, Liotta said, "Although I played Henry Hill in the movie 'Goodfellas,' I only met him a few short times so I can't say I knew him but, I do know he lived a complicated life. A Warner Bros. Later on, Hill and his wife got divorced. In 1963, he returned to New York and began the most notorious phase of his criminal career: arson, intimidation,[14] running an organized stolen car ring,[15] and hijacking trucks. Date of death: 12 June, 2012: Died Place: Los Angeles, California, USA: . The self-proclaimed mobster first came onto the media scene in the nonfiction book Wiseguy, by journalist Nicholas Pileggi, detailing the never-before-revealed day-to-day life of a working mobster his violence, his wild spending sprees, his wife, his mistresses, his code of honor, according to the books back cover. [30], Jimmy Burke was given 12 years in prison for the 197879 Boston College point-shaving scandal, involving fixing Boston College basketball games. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.". He and his family entered the Witness Protection Program, which seems wise. Henry Hill was born on June 11, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States, is Actor, Producer. "I had paper bags filled with jewelry stashed in the kitchen. Between 1955 to 1980, Hill was a member of the Lucchese criminal family and its associates. In 1955, Hill began to warm up to Paul Vario by running some errands for the mafioso at Vario's meat stores, and eventually went on to be among Vario's trusted associates. Hill said that before DeSimone started to beat Bentvena, DeSimone yelled, "Shine these fucking shoes!". Hill had left his luggage at Lee Bird Field Airport in North Platte, Nebraska, containing drug paraphernalia, glass tubes with cocaine and methamphetamine residue. However, on the commentary for the film Goodfellas, he states that Bentvena's body was buried in the basement of Robert's Lounge, a bar and restaurant owned by Burke, and only later was put into the car crusher. "His heart just gave out," Hill's partner Lisa told reporters, adding, with half a smile: "He went out pretty peacefully For a goodfella.". He began running errands for the men at the stand that soon led to small-time crimes. Net Worth 2020. Hill testified against his former Mafia associates, resulting in 50 convictions, including those of caporegime (captain) Paul Vario and fellow associate James Burke on multiple charges. His life inspired Ray Liotta's character in Goodfellas (1990). Hill: Same kind of golf clubs? ?) On July 12, 1978, Hill was paroled after four years and resumed his criminal career. [21][22] Hill was imprisoned with Vario, who was serving a sentence for tax evasion, and several members of John Gotti's Gambino crew. You never rat on your friends and you always keep your mouth shut, Hills character, played by Ray Liotta, was told in the movie. Net Worth in 2022: $1 Million - $5 Million: Salary in 2022: Under Review: Net Worth in 2021: Pending . An avid painter who contributed his artwork to auctions, he gave money to causes ranging from local police cadets to the homeless, and every Thanksgiving for five years he would dish out food to the poor, said Caserta and her son. Capone died in 1947. "Paulie" Vario was the head of the Lucchese crime family crew on which Goodfellas was based. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Hill's journey through the criminal underworld became the subject of Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning film, in which he was played by Ray Liotta. DeSimone leaned over to Hill and Burke and said, "I'm gonna kill that fuck". Scorsese initially named the film Wise Guy but subsequently, with Pileggi's agreement, changed the name to Goodfellas to avoid confusion with the unrelated television crime drama Wiseguy. This milestone was celebrated with a private screening hosted by Hill for a select group of invitees at the Museum of the American Gangster. [45][46] Driving to and from the set, Liotta listened to FBI audio cassette tapes of Hill, so he could practice speaking like his real-life counterpart. All Rights Reserved. [18], Shortly before midnight on April 6, 1967, Hill and DeSimone drove to the Air France cargo terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport with an empty suitcase, the largest Hill could find. Family Net Worth # Name Relationship Net Worth Salary Age Occupation #1: Justin Hill: Children Not Known. [36][30][37] In 1990, his wife Karen filed for divorce after 23 years of marriage. He has used a large part of his fortune to endow the state's biggest philanthropic organization, the $800 million Barr Foundation, while his wife heads the board of the Isabella Stewart Gardner. [7], After Bentvena was beaten and presumed killed, DeSimone, Burke, and Hill placed his body in the trunk of Hill's car for transport. The card also allowed Hill to facilitate the pickup of daily policy bets and loan payments to Vario from local construction sites. Orr also told ABCNews.com that Hill has another child who lives in Nebraska.media: 16558863, quicklist: 5title: Hill's Second Careertext: After moving to Malibu, Hill spent a lot of time at home painting -- a typical scene showed a man being shot and falling off a building. Two years later, he cemented his trusted status when, after being arrested for extortion in Florida, he chose to serve almost a decade in prison rather than implicate any associates. Hill later said that members of Lucchese and Gambino crews moved into the club en masse, including high-ranking Gambino family members who "were always there". However, Hill never met Burke there; instead they met at Burke's sweatshop with Karen and asked for the address in Florida where Hill was to kill Bobby Germaine's son with Anthony Stabile. In an interview with CBS News in 2009, Gregg, whose face was disguised, recalled that there was a breaking point where he couldn't take it any more. ", "Whenever we needed money, we'd rob the airport," Liotta says in the movie. He was first arrested at age 16 for using a stolen credit card in an attempt to buy tires for the brother of gang leader Paul Vario, and impressed the gang leaders for refusing to squeal on them. But in the early 1990s, Hill and his wife were expelled from the program after being arrested several times on narcotics-related charges. From an early age, Hill admired the local mobsters who socialized across the street from his home, including Paul Vario, a capo in the Lucchese crime family. He was released after serving 4 years. