September 19, 2020, marked 30 years since Goodfellas was released in American theaters. Henry. Behind the high barbed wire aluminum fence, you can see small white buses parked. I was the same age as Henry Hill's kids. Your email address will not be published. Because when Hill was arrested for dealing drugs and then his involvement in the Lufthansa Heist, he decided to become a government informant. GoodFellas is told from the point of view of Hill, a local Brooklyn gangster and drug dealer who worked as an associate for the Lucchese crime family, one of Brooklyns most notorious mafioso organizations. Here's an excerpt from a Leslie West interview on the Best Classic Bands Website: "The Vagrants were the house band at a joint on Long Island called the Action House. Searching Newspapers.com for new housing developments that were popping up in Marlboro, NJ around 1989 (when Goodfellas was shot), I came across a few real estate listings for homes for sale in something called the Greenbriar Development. Hills testimony led to 50 convictions, including Burkes arrest for rigging college basketball games. The Action House, which was Long Island's premier music venue from the mid-sixties to the early 70's, was indeed crucial to the development of the area's nascent local music scene in the sixties. He was kicked out of the program in 1987 and Karen divorced him in 1989, just a year before the premiere of GoodFellas. "They were living complex lives, like we do," Hart says. The web is such an amazing place. In real life, Stacks met his end in a basement less than ten minutes from the former Roberts Lounge. Presto Pizza (where Henry sees his first shooting in the movie) was also in the area. We did Air France. In the Hill case, it was a 19-year-old from Commack, L.I., who had been arrested for selling $1,200 worth of Quaaludes to Nassau County undercover cops. He hadnt produced Cream yet and I see this guy coming in and he looks like Sonny Bono, with the mustache and the scarf, and I say, Whos this fucking guy? But we hit it off and he did two singles with us. Read about my latest adventures and get important travel tips and advice in your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter. I`m an average nobody. Theres also a yellowish, rusty aluminum wall to the left, which has enough no parking signs attached to open a corner hardware store. Please be respectful if you visit one of the private residences listed below. Henry Hill Jr. was born was born on the 11th of June 1943, in Manhattan, New York. Every time Ive watched Martin ScorsesesGoodefellas (1991) (which is more than a few) one of the things that always strikes me is how familiar I am with the built environment of the film. After you watch the movie, check out the YouTube clips of me going to the actual locations. Henry Hill's boyhood home in East New York The boyhood scenes from Goodfellas were filmed in Astoria, but Henry Hill's real boyhood home is still standing on Pine Street. In 1963, Henry returned to New York and started organizing crimes. Though Henry said he was "a little shy" in high school, he did share his talents with others. Coney Island and Avenue Y was where they filmed the exterior of the (fake) Bamboo lounge for the movie. He said one of the lawyers had gone to see Germaine in the can and had told him that his kid was the informant and that Germaine had told the lawyer to `hit the rat.` That`s where we were, putting hits on our own kids. As for Henry Hill, I would bet Burke regretted not whacking him every minute of every day he spent in his prison cell the last two decades of his life. It was the biggest cash robbery in United States history. Join our mailing list to receive our latest news and updates. Henry Hill was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 11, 1943. According to Henry Hill, the heist was planned in the two-story red brick building just south of the Lefferts/Linden intersection in the South Ozone Park section ofQueens. They had shredded everything about our past. The first thing of note in the scene is a few rows of suburban houses on streets diverging from each other. One event that has been well documented took place on June 16 and 17, 1967 when the Doors, who had been working at Steve Paul's The Scene club for an extended period, played a gig at The Action House when Steve Paul closed his club for three days in order to attend the Monterey Pop Festival in California. A developer owns the property and had it re-zoned residential for a small condo development. It's located just outside the Euclid Ave subway station in East New York, Brooklyn. Finally, some are also mentioned in Hills subsequent books. ''They were holding him in $150,000 bail,'' said Hill`s wife, Karen. At 1:38:15 into the movie, Stacks (played by Samuel L. Jackson) is awoken from a deep sleep by Tommys loud banging on his hideout door. I hope I can watch it again. Although the Long Island home necessitates a bit of a commute to the couple's Manhattan jobs, they both feel the . Soon after, they met Burke in Brooklyn, transferred all the money out of the van and went their separate ways. The gray fence has DO NOT PARK DO NOT BLOCK DRIVEWAY spray painted in black. Henry Hill's boyhood home in East New York The boyhood scenes from Goodfellas were filmed in Astoria, but Henry Hill's real boyhood home is still standing on Pine Street. Posted by Brian Cicioni | Jan 25, 2021 | NYC | 14 |. On location in Long Island, NY. The young man who started by giving up Henry Hill had ended up turning in his own father. I could see he was nervous and surprised. 