Henry Hill Jr. (11 June 1943 – 12 June 2012) was an Irish-Italian New York City mobster who was associated with the Lucchese crime family between 1955 and 1980. In 1980, he became an FBI informant, and his testimony helped to secure 50 convictions, including those of his former boss, Paul Cicero, and his associate, Jimmy Conway.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Hill in 1955
Henry Hill Jr. was born in the poor Brownsville neighborhood of East New York, Brooklyn, New York City on 11 June 1943, the son of an Irish electrician and a Sicilian mother. Hill was one of nine children, and he would spend his childhood looking across the street, admiring socializing mobsters such as Paul Cicero. In 1955, Hill walked across the street in search of a part-time job, running errands for Tuddy Cicero's pizzeria and cabstand. Hill's father would beat him after discovering his truancy from school, but Hill came to accept that he would be beaten up several times in life; soon after, the mailman delivering the truancy reports would be scared into delivering the mail to Cicero's pizzeria instead of Hill's house. Hill became involved with several Mafia activities, including the burning of cars and working as a valet.
Vario crew[]
Jimmy Conway introducing Hill to Tommy DeVito
In 1956, while serving drinks and sandwiches at a card game, Hill met Jimmy Conway, and he was dazzled by his openhanded tipping. Hill sold cigarettes for Conway, and he was "pinched" for selling cigarettes to factory workers when he was 16 years old; the mob lawyer convinced the corrupt judge to let Hill go free. Cicero and the other mobsters celebrated Hill "breaking his cherry" in the mob world, as he had proved his loyalty to the Mafia by not talking to the prosecutors about his criminal activities. Burke and Hill became friends, as neither of them could become made men due to their shared Irish descent. From 1960 to 1965, Hill served in the US Army's US 82nd Airborne Division, and he returned to New York in 1963, engaging in arson, intimidation, running a stolen car ring, and hijacking trucks.
Robbery career[]
Hill and his wife Karen at the Copacabana
In 1965, Hill met Karen Friedman during a double date with his friend and associate Tommy DeVito and his date, and the two initially did not get along well. However, Hill was later impressed by her strong personality and her eyes, which reminded him of Elizabeth Taylor. They married in North Carolina, and she became aware of his criminal lifestyle, helping him in some occasions (such as when she hid a pistol that he used to pistol-whip a man who had attempted to rape her).
On 7 April 1967, Hill and DeVito made it big during the Air France robbery, stealing $420,000 ($3,000,000 in 2016) without firing a single shot. Hill used the money to purchase The Suite Lounge in Queens, went to the Copacabana on Friday nights with his wife and on Saturdays with his girlfriends, bought several new suits, and other lavish expenses. On 11 June 1970, DeVito murdered Gambino crime family made man William Bentvena at The Suite, and Hill helped him in disposing of the body. Hill soon became involved with drug trafficking, selling marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and quaaludes. These two actions earned the scorn of Paul Cicero, who angrily searched for the perpetrator of Bentvena's disappearance (the Gambinos persistently bothered him about Bentvena's mysterious departure), and who disapproved of the drug trade.
Lufthansa heist and downfall[]
Hill in 1980
Hill and Conway were arrested in Florida while collecting gambling debts from a man whose sister worked as a typist for the FBI, and they received ten-year prison sentences. Hill was paroled in 1978, and he expanded his cocaine trade behind Cicero's back, getting Conway and DeVito involved. They proceeded to carry out the Lufthansa heist, stealing $6,000,000, and Conway had most of the crew killed after they spent the money too quickly. DeVito was eventually killed in retribution for Bentvena's murder, having been fooled into thinking that he would be "made". Hill became a nervous wreck from cocaine use and insomnia, and he feared that he, too, would be killed by Conway, who wanted to eliminate all potential Witness Protection Program "rats". He was arrested by narcotics agents before he could make a drug deal in Pittsburgh, and his wife left the family penniless when she flushed $60,000 of cocaine down the toilet to prevent the FBI from finding it. Cicero felt betrayed by Hill's drug dealings, giving him $3,200 and ending their association.
Turning states[]
Realizing that Conway planned to have him killed by Anthony Stabile in Florida, Hill decided to turn states against the Lucchese family. He gave sufficient testimony to have Cicero, Conway, and several other mobsters imprisoned, and he disappeared into the WPP. In 1990, his wife filed for divorce after 25 years of marriage, and their divorce was finalized in 2002. Due to his numerous crimes while in Witness Protection, Hill was expelled from the program in the early 1990s, and he was arrested several times in the 2000s for drug-related offenses. He died of heart disease in Los Angeles, California in 2012.