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? No; Hill, what his criminal compadres would call a rat, had a much more boring (though perhaps not for him) exit to the choir invisible. A young kid who was a mule of Hill's "ratted" him out to Narcotics Detectives Daniel Mann and William Broder. [7] The theft was not discovered until the following Monday, when a Wells Fargo truck arrived to pick up the cash to be delivered to the French American Banking Corporation. Pittsburgh Connection: Somebody will just exchange dogs. Fortunately for her, it's tricky to find out exactly what she's up to these days. But the film, which ends with Hill -- portrayed by Ray Liotta -- entering the witness protection plan, was only a new beginning for Hill, who spent the next 20-plus years still in hiding from the Mafia, which had a bounty on his head worth more than $1 million. He died in the electric chair at New York's Sing Sing prison in 1944. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Although not related by blood, Hill worked his way up in the Lucchese crime family from a young age. "I've been on every drug humanly possible, and I can't get a handle on alcohol," he told The Associated Press in 2009. An associate in New York's Lucchese crime family, Hill told detailed, disturbing and often hilarious tales of life in the mob that first appeared in the 1986 book "Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family," by Nicholas Pileggi, a journalist Hill sought out shortly after becoming an informant. His net worth has been growing significantly in 2020-2021. Twenty here. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Pittsburgh Connection: You won't hold my lady friend up? Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. And I said, you know, if you're going to do a book about Napoleon, it might be interesting to see that world from the point of view of the soldier. Hill's wiretap on March 29 is an example of the bizarre vocabulary: Pittsburgh Connection: You know the golf club and the dogs you gave me in return?Hill: Yeah.Pittsburgh Connection: Can you still do that?Hill: Same kind of golf clubs?Pittsburgh Connection: No. The referee had incurred gambling debts on horse races. The working-class family consisted of Henry and his eight siblings who grew up in Brownsville, a poorer area of the East New York section of Brooklyn. Hill would be a "no show" and put on a building contractor's construction payroll, guaranteeing him a weekly salary of $190 (equivalent to $1,830 in 2021). George "Baby Face" Nelson, a car thief by age 14, associated with the likes of Al Capone and John Dillinger. One of the people he could not stop dialing was Howard Stern. I'm an average nobody. [3] Hill, his wife Karen, and their two children (Gregg and Gina)[29] entered the U.S. Perhaps fame gave Hill a free pass. I thought that was kind of weird at the time but he did a great job," Hill told the Telegraph, adding that he taught De Niro the correct technique for pistol whipping a victim. . Hills longtime companion, Lisa Caserta told CBS News that he died surrounded by family members and that years of smoking and a recent heart attack were cause for his poor health. "He knew how to bribe and he knew how to con. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much Ciaccio allegedly owed a large gambling debt to their friend, union boss Casey Rosado. CBS News aired Caserta's report of Hill's death, during which she stated: "He went out pretty peacefully, for a goodfella." He subsequently entered the Witness Protection Program, but was removed from the program in 1987. As per our current Database, Henry Hill died on June 12, 2012 (2012-06-12) (aged 69) Los Angeles, California, U.S.. Physique Biography Biography Timeline 1943 He gradually moved up the ladder, graduating to arson and minor extortion rackets and surviving an early arrest for credit card fraud. To the ire of the federal Marshals, they were forced to relocate him one final time to Sarasota, Florida. Hill was portrayed by Ray Liotta. He was 69. Known for wearing custom suits, fedoras and spats, Capone was infamous in 1920s Chicago for his bootlegging and racketeering activities. In the end he died at a hospital after a long illness, going out like all the average nobodies he once pitied. [portion of conversation omitted] [44] Robert De Niro, who portrayed Jimmy Burke, often called Hill several times a day to ask how Burke walked, held his cigarette, and so on. According to Gina and Gregg, Hill spent his days at the racetrack gambling and his nights drinking. In the end he died at a hospital . The final possibility is the most banal. Far bigger crimes awaited, including the 1967 theft of $420,000 in cash from the Air France cargo terminal at JFK airport in New York, among the biggest cash heists in history at the time. In August 2011, Hill appeared in the special "Mob Week" on AMC; he and other former mob members talked about The Godfather, Goodfellas, and other such mob films.