PiLEggi. Summary. Wiseguy. Life in a mafia family. SimonAndSchuster. 1985.

Here is the summary of the book, because I want to get rid of this book.

Introduction

22 May 1980, decided to cease to exist.

Nassau County Jail, possible lifesentence, narcotics conspiracy. The federal prosecutors, Lufthansa German Airlines. NYPD, tenmurders after the Lufthansa Heist. DOJ, murder which involved Michele Sindona. The Organised Crime Strike Force, Boston College scheme. Treasury, crates of automatic weapons and Claymore mines. Brooklyn DA, information on a body in a refrigerationtruck.

Arrested threeweeksearlier, not a big news.

Henry knew everything about all the levels in the family.

Paul Vario, his back turned. James Burke, planning to murder Henry.

Part of theWitSec. Easy to vanish himself, his home – his motherinlaw, his car – his wife, SScard and DL forgeds, nevervoted & nevertaxed, always airplaneticket with assumed names. Theonlyrecord, birthcertificate & rapsheet.

Oneyearlater, PiLEggi approached by the attorney. “At that point I had been writing about organisedcrimefigures for most of my career as a journalist and had gotten bored with the egomaniacal ravings of illiterate hoods masquerading as benevolent godfathers.”

Spoke with odd detachment, eye of an outsider for detail.

1.      Chapter 01

1955, 391 Pine Street, near Pitkin Avenue in the Brownsville-East New York section of Brooklyn.

Intrigued by the cabstand for a long time.

Sight of Wealth, Power, and girth.

Henry Hill Sr., constructioncompany electrician. Migrated when twelveyearsold, shortly after the death of his father. Supported his mother and three younger brothers.

Carmela Costa Hill. Migrated when small child. Married Sr. when seventeen. Alwaysmaintained a sicilian kitchen. Believed in the religious powers of certain sicilian saints.

Henry Jr. always at the cabstand.

“Henry Hill Sr. alwaysangry.” “Noisey house.” “Michael Hill paralysed from the waist down.” “Henry Hill spending time at the cabstand.” “Beating once in a while.”

The Euclid Avenue Taxicab & Limousine Service, the unofficial HQ for Paul Vario. Description skip. What else is new? Hated unnecessary Violence, i.e. the kind which he hadn’t ordered.

Henry began running errands. “cleaning boat.” “the rest of the day fishing.” “Paulie never had his name on anything.” “Instinct for errands.”

Presto Pizzeria on Pitkin Avenue & Fountainbleau Florist on Fulton Street, owned by Paul Vario.

Lenny Vario, constructionunion official, the eldest.

Paul Vario, the second.

Tommy Vario, uniondelegate for constructionworkers, the third.

Vito Vario, AKA Tuddy, the cabstand.

Salvatore Vario, AKA Babe, floating dice and card games.

Henry at the family gatherings of the Varios.

“The heritage of his mother, a great advantage.” “Ambition to be a gangster.”

Previledge in the neighbourhood suddenly.

Henry Hill, an ideal errandboy. Cleaning taxicabs & limousines.

Henry Hill, how to drive, taught by Tuddy. Phonebook on the driver’s seat. End of the week. Six months, inchclearing accuracy. His father never learned how to drive.

“Luckiest kid in the world.” More money than he could spend.

“His father pathetic.” “Stolen goods all day long.” “A crate of stolen toasters, cashmeres, untaxed cigarettes.” “Policyslips.”

“Benny Field’s on Pitkin Avenue.” “His mother, ‘You look just like a gangster!’”

An apprentice most devoted. [DonaldTrump and his TVshow.]

2.      Chapter 02

“Thirteenyearsold.” “Collecting numbers & selling fireworks.” “Selling beer in the school yard.” “Fence for juvenile burglars.” “Counterfeit twenties, how to soften up the counterfeit bills.” “Methods of socialengineering.”

“To drill holes in the trunks of junk Christmas tree, Stuff the holes with loose branches.” “Premium prices.” “A day or two, arrow, the branches fall apart.” “The trees would collapse even faster once they were weighed down with decorations.”

“Tossing the most expensive items through the windows.” “Automobile parked strategically nearby.”

“Paul Vario, a capo, (who doesn’t need it), Liquor tastes better on Muldoons, i.e. stolen money.”

“Assembling the crapgame tables, Driving the high rollers.” “Radar for plainclothes-man.”

“Gambling.” “Usually between thirty and forty guys playing, rich garment-center guys, bookmakers, unionguys, doctors, dentists, just about every wiseguy.” “Games were run by the professionals, a flat fee or a percentage depending on the deal.” “Money handled by the Varios.” “Professional dealers, boxmen, stickmen.” “Doorman, usually guys from the cabstand.” “Loan sharks who worked for Paulie who picked up some of the action. Every pot was cut five or six percent for the house, and there was a bartender who kept the drinks coming.”

“Coffee & sandwich from Al & Evelyn’s delicatessen.” “Henry started making the sandwich.” “A deal with Al & Evelyn, seven cents on the dollar on every card game collar Henry spent.”

“James Burke, already a legend.” “Hundred just for opening the door, hundreds to the guys who ran the game, hundred to the bartender.” “Fivebucks to Henry everytime a sandwich or a beer.” “After a while, twentydollars.” “He was sawbucking me to death.” “One of the city’s biggest hijackers.” “Jimmy the Gent, Fiftydollars in to the wallet of the victim.” “He said bribing cops was like feeding elephants at the zoo, ‘All you need is peanuts.’” “His sons, James Burke & Jesse James Burke.”

The fourteenth birthday of Henry Hill, the bricklayerslocal card. Good salary, various benefits. Henry was given the card so that he could be put on a building contractor’s payroll as a noshow and his salary divided among the Varios. “Wetting the new bricks with a fire hose.”

“The letter of the truant officer.” “Got his shit beaten out of him.” “The mailman of the Hills kidnapped, into the pizza oven feet first.” “No more letters from anybody.”

“A hand blasted by a shotgun.” “The first time a man shot witnessed.”

“A guy from the South, the Rebel Cab Company on Glenmore Avenue.” “Arson, a fivegallons drum of gasoline, a hammer with a rag wrapped around its head, gasoline on the newspapers wrinkled, matchbook on fire.” “I quickly thre it through the broken cab window in case the gas fumes flashed back. I went to the second cab and lit another matchbook, and then I did the third and then the fourth. It was while I was next to the fourth cab that I felt the first explosion. I could feel the heat and one explosion after another, except by then I was running so fast I never had a chance to look back. At the corner I could see Tuddy. He was reflected in the orange flames. He was waving the empty gasoline can like a track coach, as though I needed anyone to tell me to hurry.”

