Goodfellas
AlthoughGoodfellastells a true history , it made many change to the grapheme , their account , and the situations they got involved in , and one easy - to - misfire detail inTommy DeVito ’s ( Joe Pesci ) storyactually made it worse . conduct by Martin Scorsese and based on the bookWiseguy , by Nicholas Pileggi , Goodfellastells the story of Henry Hill ( Ray Liotta ) , an associate of the Lucchese family , following him from his days as a teenager run errands for Paul Cicero ( Paul Sorvino ) and his crowd to his full involvement with them and his decision to become an FBI witnesser years after .
During his time with the rabble , Henry met some of the biggest names in the criminal underworld and even became quite snug to some of them , most notably Jimmy “ The Gent ” Conway ( Robert DeNiro ) and Tommy DeVito , with whom he also got involved in a variety of crimes . Goodfellaswas a decisive success and was put up for various awards , taking home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor thanks to Pesci ’s functioning . Pesci ’s Tommy DeVito is allege to be very like to the literal Tommy , butGoodfellasmade a major changeto his story that can be well missed , yet it makes his story bad , and is that his dead body was found .
Related : Goodfellas : Why Tommy Was Killed ( But Henry & Jimmy Were n’t )
What Happened To The Real Tommy DeVito?
Goodfellas ’ Tommy DeVito is based on real - life mobster Tommy DeSimone , who just like Pesci ’s character , was part of the Lucchese crime family and is believed to have claim part in the Lufthansa holdup , among many other crimes , such as the Air France looting . DeSimone , also like DeVito , was responsible for for the slaying of William Bentvena a.k.a . “ Billy Batts ” and Michael “ Spider ” Gianco , as well as those of Dominick “ Remo ” Cersani ( Jimmy Burke ’s best friend ) and Ronald Jerothe , a protégé of John Gotti , though these last two slaying were n’t included in the movie . In January 1979 , DeSimone was cover missing , and it ’s believed he was slay in retaliation for the unsanctioned murders of Bentvena and Jerothe . Hill say the FBI DeSimone believe he was going to be made , so Hill believed he had been determine up and thus was murdered .
There are two main possibility on what happened to DeSimone , these come in from mob “ insider ” . The first say Thomas Agro killed DeSimone , and the other one claims it wasGotti himself who killed DeSimone . DeSimone ’s body was never go back , but it has been theorise that he ’s bury in a suspected “ mafia graveyard ” called “ The Hole ” , where the bodies of three gangsters were found in 2004 .
Why Goodfellas Changing Tommy’s Story Made It Worse
Goodfellaswas mostly patriotic to the narration of Tommy DeVito , depicting him as the driving and aggressive humanity he ’s say to have been as well as his most notable and notorious crimes , as are the Lufthansa heist and the slaying of Billy Batts . However , Goodfellasmade a big variety to his story as in it , Tommy ’s body was find . Although it ’s not shown , Henry mentions that Tommy was even shot in the face“so his mother could n’t give him an open casket at the funeral ” , which suggests his body was recover and give to his phratry at some period . The enigma around Tommy ’s deathis a big part of the “ prayer ” of his floor , and by vary it , Goodfellastook away an important part of his taradiddle and legacy and turn him into just another gangster , as were the many others who were found at some point , such as all those Jimmy consecrate to be killed after the Lufthansa heist . Henry ’s line about the open casket is a subtle contingent that can be easily missed , but it ’s a major alteration in the story of one ofGoodfellas ’ most interesting characters .
Next : Why Goodfellas leave Out 1 Key Real Life Gangster
