The Lucchese Goodfellows Show

Yes Virginia there is a Henry Hill. The central character in the book Goodfellows and the film of the same name really existed and the exploits he related to text and film centered on actions of the Lucchese Family and a number of its associates. As presented in the motion picture Henry's adoptive father in the world of crime, Paulie Vario ran his business from a cab stand in the Brownsville-East New York district of Brooklyn and at times from a trailer parked at his car junk yard. He ruled through his four brothers, Lenny, Tommy, Vito and Sal, between them was the control of all of the illegal gambling, loan-sharking, labor rackets and extortion operations in the area. This was an area that was filled with a history of the greats of organized crime. Nearby was the sight were Capone and Torrio got their start and near to that was the headquarters of Murder Inc.. Due to the environment, Hill like many others saw "That Life" as a means by which one could enter into a world of wealth and power that would in all probability be closed to them through any other legal means. This arrangement provided the Family a labor pool from which to choose those who displayed a real willingness to provide a supply of cash to the Family and who in return expected protection as Family associates. Many of these new recruits would be unable to become a made man, being unable to meet the requirements of coming from a full-blooded Italian family. Hill is an excellent example of most of the new recruits, he had an Italian mother, but because his father was Irish, he could never be "made" or inducted into the mob, although he would have jumped at the opportunity. Hill grew up in the Brooklyn area dominated by Paul Vario's Family and his connections with the Lucchese Family. But even if he could not be "made" because he was a man associated with moneymakers and became a second son to Vario, at least in the sense of business. Through Paulie, Henry came into contact with other associates who educated him as to the finer points of criminal life. Vario ran one of the toughest and most violent crews in the Mob that did most of the "Heavy Work" for the Lucchese family. Somewhere there was always a need for men who provided the needed muscle to intimidate; businessmen to be "encouraged" in the payment of their outstanding loans; witnesses to be killed and informants to be "disappeared." Paul's crew had proven that they could always be counted on to carry out such need expertise. The associates were in most cases permitted to carry out crimes within the ruling area of the Family, and were expected to kick in a percentage to the Family for the right to work in Family territories. One of the high earners, who could always be counted upon to provide additional revenues, was also one of Henry's mentors, Jimmy Burke. Burke had gained a great reputation in the area of hijacking and was often referred to as "Gentleman Jim". This was due to the fact that he took pains not to harm drivers during the hijacking and in many cases provided a token bit of cash to the driver as his man took off with his truck or goods. Burke utilized his gambling interests to gain advantages in the area of hijacking. Some of his gambling clients held jobs at Kennedy Airport, and as they developed loan problems, they paid Burke they by supplying him with information on shipments and details of valuable cargo movements, and even more important with the timetables of trucks moving goods

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