Sixteenyearsold, arrested for the first time. Texaco creditcard. “Lenny Vario didn’t check the card.” “Tires.” “Liberty Avenue station.” “Real George Raft.” “Louis Delenhauser, AKA Cop out Louie.” “The arraignment, fivehundreds dollars bail.” “All the Varios in the back of the room.” “Paulie wasn’t there because he was serving thirty days on a contempt hearing.” “To Vincent’s Clam Bar in Little Italy for scungilli and wine.” “Twomonthslater, attempted petty larceny & sixmonths suspendedsentence.”

“The gun of his father at basement.” “Lending it to Tuddy.” “I knew that my father knew what I was doing. He didn’t say anything, but I knew he knew. It was like waiting for the electric chair.”

“Almostseventeenyearsold.” “The recuirtmentoffice, the paratroopers.”

3.      Chapter 03

Description of organised crime in Brownsville-East New York. A sixsquares miles workingclassarea with some light industry and modest one and two family houses. (Tens of thousands) of eyetalians and jews escaped from MulberryStreet and theLowerEastSide. Jewish hoods, BlackHand extortionists, camorra kidnappers, mafiosi. The birthplace of MurderIncorporated. JohnnyTorrio, AlCapone, BenjaminSiegel AKA Bugsy, MeyerLansky, LouisBuchalter AKA Lepke, FrankCostello, OttoBerman AKA Abbadabba, VitoGenovese, GestanoLucchese AKA ThreeFingersBrown, HarryStrauss AKA PittsburghPhil, FrankAbbandando AKA Dasher, VitoGurino AKA Socko.

Paul Vario. There were always some heads to bash on picketlines, businessmen to be squeezed into making their loansharkpayments, independents to be straightened out over territorial lines, potential witnesses to be murdered, and stool pigeons to be buried. And there were always young cabstand toughguys such as Bruno Facciolo, Frank Manzo, and Joey Russo who were ready to go out and break a few heads whenever Paul gave the order, and such young shooters as James Burke, Anthony Stabile, and Tommy DeSimone who were happy to take on the most violent assignments.

All of them, entrepreneurs smalltime. Frank Manzo AKA Frankie the Wop, Joey Russo. Always some kind of policescrutiny, suspicion, arrest, indictment. The numbers of lawyers and bailbondsmen committed to memory.

Contempt for the workingclass legitimate.

Not-themostintelligent, not-themostrich, not-themosttough. It is the talent for violence.

Protected by the legitimate members of the community, the merchants, teachers, phonerepairmen, garbagecollectors, busdepotdispatchers, housewives, old homosapiens lying in the sun. The same school, shared friends. The extraordinary insularity.

Muggings, burglaries, pursesnatchings, rapes almostnonexistent.

“Black kid in a sweatshirt and jeans.” “Theresa Bivona.” “The black and Theresa inside a building.” “Knife against the face of Theresa.” “Wiseguys crammed in the hallways.” “A flying nigger.” [Oh, shit!]

11 Jun 1960, days after the seventeenth birthday, Entered the paratroopers. FortBraggNC. Loved the Army, boottraining, food, la chute.

“Hustling in the Army. Excess food, gambling.” “Fight with a farmer.” “Gift from Paulie, wise-angle rearviewmirros.”

4.      Chapter 04

1963, fight with threemarines, twomonths in FortBraggstockade. Lost the pay and benefits for the period, stripped of his ranks.

“Unionbricklayer.” “Later I found out that Paulie made Bobby Scola, the president of the bricklayersunion, put the muscle on some builders to put us on their payrolls. Bobby then made us unionapprentices and gave us cards in the union.” “We didn’t do any work. We didn’t even show up regular enough to pick up our own paychecks. We had guys we knew who were really working on the job bring our money to the cabstand or to Frankie the Wop’s Villa Capra restaurant in Cedarhurst, where we hung out. We’d cash the checks, and by monday, we’d blown the money partying or buying clothes or gambling. We didn’t even pay our union dues. Why should we?”

“The Azores, a restaurant next to the Lido Beach Hotel in the Rockaways.” “Maître d’hôtel.” “Thomas Lucchese.” “Tommy Brown, the boss whole garmentcenter.” “Bigmoney guys, Then they’d stick me with a brandnew twenty or even a fifty that was folded so sharp it felt like it would make my palms bleed.”

“Saw how the rich people lived.” “Tommy Morton, the official owner, weekly payment no matter what.” “In other words, Tommy Morton only began to see a dollar after he had paid the wiseguys and they’d gotten theirs off the top. That’s one of the reasons why Morton hated Lenny and me so much. First, he didn’t need a couple of wiseass kids like us ruining his business. He had to pay us twohundreds a week apiece, and for that he could have hired a real maître d’hôtel and bartender. Also, we were stealing him bline. Everything we stole or gave away came out of his pocket. I know that we used to drive him nuts, but he couldn’t do a thing about it.”

“Fight with german chef.” “A 1965 yellow Bonneville convertible of Lenny Vario, burned by Paul Vario, executed by Henry Hill.”

“Creditcards.” “Creditline, action of purchase below the limit.” “$10.000 worth of merchandise in a day.” “Selling the creditcards to the ‘under the limits’ people, ‘the call-in figure.’” “Fortyfivedollars on a fiftydollars card all afternoon. Blenders, radios, cigarettes, razorblades.”

“Stolen cigarettes from James Burke.” “$2.10 in the South, $3.75 in NY with taxes.” [Business hates competition.]

“Importing the cigarettes.” “To WashingtonDC, to a truck-rental place, to a cigarette wholesalers inNC.” “We used every scheme in the world to get those trucks, from bribery to sending local people in to make the rentals. We burned out half the U-Haul places in Washington, D.C. They went bust. Vinnie Beans had the Capo Trucking Company in the Bronx, and so we started renting his trucks. He didn’t know what we were going to do with them, so that went along fine until he realised he was missing a dozen trucks. When he found out that they had been seized by the State he dried up our supply. If we hadn’t been with Paulie, believe me, we would have been dead. Eventually we had to buy our own trucks – the business was that good.”

“Stealing cars.” “Eddy Rigaud, an importexport agent for the Sea Land Service in Haiti.”

