Henry Hill, 1943–2012

When Warner Bros. approached writer Nick Pileggi to make his book Wiseguy into a movie, he had to come up with another title, since a TV show already had that name. Pileggi asked the book’s subject, Henry Hill, what other name his fellow mobsters went by. Hill’s answer, “Goodfellas,” became the title of the movie that would make him one of the most famous wiseguys of all.

Hill first became involved with the Mafia as a teenager, said NPR.org, running errands for Jimmy “the Gent” Burke, “who peeled 20s from his sleeves and slapped them in the palms of busboys, waiters, and judges.” Hill worked with New York’s Lucchese crime family, selling drugs, shaking down storekeepers, and stealing jewelry. He was part of the gang that, in 1978, stole $5.8 million from a Lufthansa terminal in John F. Kennedy Airport—at the time the largest cash robbery in U.S. history.

Federal officials caught up with Hill in 1980, said The Washington Post, arresting him for drug trafficking. Facing a lifetime in jail, “he decided to talk.” Hill’s testimony sent over 50 mafiosi to jail, and made him a “turncoat with a price on his head.” He entered the federal witness protection program, and lived under assumed names in Nebraska, Kentucky, and Washington state.

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But Hill couldn’t hide his true nature, said The New York Times. He was arrested at least six times for burglary and drug possession while under witness protection, and left the program in 1987. At the time of his death, he was living openly in California and making money by selling GoodFellas mugs and aprons on his website.