In 1980, Hill got arrested for heroin trafficking, and, knowing that he was facing a long sentence and also that Burke and Vario were planning to kill him, decided to become an informant and entered the Witness Protection Program.Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 17:36:29 Boxid IA120121212-IA1 Boxid_2 CH114201 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City New York, NY Donor The heist was carried out by DeSimone and Burke's associates Robert 'Frenchy' McMahon and Montague Montemurro in December of that year. Kennedy International Airport after being tipped off to the lax security by an inside man. In 1978, Burke masterminded a robbery of the Lufthansa cargo terminal at John F.

It was there that, on June 11, 1970, Burke and DeSimone murdered William Bentvena (also known as William 'Billy Batts' Devino), a made man with the Gambino crime family and a close friend of Gambino family captain John Gotti. In 1969, Hill began an affair with Linda Coppociano behind Karen's back and invested the profits of his crimes into purchasing a restaurant/lounge called The Suite. They had their first child, Gregg, in 1966, and a second, Gina, in 1968. Hill and Friedman continued to date, and they eloped only four months after meeting. In 1965, Hill reluctantly joined Vario's son on a double date, where he met Karen Friedman, a young Jewish woman from the Five Towns section of New York. In 1964, Hill met Tommy DeSimone, aka 'Two Gun Tommy,' a young aspiring gangster with psychopathic tendencies, and both worked as stick-up men for Vario, hijacking trucks and stealing their contents for resale. He returned to the streets of New York, where he was happily welcomed back by Vario and Burke. While stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, however, Hill continued his criminal activities, which led to his dishonorable discharge in 1963. When questioned about his decision by Vario, Hill explained that he wanted to please his father, who disapproved of his son's association with the Mafia.

In 1960, when Hill was 17, he enlisted in the United States Army, to the surprise of his peers. Hill refused to cooperate with the police, earning the respect of Vario and Vario's close associate, Irish hijacker and fence Jimmy Burke. In 1959, Hill was arrested for the first time for using stolen credit cards. Vario quickly 'promoted' Hill to selling loose cigarettes and other stolen goods on his behalf.

Henry Hill began his life of crime at age 11 in 1955, by working as a go-fer for Paul Vario, the local boss of Hill's working-class Irish/Italian neighborhood. The book is the basis for the 1990 Academy Award–winning film Goodfellas directed by Martin Scorsese. Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family is a 1985 non-fiction book by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi that chronicles the life of Henry Hill, a Mafia associate turned informant.

Wiseguy by nicholas pileggi