“Chauffeur of Paul Vario.” “Paul Vario, always communication through his subordinate.” “Policedepartment for wiseguys~.” “Cops off your back, wiseguysscholarship.”

“Tuddy got me a couple of grand setting some fires in supermarkets and restaurants. He and the owners cleaned up on the insurance money. I had learned how to use Sterno and toilet paper and how to mold it along the beams. You could light that with a match. No problem. But with a gasoline or kerosene fire, you can’t strike a match, because of the fumes. The usual trick to start them is to place a lighted cigarette in a book of matches, so that when the cigarette burns down to the matches, the flash will ignite the room.”

“I made a lot of grief for people. I was always in a brawl. I didn’t care. I had ten or twelve guys behind me. [Accurate.] We’d go into a place in the Rockaways or some place in the Five Towns and we’d start to drink and eat.” “Anger if asked about the bill.” “To Paul Vario about the problem of the oustanding amount.” “Partner with Paul Vario.” “Bankloans & bust the place.” “A line of credit, Call suppliers, new distributors, wholesalers, sales. ARROW the back door.” “You just milk the place dry.” “Burn the joint.”

“Manager of a local supermarket, additional checkout lane.”

“Always gambling.” “RichPerry, professional betting.” “He was the brain who figured out how to increase the odds on the Superfecta bets at the trotters, so that for a while we were doing so well that rather than alert the track that we were winning all the time, we had to hire tenpercenters just to go and cash our winning tickets. There was so much money involved that some guys – those who had records and didn’t want to be seen as the winners – even had cops they knew cashing the tickets for them. In the Superfecta races – which they have since banned – a bettor had to pick the first four winners in a race in their exact order. Perry figured that by getting two or three of the drivers to pull back or get their horses boxed in, we could eliminate two or three of the eight horses from the race. Then we could bet multiples of the remaining combinations at a minimal cost. For instance, it would normally cost $5.040 to buy the 1.680 three-dollar tickets to cover every possible combination of winning horses in an eight-horse race. Since the average Superfecta paid off about $3.000, there was no profit. By eliminating two or three horses from the race, we could almost guarantee ourselves a winning ticket, because mathematically, there were now only 360 different winning combinations, and they only cost us $1.080 per ticket. When we had a fixed one going, we’d bet $25.000 or $50.000 on the race. We usually reached the drivers through ‘hawks,’ backstretch regulars who lived and drank with the trainers and drivers. Sometimes they were wives, girlfriends, exdrivers, retired trainers – people who really knew how the trotting world worked. We got to the hawks by just hanging around, taking their bets, loan-sharking them money, getting them good deals on hot televisions and designer clothes. You’d be amazed at how easy it all was.”

5.      Chapter 05

Financial state, from comfortable to broke within hours. Borrowing until the next score, crooked payday. Expenses nonexistent. Events of the day the most spontaneous and the most serendipitous.

Henry: “PaulieJunior & Diane, a jewish girl.” “Henry Hill & Karen Fried.” “At the Frankie the Wop’s Villa Capra.”

Skip. They start dating.

Karen: “The guy across the street.” “Near Belmont racetrack, about three miles from home.” “He said I had grown up. The usual garbage.”

Henry: “22caliber shorteye automatic.” “Cops.” “The gun in a milkbox, notfound by the cops.”

Skip.

Henry: “Marriage disapprouved by the families of both of them.” “Eloped toWaldenNC.”

Karen: “Henry Hill, religious instructions, circumcised.” “Jewish wedding.”

6.      Chapter 06

Certainly Karen Fried Hill, from Lawrence, Long Island, had no reason to believe that she would wind up in the middle of a grade-B movie.

Karen: “The reason for marriage was the disappouval by her mother.” “But I’ve got to admit the truth – it turned me on.” “Helene, the wife of Bobby DeSimone.” “One woman, the husband threeyears.” “Talking about prison.” “They looked very bad.” “One of these hostess parties could have kept a soapopera going for years.” “Carmen, fortyyearsold. Threehusbands & threechildren, one by each. Selling stolen creditcards and swag. The oldest in a cardgame, an argument about a tendollars bet. The other kid dead, the eldest arrested, the grandmother cardiacarrest.” “By the time Henry picked me up, I was dizzy. When we got home, I told him I was upset. He was calm. He said very few people went to jail. He said there was nothing to worry about. He would talk about the money and how hundreds of his friends were doing things that might be agains the Law, but that they were all making money, and none of them, were getting caught. Swag, gambling, cigarettes, nobody went to jail for things like that. Also, he knew the right lawyers, the courts, the judges, the bailbondsmen. I wanted to believe him. He made it sound so easy, and I loved the idea of all that money.”

“Reading about the husbands in the journals.”

“Thesecondwedding eyetalian.” “Paulie absent, sixtydays for contempt about Long Island bookmaking ring.” “All the friends of Henry, hardworkers.”

Henry: “Arrested for cigarettes.” “Tommy DeSimone from WDC, only bigbrand, the Chesterfields, Camels, Lucky Strikes.” “Henry to Baltimore for fillins, the less popular brands like Raleighs, L&Ms, Marlboros.” “I had been there before and I knew there were a bunch of stripjoints along Baltimore Street. Lenny had never been to Baltimore. We started hitting the joints. We listened to a little jazz. Some Bgirls in one place started hustling drinks out of us. We’re buying them ninedollars gingerales and they’re playing with our lewgs. By two or three in the morning, we’re pretty smashed. We must have gone for a hundred and fifty bucks with these same two girls. It was very obvious that they like us. They said that their boss was watching, so they couldn’t leave with us, but if we waited outside around back, they’d meet us as soon as they got off.” [Saved.] “Overslept.” “Not enough room in the trunk.” “Turnpike exit 14 in Jersey City. Collision with a patrolcar.”

Karen: “Ashamed.” “Assured by her friendwives.” “Complaint of her mother about HenryHill.” “I remember he stopped, he looked at her, looked at me, and then, without a word, he got back in the car, and drove away.”

“I knew he’d be gone a couple of days at a time.” “Nobody took his wife out on fridaynight. The wives went out on saturdaynight. That way, there were no accidents of running into somebody’s wife when they were with their girlfriends.” “Patsy Fusco with his girlfriend, at the Copa.” “I really got upset. I knew his wife. She was a friend of mine. Was I supposed to keep my mouth shut? I didn’t want to be put in this spot. Then I saw that Henry was going to go over and say hello to Patsy. I couldn’t believe it. He was going to put me right in a box. I refused to go. I just stood there between the tables in the lounge and wouldn’t budge, at least not in Patsy’s direction. Henry was surprised, but he could see I was serious, so he just nodded to Patsy, and we went to our own table. It was one of those minor things that reveal a lot. I think that, for a split second, Henry was going over to see Patsy, because he forgot he was with me. He forgot it wasn’t saturdaynight.”

