posted 10th June 2023
Henry Hill had never looked so good as he did in that movie. These words from former Colombo family Capo, Michael Franzese, who knew Hill, give us an insight into one of the main characters behind a cinema classic. Hill was born in New York and grew up in a working-class section of Brooklyn. He wasn't ever going to be a great academic and struggled at school. The temptation of crime was all encompassing for a boy like Hill who used to idolise the gangsters who frequented the cab stand across the street from Henry's home. Over the years he became an associate of Paul Vario, his brother Tutti and his eventual criminal mentor, Jimmy Burke.
Jimmy Burke decided on a life of crime at a tender age. His life had been traumatic since his birth to an Irish Prostitute from Dublin and an unknown father. His mother left him in care after he was born, and he was shunted around various foster families. By the time he was in his 20's, he was a big earner for Lucchese family member Paul Vario who took him under his wing.
Tommy De Simone was born to be a gangster. Many of his relatives were in the Mob as far away as Los Angeles and his temperament was never suited for an ordinary life. He was a well-known hoodlum when he was young and this bought him to the attention of local Lucchese family associate, Jimmy Burke.
Paul Vario was always ambitious. His Mob pedigree was substantial and Vario was known to have a violent temper. By the late 1960's he was a senior member of the Lucchese crime family becoming its underboss. Vario had become close to an up-and-coming criminal, Jimmy Burke, and spotted his potential very early on. Vario approved his crew's infamous Lufthansa robbery where, under Burke's leadership, they stole $5million in cash and $1million in jewellery. The robbery was the largest in American history and made Vario and his crew a top priority for the FBI.
These key figures from Scorsese's historic gang caper made up the fabric of the greatest crime film in movie history. The leeching character of Henry Hill, the scheming mastermind of Jimmy Burke, the psychopathic killer Tommy De Simone and the ruthless hothead Paul Vario made for a cast that were every bit as enthralling as appalling. The movie portrays Hill as a serious gangster in the first half of the movie, but he was nothing more than a low-level criminal who takes a turn towards drug dealing and addiction. Jimmy Burke was a serious criminal, a killer and robber who died behind bars. Tommy De Simone disappeared in 1979 and his body has never been found. Paul Vario died in prison after a long and successful criminal career.
The legacy of Goodfellas for cinema is how to make a classic movie based on real truths. The intricate relationships between the film's protagonists and their reflection of the real-life personalities are what makes the film a masterpiece of intrigue. Goodfellas, compared to Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, is based on real living people. Although Don Corleone is a compression of numerous real-life Mafia figures, the Godfather is an entirely fictional enterprise whereas Goodfellas can always be analysed with the true story of the Vario crew. Goodfellas does take artistic liberties, like changing the last names of everyone except for Henry Hill and exaggerating the underworld importance of Hill. But it is an inspiring account of how street life operated during the 1960' and 70's and how those powerful violent criminals ended up behind bars.
