Henry Hill Dies at "69"

 Henry Hill, a tough mobster who became a star witness in the prosecution of several of the best new figures crowd of New York and whose exploits were glorified criminal in the films "Goodfellas 1990", passed away on June 12 a Los Angeles hospital. He was 69.

His girlfriend of many years, Lisa Caserta, told The Associated Press that he had complications from heart disease.For 11 years, Mr. Hill had thrived in the lawless area of ​​the mafia-term New York, rising to become a trusted "Wiseguy" in Lucchese crime family.For over 25 years, Mr. Hill served under the boss Paul Vario and worked closely with James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke. On behalf of the Lucchese crime family, Mr. Hill said he helped engineer a point-shaving involving the basketball team at Boston College and took part in a spectacular heist worth 6 million dollars in cash and jewelry from a Lufthansa cargo facility at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Despite his many transgressions, Mr. Hill was adamant that he never committed murder. But it buried in shallow graves the corpses of the enemies of the crowd - more than a dozen of them.In 1980, his role in a drug trafficking operation led to his downfall wide. Sitting in the Nassau County jail in New York, he faced a possible life sentence in prison unless he cooperated with authorities.He decided to talk.To his colleagues mafia punctual, Mr. Hill was a renegade with a price on his head. For prosectors Department of Justice who sent the miscreants to jail, Mr. Hill was a valuable asset that requires vigilant protection.He helped secure convictions of many, and his testimony led to prison sentences for Vario, his former mentor, and Burke, his closest confidant.He entered the witness protection program and lived in Nebraska, Kentucky and Washington State.He also sold his life story to Simon & Schuster for nearly $ 100,000. 1985 The book, "Wiseguy" by the New York crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi, became a bestseller."The hardest thing for me was to leave the life I was running away," Hill said in the book. "Even at the end, with all the threats I received and all the time I was facing, behind the wall, I have always loved life."Pileggi book became the basis of the famous gangster movie 1990, starring Ray Liotta as Hill and Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in hoods colleagues.

Working with director Martin Scorsese, Pileggi helped write the script for the film, tentatively called "Wiseguy."The studio Warner Bros., however, disapproved of the name, a TV show already had the same title.Pileggi told NPR in 2011 that he asked Mr. Hill to help solve the problem."What did they call?" Pileggi requested.

The gangster veteran replied: "Goodfellas".Henry Hill was born June 11, 1943, in the Brownsville-East New York Brooklyn. He was Irish and Sicily. His father was an electrician union with a quick temper.Partly out of spite, but mostly on fear, Mr. Hill himself ingratiated with men in pinstripe suits bulky who used to hang around a taxi stand near his home."At the age of twelve my ambition was to be a gangster. To be a Wiseguy," Hill said in the book. "For me, being a Wiseguy was better than being president of the United States. This meant power among people who had no power. This meant benefits in a neighborhood of the working class who had no privileges. To be a Wiseguy was to own the world. "Under the protection of witnesses, he was arrested at least six times on various charges, including burglary and attempted possession of methamphetamine. He eventually left the program and assumed his old identity.His marriage to Karen Hill ended in divorce. A complete list of survivors could not be determined.The state of New York tried to recover some of the gains of Mr. Hill from Simon & Schuster through the "Son of Sam" law, which prohibits criminals from profiting from their notoriety. The publisher has taken the state in court on the grounds of the First Amendment.The case ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of Simon & Schuster and annulled the law. The victory was Mr. Hill money owed.Mr. Hill's life in the Mafia had made millions, but he lost all "slow horses, women, drugs and rock and roll."