7.      Chapter 07

The IdlewildGolfCourse in Queens, converted into a 5.000acres airport. Cargos at the airport. Information about valuable cargo.

JamesBurke. Tippers, dropping a package by cargohandlers, creditcards stolens to buy airlinetickets. The customers were often legitimate businessmen and showbusiness clebrities whose travel costs were high.

Informants murdered.

The most delighted expertise of James Burke, hijacking. When Jimmy was unloading a truck, there was almost a beatific contentedness glowing on his sweatdrenched face.

JamesBurke, one of themostfeared man in NYC. Killed the son who refused to pay the debt to his mother. Killed the former boyfriend of his wife before the day of the wedding.

But it was Jimmy’stalent for makingmoney that clearlywon him a place in the hearts of the mob’s rulers. He was so extraordinary that, in an unprecedented move, theColombofamily inBrooklyn and theLucchesefamily inQueens negotiated to share his services. The notion that two eyetalian crimefamilies would evenconsider having a sitdown to negotiate the services of an irishman only added to theBurkelegend.

The biography brief of Burke. Parents unknowns, fostercareprogram of theRomanCatholicChurch, dozens of fosterhome for the next elevenyears. Socialworkers psychiatrics confirmed, Fucking beaten, sexuallyabused, pampered, lied, ignored, screamed at, locked in closets, and treated kindly. Summer of 1944, the thirteenyearsold, the fosterfather slapped him while driving. The vehicle swerved, crashed, the fosterfather dead. ARROW beatenregularly by the fostermother. Various arrests. Eighteenyearsold, fiveyears for bankforgery in Auburn. Met DominickCerami.

“Burke loved to steal.” “By 1970, Burke owned hijacking at Kennedy Airport.” “Friends, relatives, everybody known as tippers.” “Truckingcompany boss getting suspicious. Burke to Paulie to JohnnyDio, who ran the unions.” “The union would make a grievance out of it. They’d threaten a walkout. They’d threaten to close the trucker down. Pretty soon, the truckers got the message, and let the insurancecompanies pay.”

The first hijacking of Henry Hill, 1966, twentythreeyearsold. The trucks parked in a garage, a firstclass gradeB felony. Verylittle security, one watchman elderly. It was simple and sweet. It was the easiest fivegrand Henry had ever earned. Within an hour he and Jimmy and Tommy were on their way to Vegas for the weekend. Earlier that day, Jimmy had made reservations for the three of them in phony names.

“Buyers before robbing.” “Robert’s, owned by Burke, on [motherfucking] Lefferts Boulevard!” “Hangout for truckdrivers with no money, ARROW tips.” “Customers, retailers hustlings, fences.”

“Drivers already informeds.” “The keys lefts in the ignition.”

“The help hired with guns, fixed rate, no matter what.”

“DL copied.” “Informants murdereds.” “To warehouse or truckingcompany.” “Razorblades, perfume, cosmetics, drugstore wholesalers.” “Mink, beaver, fox.” “Shrimp frozen, lobster, fishmarket.”

“The Bamboo Lounge, on Rockaway Parkway.”

“When stolen securities got big, we used to have WallStreettypes all over the place, buying up bearerbonds. They would send them overseas, where the banks don’t know they were stolen, and then they’d use the hot bonds as collateral on loans in this country. Once the stolen bonds were accepted as collateral, nobody ever checked their serialnumbers again. We’re talking about millions of dollars in collateral forever. We got robbed on those joints. At that time, we didn’t have any idea about collateralising foreign loans.”

Almost no one to jail. The airlines, the insurance money. The truckers, powerless to fight the union. The union, the fault of the airlines. Legislation nonexistent.

Joint New York State Legislative Committee on Crime study, one of them, during 1960s. Judges bribeds.

Eventually Henry was questioned by police so many times, and became so familiar with the process and its loopholes that he no longer worried about getting caught. Of course, he tried not to get caught. It was notprofitable to get caught. You had to pay the lawyers and the bondsmen, and you had to pay off cops and witnesses, and sometimes even the prosecutors and judges. [RonaldReagan and his blackies. BarackObama and his blackies.] But when he was caught, Henry was notparticularlyconcerned about the addition of yet another charge to those alreadypending against him. What reallyworried him was whether his lawyer was adeptenough to cluster the courtappearances in such a way as to minimise the number of days Henry had to take time away from business and appear in court. Going to court and facing accusers and cops was not the harrowing experience it might be for others; for Henry and for most of his friends, it was rather like going to school as kids. Occasionally, they were forced to attend, but the experience left little or no impression. Moretime would be spent figuring out where to eat lunch than was spent on the issues before the court. “No reason to worry.” “Lawyers & bail. Privatedicks-formerpolice, friends of the wiseguys, connexion to the police. Jury hampered, occupation, ARROW union, ARROW this guy, that guy, the unionboss, the delegate, a guy who works with a guy’s brother.”

8.      Chapter 08

  The first accounting of cargothefts at the Kennedy Airport, oct1967.

  “AirFrance.” “Beginning, the end of january1967.” “Bobby McMahon, the cargoforeman.” “A change of holdingplace.” “Planning.” “The keys from a guard from a private agency.” “A prostitue from Bronx to the guard, the Jade East Motel right across the parkway, a trialrun.” “Thenextweekend, the same.” “Thenextfriday, the same.” “A locksmith on Rockaway Boulevard, near Jamaica Avenue.” “The suitcase was so heavy that I could hardly walk, but Frenchy later said he thought I was leaving empty, because I practically floated out of the joint.”

9.      Chapter 09

$480.000. 25% to the mobchiefs who considered the Kenney Airport their turf. 12.5% to Sebastian Aloi AKA Buster, the 57yearsold capo, who ran the airport for the Colombofamily, and 12.5% to Paul Vario.

“Spent $20.000 in Vegas.”

“50% interest in the bookmakingoperation of Milty Wekar.”

“The Suite, owned by Joey Rossano, on Queens Boulevard.” “A couple of months, the guys started to show up.” Within sixmonths, the Suite had turned into a gathering place for Henry and his friends. Supermarket of goods stolens, paying with creditcards stolens.

