Though Pileggi weaves a clear-eyed and astonishingly unbiased exploration of Hill and his life of crime, the author takes a step back and allows the oddly charismatic and witty Hill to speak for himself and tell his story in his own words. Pileggi must’ve known he hit a gold mine when he began interviewing Henry Hill-then still an FBI informant in the Witness Protection Program. And yes, like in the film adaptation, there were moments of such over-the-top audacity in this book, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Even though I knew how it was going to end, I was still on the edge of my seat, my mouth often literally falling open in astonishment at the bravado of Henry Hill and his fellow gangsters.
It’s a breathless, white-knuckle tale of racketeering, scams, and murder. To be succinct, reading WISEGUY is a lot like watching Goodfellas. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I discovered that the film is overwhelmingly accurate to its source material-the true crime classic WISEGUY by Nicholas Pileggi. We all have our favorite scenes and lines memorized, but for being such longtime fans, we’ve never known much about the real story.
My mother recalls walking out of the house and passing the man on her stoop whose job was apparently to keep an eye on Robert De Niro’s dog.īecause of this less than six degrees of separation, Goodfellas has been a mainstay in my family since its release in 1990. There are several scenes in Martin Scorsese’s gangster masterpiece Goodfellas that were not only filmed in my hometown but in my neighborhood, and a sharp eye can even spot my family’s house. From Sesame Street to Glengarry Glen Ross and beyond, my hometown has seen countless TV and film productions, but there is only one that has a special place in my family’s heart. For movie buffs, Astoria-the home of Kaufman Astoria Studios, which features the city’s only backlot-is the heart of the New York City film industry.
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