[53]. He is from USA. Associated Press Writer Shaya Mohajer contributed to this report. He first met the notorious hijacker and Lucchese family associate James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke in 1956. "They'd been vaporized, liquidated, erased." [20], Edward A. McDonald, the head of the Brooklyn Organized Crime Strike Force, arrested Hill as a material witness in the Lufthansa robbery. In November 1972, Burke and Hill were arrested for beating Gaspar Ciaccio in Tampa, Florida. Marshals' Witness Protection Program in 1980, changed their names, and moved to undisclosed locations in Omaha, Nebraska; Independence, Kentucky; Redmond, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. He died of respiratory failure on November 22, 1988, at age 73 while incarcerated in the FCI Federal Prison in Fort Worth. Henry Hill, Jr. (June 11, 1943 - June 12, 2012) was a gangster in New York City who worked for the Mafia. Henry Hill, a mobster-turned-informant for the FBI died in 2012 at age 69. He also continued to hustle: in charge of kitchen detail, he sold surplus food, loan sharked pay advances to fellow Soldiers, and sold tax-free cigarettes. The targeted money was stored in a strong-room inside the Air France cargo hold, permanently protected by a security guard. Henry Hill Net Worth His net worth has been growing significantly in 2020-2021. Can you still give me the dogs if I can pay for the golf clubs? He is a member of famous Actor with the age 69 years old group. After a whirlwind romance, the two got married in Virginia City, Nevada, despite Hill's already being married. Twenty here. Hill heard on a wiretap that his associates Angelo Sepe and Anthony Stabile were anxious to have him killed, and that they were telling Burke that Hill "is no good" and "is a junkie". Maybe no one got around to whacking Hill, or each mafioso thought it was someone else's job. Hill, who once called the film "95 percent accurate," died Tuesday at age 69 of an undisclosed illness, Nate Caserta, the son of Hill's fianc Lisa Schinelli Casterta, confirmed. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi contacted Hill about writing a book about his life story. In 2014, the ESPN-produced 30 for 30 series debuted Playing for the Mob,[54] the story about how Hill and his Pittsburgh associates, and several Boston College basketball players, committed the point-shaving scandal during the 197879 season, an episode briefly mentioned in the movie. In 2012, Henry Hill collaborated with the author, Daniel Simone, in writing and developing a non-fiction book titled, The Lufthansa Heist,[56] a portrayal of the famous 1978 Lufthansa Airline robbery at Kennedy Airport. But setting up his own website meant opening himself up to abuse, so much so that he established a section called "Threat of the Week." Her son added: "He cared about family. Restaurant ownership and murder of William "Billy Batts" Bentvena, Informant and the witness-protection-program, Hill's bigamy, subsequent arrests, and divorce, Last edited on 26 February 2023, at 20:16, 197879 Boston College basketball point-shaving, 197879 Boston College point-shaving scandal, A sister mourns 'goodfella' Henry Hill in Spring Hill, "Henry Hill dies at 69; mob informant was subject of 'GoodFellas', "Goodfella Henry Hill still living in hiding 20 years after film release", "$420,000 Is Missing From Locked Room at Kennedy Airport", "Airport Cash Loot Was $5 Million; Bandits' Van Is Found in Canarsie", "Key figures in the BC point shaving scandal", "Reformed mobster believes Donaghy might not be alone", "Henry Hill, Mobster and Movie Inspiration, Dies at 69", "James (Jimmy the Gent) Burke, Gangster, 64, of 'Wiseguy' Fame", Paul Vario, 73; Called a Leader Of Crime Group, "Secrets & Wives. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. As his operation grew, so did Hill's own addiction to the drug. DeSimone and Hill entered the unsecured area unchallenged and unlocked the door with a duplicate key. Can't even get decent food. His story was the basis for Martin Scorsese's acclaimed 1990 film, "Goodfellas." Ray Liotta played Hill in the film. [31] Burke died of cancer while serving his life sentence, on April 13, 1996, at the age of 64. On April 7, 1967 Hill and Tommy DeSimone executed the Air France robbery following a tip-off from Robert "Frenchy" McMahon. More afraid of his associates than prison, Hill decided he had no choice but to become an informant, and signed an agreement with a Department of Justice task force that would prove more fruitful than anyone imagined. [8] This didn't mean Hill would be getting or keeping all that money every week, however; he received a portion of it, and the rest was kept and divided among the Varios. In June 1960, Hill joined the Army, serving with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. As per our current Database, Henry Hill died on June 12, 2012(2012-06-12) (aged 69) Los Angeles, California, U.S.. Net Worth. Market data provided by Factset. By doing several errands for the mafioso at Vario's meat markets . Al Capone, or "Scarface" as he was popularly known, remains one of America's most notorious gangsters. Biography tells us that Hill aspired to hoodlumhood from the age of 12. He eventually released a recipe book, The Wise Guy Cookbook and a signature brand of pasta sauce. The tinge of real danger undoubtedly added to Hill's prestige and authority. Scorsese initially named the film Wise Guy but subsequently, with Pileggi's agreement, changed the name to Goodfellas to avoid confusion with the unrelated television crime drama Wiseguy. [20], According to the book Wiseguy, after William "Billy Batts" Bentvena was released from prison in 1970, a welcome home party was thrown for him at Robert's Lounge, which was owned by Burke. No golf clubs. She said Hill had recently had a heart attack before his death and died of complications after a long history of heart problems associated with smoking. Hill, his wife Karen and their two children entered the witness protection program, changing their names and relocating to 10 times to places including Omaha, Neb., Independence, Ky., and Redmond, Wash.