“Eddy Rigaud.” “A slavetrade for help inthe Suite.” “Sixfeet & 250pounds.”

“Phonecalls obscenes toKaren.” “Arrested for assault and possession of a revolver loaded.” “It was a wrong guy.” “Whack them first, and worry about them later.”

10.   Chapter 10

“The threat of being murdered, theonlyrule.” “It didn’t take anything for these guys to kill you. They liked it. They would sit around drinking booze and talk about their favourite hits. They enjoyed talking about them. They liked to relive the moment while repeating how miserable the guy was. He was always the worst sonofabitch they knew. He was always a ratbastard, and most of the time it wasn’t even business. Guys would get into arguments with each other, and before you knew it, one of them was dead.” [A sense of decency, RichardClarke.]

“A party for Billy Batts in Robert’s Lounge.” “He asked Tommy if he still shined shoes.” “Weeks later, in the Suite.” “Alex Corcione and his girlfriend, moseyed out of the Suite.” “Buried in upstate.” “Threemonthslater, the body moved.” “Spider.”

“Paul Vario at Vesuvio Restaurant of Don Pepe.” “Waited half an hour, maître d’hôtel poured wine on his wife, cleaned her body. Slapped him.” “Within an hour, we had twocarloads of guys with baseballbats and pipes waiting outside.” “It was so easy. Lump them up. Whack them out. Nobody every thought. Why? What for?”

“A big, chesty guy, who kept asking questions.” “Stanley Diamond & Tommy DeSimone toNJ, where he lived.” “Murdered.”

11.   Chapter 11

1969, twentysixyearsold, a rented house in Island Park, two blocks from Paulie’s.

Karen had a maid for the house and four fur coats – “She went to the supermarket in mink” – and when she needed cash she used to separate her thumb and indexfinger to indicate whether she needed a halfinch, an inch, or an inchandahalf of money.

Girlfriend, the luxurypurchase ultimate.

“Linda and her friend, Veralynn, at Michael’s Steak Pub, in Rockville Centre.” “To Val Anthony’s, on the north shore.” “To a Holiday Inn.”

“Paul Vario paranoid, they are theFBI.”

“Linda neglecting her work. The boss, Paul Stewart, beaten.” “Sitdown with the partner of Paul Stewart, Vinnie Aloi, and the father of Vinnie Aloi, Buster.” “The imploring of Buster not to kill Paul Stewart.” “Paul Stewart apologises in front of everybody.” “Linda stopped going to work.”

Linda: “He was a verysweet guy. He was kind. I could see the way he did things for people without taking credit and without even letting them know what he did.” “He was verydifferent from the guys he hung around with. He was a taming influence. He used to be able to get them to do normal things. When we first took the apartment near the Suite, for instance, the furniturestore wouldn’t deliver my stuff immediately, so Henry got Jimmy and Tommy and a truck, and they all went to the store in Hempstead on a saturday, and picked up the stuff themselves.” “They were like big, noisy kids. That’s what they reminded me of. Alwayslaughing. Alwayslooking to have fun. Especially Jimmy. I knew him as Burkey back then. I neverheard anybody call him Jimmy the Gent. He was the biggest kid of them all. He loved waterfights. At Robert’s Lounge or the Suite, he would rig up pails of water, and when someone walked in the door, he’d dump the buckets all over their heads. Robert’s was incredible. It was like a clubhouse for highschoolkids, except they had a terrazzofloor in part of the basement and a huge barbecue in the backyard. There were cherubs and sconces all over the walls. Tommy had an apartment on the second floor. Paul loved to cook, and everyone was always trying this or trying that, and complaining that he put int toomuchsalt or notenoughgarlic.

Linda: “The holidays tormenting, christmas, newyear’s.”

Karen: “Suspicion just before the time at Riker’s on an earlier cigarettecase.” “Pregnant with the daughter.” ‘I’ll get him, Lin. Hold on, Lin.’ “Denial angry of Henry.” “Moved from IslandPark to Queens.” “Saw her at a halloweenparty for the first time. She was crying her eyes out.” “Address from the kitchen, rang her bell for twohours.”

Linda: “To Bahamas with Henry, & with Paul Vario and his wife.” “The casino on Paradise Island.”

Henry: “Thirtyeight aimed between his eyes by Karen.” “Talk soothing.” “It was the first of a dozen times over thenext few years when I moved out, and there were a couple of times when Karen moved out on me.”

Karen: “The truth was no matter how bad I felt, I was still veryveryattracted to him. He could be incredible. He had a side that was so nice that you wanted to bottle it. He was sweet, considerate, sincere, soft. He had no sharp edges. He wasn’t like the other guys around him.”

“And besides, the minute I started checking her out with the other wives, I heard that every time he was with her, he was drunk. I heard that he was abusive, and made her wait in the car all night like a dope while he played cards with the guys. The way I began to see it, she was getting theworstside of him ,and I was getting thebest.”

Henry: “Karen angry, the name of Linda on the visitor’slist.”

12.   Chapter 12

To FL with JamesBurke and CaseyRosado, the president of Local 71 of the Waiters and Commissary Workers atthe Kennedy Airport.

“Tampa, the cousin of Casey Rosado.” “The house of the parents of Rosado, the suitcases lefts.” “The Colombia Restaurant, in Ybor City, the old cuban section of town.” “The money from John Ciaccio, the owner of the Temple Terrace Lounge, ouside Ybor City. Ciaccio beaten in the restaurant during the businesshour.” “After two blocks, only half the money owed.” “Half the night of beating, the debt paid. The rest of the night, drinking with Burke. The rest of the vacation, with Casey and his cousin.”

“Onemonthlater, cars parked all over Robert’s Lounge.” “News in the Media. The sister of Ciaccio as a typist in the FBI branch.” “StateOfFL, kidnapping & attemptedmurder, case dismissed, Rosado, the one with the clean record, at the witnessstand.” “Federal, extortion. Rosado cardiacarrest.” “The trial, twelvedays. The jury, sixhours. Tenyears in a federal.”

13.   Chapter 13

Karen, hopeslessness. Planned, suicide, kill Henry, divorce.

Appeal, twentyonemonths, oneman Crimewave, hustled as he had neverhustled before.

“The day before the beginning of the term, Linda to the Empire State Building.” “Bullshittalk.”

Former jailhouslawyers, encyclopedic on the subject of Prison and the latest loopholes in the Bureau of Prisons rulesandregulations. Thebestchoice, Lewisburg, close toNYC, guards and officials corrupts, large population of organisedcrimemembers.

