Henry Hill
| Henry Hill, Jr. | |
|---|---|
FBI mugshot taken in 1980
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| Born |
June 11, 1943 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | June 12, 2012 (aged 69) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart Disease |
| Residence | Topanga, California |
| Nationality | Sicilian-American |
| Other names | Alex Canclini |
| Known for | Lucchese crime family criminal associate |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Partner(s) | Lisa Caserta (fiancée; 2006–2012; his death) |
| Children |
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| Parent(s) |
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| Military career | |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1960 - 1965 |
| Unit | 82nd Airborne Division |
Henry Hill, Jr. (June 11, 1943 – June 12, 2012) was a New York City mobster. Between 1955 and 1980, Hill was associated with the Lucchese crime family. In 1980, Hill became an FBI informant, and his testimony helped secure 50 convictions, including those of mob capo (captain) Paul Vario and James Burke on multiple charges.
Hill's life story was documented in the true crime book Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family by Nicholas Pileggi.Wiseguy was subsequently adapted by Martin Scorsese into the critically acclaimed film Goodfellas, in which Hill was portrayed by Ray Liotta.
Henry Hill, Jr. was born on June 11, 1943, to Henry Hill, Sr., an immigrant Irish-American electrician, and Carmela Costa Hill, a Sicilian-American. 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. 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. In 1955, when Hill was 11 years old, he wandered into the cabstand across the street looking for a part-time after-school job. In his early teens, he began running errands for patrons of Vario's storefront shoeshine, pizzeria, and dispatch cabstand. He first met the notorious hijacker and Lucchese family associate James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke in 1956. The 13-year-old Hill served drinks and sandwiches at a card game and was dazzled by Burke's openhanded tipping. "He was sawbucking me to death. Twenty here. Twenty there. He wasn't like anyone else I had ever met."
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Wikipedia