Hill, his wife Karen, and their two children (Gregg and Gina) entered the U.S. Marshals' Witness Protection Program in 1980, changed their names, and moved around to several undisclosed locations including Seattle, Washington; Cincinnati, Ohio; Omaha, Nebraska; Butte, Montana; and Independence, Kentucky.
He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City. His mother was Sicilian and his father was Irish. Hill was a member of the Mafia from 1955 until he went into the Witness Protection Program in 1980.
In 1990, Karen filed for divorce after 23 years of marriage. The divorce was finalized in 2002. After their divorce, Henry remarried and fathered another child. Karen Hill continues to use an alias to protect her identity, as do her two children, Gregg and Gina.
Hill, his wife Karen, and their two children (Gregg and Gina) entered the U.S. Marshals' Witness Protection Program in 1980, changed their names, and moved around to several undisclosed locations including Seattle, Washington; Cincinnati, Ohio; Omaha, Nebraska; Butte, Montana; and Independence, Kentucky.
HENRY HILL - "GOODFELLAS". How a respected gangster became a snitch. Real story
Was Henry Hill half Italian?
For example, famous Lucchese family associate Henry Hill, portrayed in the 1990 film Goodfellas, was unable to become a made man, despite his extensive Mafia career and his mother's Sicilian descent, because his father was of Irish descent.
Why was Henry Hill removed from witness protection?
To clear things up, Hill was arrested in Seattle in 1987 for cocaine trafficking. While the movie states that he was still protected under federal law until 1980 or so, the fact is that Hill and his family were kicked out of the Witness Protection Program in 1987 for his drug arrest in Seattle (via NBC News).
Goodfellas: Alec Baldwin Auditioned To Play Henry Hill
Back then, Baldwin was a better-known name in the industry than Ray Liotta, having starred in movies like Beetlejuice and TV shows like The Doctors, but he probably wasn't what the producers were looking for.
The role in question was that of Irish-American gangster Jimmy Conway in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. As per a Goodfellas deep-dive by ShortList, Pacino was offered the role but turned it down for fear of typecasting.
The cast did not meet Henry Hill until a few weeks before the film's premiere. Liotta met him in an undisclosed city; Hill had seen the film and told the actor that he loved it.
New York City, New York, U.S. DeSimone's career in the Lucchese family is explored in the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, and inspired the character of Tommy DeVito, portrayed by Joe Pesci, one of the main characters of the 1990 film Goodfellas.
The reason why neither Henry Hill nor Jimmy Conway could become made men is because they weren't of full Italian descent, as they were both half-Irish.
Are any of the gangsters portrayed in Goodfellas still alive in real life? - Quora. No. Other than the mafioso who were killed in that movie, the main characters themselves are all dead.
The majority of the plot points in Goodfellas are 100% real, but some events were slightly sped up or omitted for effect. Robert De Niro's performance as Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas is authentic and chilling, and Martin Scorsese's masterful direction elevates the portrayal.
Notorious “Goodfellas” gangster Henry Hill was sent to live in Omaha for the rest of his life as an “average schnook” after entering the witness protection program.
The point we're making here is that Henry's ambition isn't exactly endearing, but it's understandable. You can fault him for being a crook, but you can't fault him for lusting after financial stability. At least, not to his face. At the end of the day, Henry Hill is still a bad dude who could have your legs broken.
The reason? To cover his tracks with the Lufthansa Heist. Jimmy was going to kill Henry in Goodfellas, so it wouldn't have been too surprising to see him kill another friend.
Although the response from the mob was mostly good, there were many others who weren't on board with the themes addressed in Goodfellas and its portrayal of Italian-Americans.
He was moved 10 times to areas including Nebraska and Kentucky, living under aliases such as Martin Lewis and Peter Haines. In 1987 he was arrested on drugs charges and he was released from witness protection in the early 1990s, re-assuming his own name. These days he is a reformed character - most of the time.
Every time Hill was busted by local authorities, he and his family had to relocate so as to keep them off the mafia radar, and within the first year of their time in the program, the Hills had moved from Omaha, Nebraska, to Independence, Kentucky, then to the sleepy town of Redmond, Washington.
He'd never auditioned for an acting role of any kind when he got hand picked out of thousands to play the infamous New York mobster-turned-FBI-informant, Hill. Serrone turned 13 during filming but portrayed Hill at a range of ages, until Ray Liotta took over as the 21-year-old Henry.
Possibly Henry found out about Tommy trying to rape Karen through Paul, or Karen, and ratted on Tommy, because he knew Tommy killed Billy Batts. In the film it's left open to speculation, but in real life Paul Vario almost certainly betrayed Tommy DeSimone to John Gotti.
Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas is based on a true story and on real-life gangsters, but it made some big changes to the stories of these characters, among them Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), whose real name was Tommy DeSimone.