Sentence ‘subtracted,’ sweeping the cells, attending the college. Fivedays per month subtractedautomatically. Letterwritingcampaign by the family, clergymen, politicians.

Goodbyeparty the night before the beginning of the term, Roger’s Place on Queens Boulevard. 8AM, Karen to the house. Moved to the Kew Motor Inn, & until 10AM. Stopped at Maxwell’s Plum. 5PM, Al Newman, the bailbondsman desperate.

Paragraph by PiLEggi. The Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary is a massive walled city of twentytwohundredsinmates set amid the dark hills and abandoned coal mines of centralPennsylvania. It was raining the day Henry arrived, and he could barelymake out a huge, bleak castle with its WarnerBrotherswall, mounted guntowers, and searchlights. Everything surrounding Lewisburg was cold, wet, and gray. From his seat inside the darkgreenprisonbus Henry saw the great steelgates swing open. He and about a dozen other prisoners had been cuffed and shackled ever since they left New York. They had been told that there would be no food or toiletstops during the sixandonehalfhoursjourney. There had been two armedguards seated behind locked metalcages – one in the front of the bus and the other in the rear – and upon arrival at Lewisburg they both began snarling orders about when and how Henry and the other prisoners were to leave the bus. Henry saw concrete, iron mesh, and steelbars everywhere. He watched a whole wall of steel, streaked with rain, slide sideways, and he heard it slam behind him with the finality of Death. This was Henry’s firsttime in jails – places such as Riker’s Island and Nassau County, places where wiseguyinmates would spend a few casual months, usually on worklease. For Henry and his crew doing thirty or sixty-days in a jail was a littlemore than a temporary inconvenience. This was different. Prisons were forever.

“Damp come through the soles of the shoes.” “Paul Vario, Johnny Dio, Andy Ruggierio AKA Fat Andy, waiting.” “Previledges for the wiseguys.” “Honourdorm, the whole Gotticrew, Jimmy Doyle and his guys, Ernie Abbamonte AKA Ernie Boy, Joe Delvecchio, AKA Joe Crow, Vinnie Aloi, Frank Cotroni.” “Thebestfood smuggled, steaks, vealcutlers, shrimp, red snapper.” “Food and wine smuggled by Karen. Party in the visiting room.” “Familydinner.” “Twoyears associatedegree in Restaurant and Hotel Management at Williamsport Community College, sixtycredits each semester, learned to read, building and maintaining tenniscourts in the recreational area.”

“Bookmaking. Hugh Addozino, the former Mayor of Newark, one of thebestcustomers.” “Karen, making the payouts or collecting.”

Twoandonehalfyears, to the prisonfarm, after a Riot in theLewisburgcellblocks. Karen, letterwritingcampaign. Description of the farm, 5AM to the farm, 4PM, the milking recommences. Free until the return to the dorm.

“The guy in charge, Sauer, a junkiegambler.” “Smuggle anything.” “Marijuana and pills with Paul Mazzei, a Pittsburghconnexion.” “Bill Arico, most of the selling.” “Narcotics prohibited, lie to Paul Vario.” “Of course not, I told him. Paulie believed me. Why shouldn’t he believe me? Until I started selling the stuff in Lewisburg, I didn’t even know how to roll a joint.”

14.   Chapter 14

For almosttwoyears, Karen visited Henry in jail once a week. By thethirdyear, however, she cut down to once or twice a month. Henry was assigned to the farless onerous farmdetail, and the children found the arduous journey – sixhours drive each way – unbearable. Judy had begun to suffer from severe stomchcramps whenever they visited the prison, and for a long time, neither Karen nor her doctor could trace the cause of her pain. It was only after twoyears, when Judy was elevenyearsold, that she finallyconfessed she found the toilet in the prison visitingarea so filthy that she was unable to use it during the interminable ten- and twelve-hours visits. Ruth, who was nine at the time, remembers long stretches of unrelieved boredom while her parents and their friends talked and ate at long picnictables in a large, bare, cole room. Karen brought small toys, colouring books, and crayons for the children, but there was little else for them to do. The prison had no facilities for children, although dozens of youngsters showed up on weekends to see their fathers. Judy and Ruth were so desperate for diversion after the first couple of hours that Karen would let them feed a roll of quarters into the line of overpriced commissary vendingmachines – despite the fact that cash was a problem.

Karen: “Dentaltechnician, petbeautician.” “Debts neverpaid.” “If you have money, you’re funny. If you’re broke, you’re a joke.” “Moved to the residence of her parents.” “Illusions about her children.” “Conflict with her mother.” “Smuggling, oliveoil, sausages and salamis drieds importeds, cigarettes, brandy & scotch, marijuana, hash, cocaine, amphetamines, and Quaaludes.” “Teaching other wives how to smuggle.” “Children reveilled at 3AM, journey for sixhours, tenhours day with Henry, return to the residence.”

Henry angry at Karen who was complaining, because she doesn’t understand. No matter what it said in the movies, a wiseguy’s friends, former partners, debtors, and former victims whined, lied, cheated, and hid rather than pay money owed to a man behind bars, much less to his wife.

Few complaints about the way he was treated in Lewisburg.

G. Gordon Liddy, at Allenwood, foodstrike. “Sixtyhomosapiens out of Allenwood.” “Just as I expected, about a week after the foodstrike began, theBureauofprisons decided it had had enough of Mr. Liddy and his bullshit.” “Begging the secretary of (the counselor of Henry.)” “To the minimumsecurity.” “Volunteer to the kosherkitchen.” “A local rabbi, religious instructions.” “Joined the local Junior Chamber of Commerce. Sundaylectures on how to start a business.” “Visiting the residence of Karen.”

12 July 1978, paroleearly. Modelprisoner, inmate ideal, programs selfimprovement and educational, conduct clear record, communityservice & programs religious, courteous & cooperative, selfconfident & mature, familyties strong, a job as an officemanager. Prognosis good, veryunlikely to return to Prison.

15.   Chapter 15

Furloughs, preparation for connex evenbefore the release. Within twentyfourhours, marijuana from Paul Mazzei, to $12.000 in cash. Stimulants, quaadludes, cocaine, heroin. Sidelineoperation, rifels automatics & pistols. Fence for jewelry stolen. Monopoly of liquordistribution.

