William "Billy Batts" Bentvena (22 February 1933 – 12 June 1970) was a New York mobster who was affiliated with the Gambino crime family. He was a longtime friend of John Gotti, and his murder by Tommy DeVito in 1970 led to DeVito's own downfall in 1979.
Biography[]
William Bentvena was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States on 22 February 1933, and he became an associate of the Gambino crime family in 1959. In 1961, he became a full member of the family, becoming a street soldier for Carmine Fatico and John Gotti. In 1964, he was arrested at a drug deal in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and he was released from prison on 9 June 1970.
Murder[]
Bentvena's death
On 11 June 1970, Bentvena went to The Suite Lounge in Jamaica, Queens, where the owner Henry Hill and a few other mob friends held a "welcome home" party for him. During the party, he remarked that Tommy DeVito used to shine shoes when he was a little boy, provoking DeVito because of his desire to impress mobsters from another crime family. DeVito left the bar after shouting at Bentvena, but he later re-entered the restaurant, sneaking up on Bentvena and attacking him. Hill and Jimmy Conway later joined in, stomping on Bentvena and beating him unconscious. They wrapped him in a table cloth and threw him in the trunk of their car, driving upstate to dispose of the body. They first had to stop at DeVito's house to collect a knife, some Lye, and a shovel, and they drove to a roadside in upstate New York, stopping the car when they heard thumping in the trunk. They opened the trunk, and DeVito stabbed Bentvena several times with the knife, before Conway proceeded to shoot him several times. Bentvena was buried at the roadside, but his body was later exhumed and reburied elsewhere when a real estate company began to develop condominiums in the area. The Gambino family would eventually discover his murder, and DeVito was executed in retribution.