Tony Perla, a bookmaker local & closefriend of Paul Mazzei. “Rick Kuhn.” “All they had to do was make sure that they didn’t win by more than the point spread. For instance, if the bookies or the Vegas oddmakers said the line was Boston by ten, our players had to muff enough shots to make sure that they won by less than the bookies’ ten points. That way, they’d win their games, and we’d win the bets.” “Meeting with the players in the Sheraton at the Prudential Center in Boston.” “Shaving points, betting lines, and the odds.” “Which game.” Skip.

16.   Chapter 16

The Lufthansa Heist. Marty & Fran Krugman to the new residence of Henry Hill. The tip from Louis Werner, cargosupervisor. The tip unique, the amount the largest. The hatred of Burke to Marty Krugman, For Men Only, a men’s hairstylingshop and wigsalon nextdoor to the Suite, on Queens Boulevard. Latenight televisioncommercial.

“Preparation.” “Earlydecember, everything ready.” 11 Dec 1978, 3:12 AM. Fivemillions in cash & $875.000 in jewels. Sixtyfourminutes.

17.   Chapter 17

Within days, into a nightmare. Henry listening to the radio on mondaymorning while showering himself. [Ah~~~~~~, Jimmy~~~~~!!!!!!]

“Didn’t know that it was happening.” “10AM, to the Stage Delicatessen, DeSimone, Louie Cafora, Burke.” “Burke concerned about the marital state of Hill.” “Thenextmorning, Moo Moo Vedda’s dressfactory.” “Suddenly while driving, ‘We got it, we got it.’ Fashion subtle of telling about the success.”

“Whack Krugman.” “Meeting with Krugman at the Forty Yards at 4:30 PM.” “Parkinglot rear of the Riviera Motel.” “Attempt to dissuade Burke.” “Krugman complaining, his end – $500.000, that’s the reason.” “Threedays after the robbery, Robert’s Lounge, Christmasparty.” “Edward Stacks, the truck found by the police.” “Lenny Vario unaware.” “Stacks whacked by Tommy DeSimone and Angelo Sepe, Six in the head.” “Krugman complaining.” “The week after Christmas, Florida with Burke, coke of inferior quality & fraud. Murder Richie Eaton.” “Tommy a mademan, Tommy whacked by theGotticrew, for killing Billy Batts and Foxy.”

“Krugman whacked, the new place of Vinnie Asaro, on Rockaway Boulevard.” “Fran Krugman at 7AM chez Henry.” “I was trying to console her, and at the same time, deny that I knew anything about any robbery. [The favourite phrase ofSoderbergh.] But she kept saying that she knew that I knew. She wouldn’t stop. I wanted to get away from there as fast as I could. It was just beginning.”

18.   Chapter 18

Affront personal to the enforcementagencies. Edward A. McDonald, the assistant US attorney. Within a couple of hours, it was theJamesBurkecrew. Informants, a mugshot of DeSimone, a mugshot of AngeloSepe. Enough for surveillancewarrant.

The next weightweeks, a game of nerves. Losing tails. Few bits of chatter tantalising.

Insidejob. The twentytwo giant cargowarehouses in the 348acres Kennedy freightterminalarea, the names and the locations of all the employees, the perimeter alarms with a magnetickey special.

Insideman amateur, LouWerner. Prevented the routinepickup of guards on friday. Dropping hints, boasting about money, boasting that going to Miami. Soapopera comical, the life of Werner. Beverly, the estranged wife & William Fischetti, his best friend, fucking each other. Janet Barbieri, the girlfriend, crying and screaming all over the place, You will go to jail. Werner confessing to the bartender favourite.

Fischetti talked to the FBI. Lou Werner & Peter Gruenewald planning a robbery. Tooslow, Werner to Frank Menna, a bookmaker, Menna to Krugman, Krugman to Henry, Henry to Burke.

Gruenewald arrested as a materialwitness. Money buried at the house ofHopeBarren, the girlfriend ofAngeloSepe. Werner confronted with Gruenewald at the Strike Force office. The plead of innocence of Werner. Money notfound in the house ofHopeBarren. The charge against Sepe dropped.

The reports of murders and disappearances connected with Lufthansa. 18 Dec 1978, EdwardStacks. 14 Jan 1979, TommyDeSimone disappeared. 17 Jan 1979, RichardEaton in a refrigerationtruck in Gravesend Bay, Brooklyn. ‘There was some delay in identifying the body since it had been frozen so stiff that it took more than twodays to thaw.’ 06 Jan 1979, MartyKrugman disappeared. 10 Feb 1979, TheresaFerrara disappeared. 18 May 1979, the body of TheresaFerrara, the girlfriend of Tommy DeSimone, found, a femaletorso in the waters on Barnegat Inlet, near Toms River, NJ, Autopsy, comparison-x-ray.

16 May 1979, LouWerner found guilty. 16 May 1979, the bodies of JosephManri AKA JoeBuddha and of RobertMcMahon AKA Frenchy, the frontseat of a twodoor 1973 bluebuick at the corner of Schenectady Avenue & Avenue M, in the Mill Basin section of Brooklyn.

19.   Chapter 19

“The day Henry was arrested.” “Driving crazy, snorting about a gram of coke a day just to keep all the insanity together.” “Pittsburghconnex.” “Taking care of the wife of Bill Arico.” “FBI to the residence looking for guns.” “Robin, the girlfriend themostrecent.” “Arrest as a relief.”

“Michael at NewYorkHospital.” “The house of Burke in HowardBeach.” “Burke becoming progressivelyinsane.” “A pile of cars stacked up, almost an accident, break sudden, the odeur of the tire burning.” “Helicopter following.” “Cooking for dinner commenced.” “On the way to the hiding of BobbyGermaine.” “Stopped at the residence of (the mother of Henry.), gun stashed.” “Shoppingmall.” “Return to the residence of (the mother of Henry.)” “Arrived at the Bobby Germaine in Commack. The package of heroin to be delivered to JudyWicks.” “Arrived at the residence of Henry, cooking recommenced.” “The hat fortunate of JudyWicks.” “Fiftyfeet out of the driveway, It’s my turn to get whacked for Lufthansa.” “Onlycops talk that way. If it had been wiseguys, I wouldn’t have heard a thing. I would have been dead.”

20.   Chapter 20

Daniel Mann, Narcoticsdetective, NassauCounty. TheHillcase, an informant as always, the son of BobbyGermaine, arrested for twelvehundredsdollars worth of quaadludes to undercovers. Details about the operation of Henry.

Surveillancewarrant, 19 St. Marks Avenue, Rockville Center, Long Island & the basementapartment, at 250 Lakeview Avenue, also Rockville Center, occupied by Robin Cooperman.

Henry, total access to all levels of the mobworld.

Mann: “Danger with the phone.”

Mar 1980, surveillancewarrant extended. An excerpt of the transcript. Syntax secret & Vocab secret.

RobinCooperman hated to do dishes, residues of the cocaine.

21.   Chapter 21

To McDonald, Henry = a bonanza. Henry, bullshitting to McDonald.

Karen: “The day of the arrest of Henry, twodetectives.” “The kids, who had been through it all before, just kept watching television.” [Cf. On the run, by Greg & Gina Hill.] “Bail, $150.000. Everybody acting strange.” “Mickey Burke calling every day.” “The shop of Burke on Liberty Avenue, sentiment threatening, skipped the premises.” “Visit to Paul Vario, Vario & his back turned.”

McDonald: “The arrest of Henry, thefirstbreakthrough real.” “Theonlysurvivor of the crew.” “Henry dangling the bait toMcDonald.” “As far as we were concerned, it was just a matter of time. We considered him importantenough so that we went back to talk with him, even though he screamed in front of the other prisoners and guards that he wouldn’t talk to us, and that we were trying to get him killed. The minute the door closed, he changed his attitude completely. He wasn’t telling us anything yet, but he wasn’t screaming either, and he’d give us a tidbit here and there about nonrelated matters.”

Henry: “My scheme, play them until the head is clear, bail reduced, back on the street.” “Drugdealing, deathsentence by PaulVario.” “The tape of Sepe & Stabile talking about killing Henry.” “If you’re part of a crew, nobody ever tells you that they’re going to kill you. It doesn’t happen that way. There aren’t any great arguments or fingerbiting curses like in mayfiamovies. Your murderers come with smiles. They come as friends, people who have cared deeply about you all your life, and they always come at a time when you are at your weakest and most in need of their help and support.” “Farewell to his lifestyle.” “Show for the other prisoners.” “To the office of McDonald everyday.” “16 May 1980, on bail.” “I had this feeling I was going to get killed right outside the jail.” “Mickey Burke called on saturdaymorning.” “Sundaymorning, meeting Burke at the Sherwood Diner, on Rockaway Boulevard.” “The bar owned by Charlie the Jap, on Queens Boulevard, in Sunnyside.” “To FL with Stabile to whack the son of Bobby Germaine.”

22.   Chapter 22

Karen: “Karen & children to the office of McDonald.” “Informed & moved immediately in the fashion typical bureaucratic.” “The children excited.” [Cf. On the run, by Greg & Gina Hill.] “Thingstodo to her mother.” “I thought a lot of things might change. There’d be no more Jimmys and no more drugs and no more Robins. Our lives would have to be different. Henry would live normally for the first time in his life. He’d be home at night. We would have regular friends. it could be like wiping everything clean.”

27 May 1980, an agreement signed. The text of the agreement.

Henry: “The hardest thing for me was leaving the life I was running away from. Even at the end, with all the threats I was getting and all the time I was facing behind the wall, I still loved the life. We walked in a room, and the place stopped. [Accurate.] Everyone knew who we were, and we were treated like moviestars with muscle. [Accurate.] We had it all, and it was all free. Truckloads of swag, furcoats, televisions, clothes, all for the asking. We used Jimmy’shijackdrops like departmentstores. Our wives, mothers, kids, everybody rode along. I had paperbags filled with jewelry stashed in the kitchen and a sugarbowl full of coke next to the bed. Anything I wanted was only a phonecall away. Free rented cars under phony names and the keys to a dozen hideoutapartments we shared. I would bet thirty and forty grand over a weekend, and then either blow the winnings in a week or go to the sharks to pay back the bookies. It didn’t matter. When I was broke, I just went out, and robbed some more. We ran everything. We paid the lawyers. We paid the cops. Everybody had their hands out. We walked out laughing. We had the best of everything. In Vegas or AC, somebody alwaysknew someone. People would come over, and offer us shows, dinners, suites. And now all that is over, and that’s the hardest part. Today, everything is different. No more action. I have to wait around like everyone else. I’m an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.”

23.   Epilogue

The program costs $25mil per year. McDonald played in BostonCollegeBasketball.

WitSec got its money out of Henry. RickKuhn, tenyears. RichPerry, guiltyplea, oneyear. BillArico, a hitman international, tracked. PhilipBasile, the Long Island discoowner, fiveyearsprobation & fine $250.000.

Henry on tour. PhoenixAZ. Liquorwholesaler major eyetalian. He withdrew the application.

06 Feb 1984. PaulVario on trial, Henry on the witnessstand. Trial threedays, conspiracy to commit fraud. 03 Apr 1984, fouryears, fine $10.000. Springfield, Missouri.

19 Feb 1985. JamesBurke, life, murder of RichieEaton.

TheLufthansacase neverprosecuted. StacksEdwards, MartyKrugman, RichieEaton, TommyDeSimone, TerryFerrara, JoeManri, FrenchyMcMahon, PaoloLiCastri, Louie&JoannaCafora, AnthonyStabile, AngeloSepe & JoanneLombardo, nineteenyearsold girlfriend, RobertGermaineJr. on a rooftop in Queens, murdereds.

Henry’s confrontations with his old pals on the witnessstand left him unmmoved. Neither Jimmy Burke’s threatening glares nor the sight of the seventyyearsold Paul Vario seemed to disturb him. Vario, Burke, Mazzei, Basile, the basketballplayers, everyone Henry had committed crimes with became bargainingchips which he used to buy his own freedom. He initiated the investigation into the mob’s “stranglehold” on KennedyAirport’s cargobusiness, along with Strike Force prosecutor, DouglasBehm, that resulted in yet another indictment of Paul Vario, as well as indictments of Frank Manzo AKA Frank the Wop and other Lucchesefamilypowers. 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 mushroomandsausagepizza and drank tab before taking the stand against Vario, and he negotiated a tenthousanddollar magazinearticle with Sports Illustrated before testifying about the Boston College pointshaving scheme that got twentysixyearsold Rick Kuhn tenyears in a federal prison. When Jimmy Burke was convicted of murder, Henry was almostgleeful. In the final showdown with Jimmy, Henry had survived, and he had used the Government to pull the trigger.

Capacity for betrayal. For Henry Hill, giving up the life was hard, but giving up his friends was easy. Governmentemployee, $1.500 per month, toNYC eight or ninetimes per year with all expenses paid, food delivered to a courthouse or a hotel. The wiseguy ultimate.