17. The Kornati Islands Croatias Hidden Gem in the Adriatic. The reason why he never was arrested for the Lufthansa Heist, however, is quite different. i have some additional addresses you may be interested in. All pictures were shot with myPanasonic Lumix ZS100 4K Point and Shoot Camera. Hi Victor. I said they couldn`t call any of their friends and they couldn`t go to school and get their books or sneakers. The Pitkin Avenue Cab Company is long gone, but you can see where it once stood across the street from Henry Hills boyhood home. Where did Henry Hill live in Island Park NY? He was facing too much time for a guy like Jimmy to take any chances with him.'' Prior to becoming the Action House, the location in Island Park was known as The Shell House; a Dinner Club where stars of the early sixties such as Marvin Gaye, Jay & the Americans, The Four Seasons, Bobby Vinton, Johnny Mathis, Roy Hamilton, Jerry Vale and Lil Anthony appeared there. The two-story red brick building in South Ozone Park is the northernmost of three identical-looking buildings on the west side of 120th Street between 109th and 111th Avenues (there is no 110th). Everything Jim Groom touches is gold. Tropical Storm Henri made landfall along the coast of Rhode Island near Westerly on Sunday as the slow-moving storm drenched the Northeast with heavy rain that could cause significant flooding. When he turned away, I could see that he was crying.''. ''We ran everything. It turned out that he already was an informant, giving up people from whom he was buying his drugs. My 3yr old son is VERY intrigued by @jimgroom's avatar. Goodfellas 's famously large "f**k" count was mostly improvised. She kept asking when Henry was coming home. What are the disadvantages of shielding a thermometer? In the precinct, his fingerprints proved otherwise. You had a demo that you did for $49. It looks like a new housing development, as multiple new homes are being built. Planning a trip to NYC? Heres the Witness Protection Program home of the man formerly known as Henry Hill. At the age of 14, he dropped out of high school and began working for the gangsters. The events of their lives were chronicled in the 1990 film Goodfellas and several books. I knew she was calling for Jimmy. The government got its money`s worth out of Henry. Besides the pool of readily available local musical talent, the Action House also promoted shows featuring some of the era's biggest rock & roll acts. My understanding is that an essential requirement of the internet is to do whatever Jim Groom asks of you while you're online. Show more Long Island sees heaviest snowfall with Saturday Nor'easter Eyewitness News ABC7NY 44K views 3 months. The estate will join a handful of nine-figure properties across the U.S., including two in the Hamptons on Long Island: the former Ford family estate listed for $175 million and another oceanfront . He said that the only chance we had was for Henry to cooperate. Leslie West:That was the only place that we could work regularly! However i do think gotti ordered it since he was an acting capo at the time . Henry Hill lived on 19 St. Marks Avenue per this article Where did Henry Morton Stanley live? Acting on the basis of that information, Mann was given court permission to tap the telephone at Hill`s home on Long Island for 30 days and to tap the telephone of Robin Cooperman (Hill`s girlfriend), who lived near him. In 1980, he was arrested on various charges, including drug trafficking. We had to start a new life. It is an anti-climactic end for the Brooklyn mobster and FBI informant whose life story inspired the classic Martin Scorsese movie Goodfellas, with. The boyhood scenes were filmed in Astoria, Queens, but Brian took us to the former Hill family homestead just outside the Euclid Ave subway station. ; Independence, Ky.; and Topanga, Calif., among other places was documented in crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi's 1986 book. The heist itself was relatively simple. It was originally called the Shell House. Jenna Bush Hager has always loved the small town feel of Long Island's North Shore. The house in the background is worth noting, too: two dormer windows with a chimney and skylight between them, and another scattered array of windows similar to those on Henrys house. He said to my manager, What label are you guys on? My manager said, Were not on a label, and he said, Whats the matter with Atco? We turned around and said, Nothing. So, he signed us. The six mob soldiers wore ski masks, busted into the cargo area, took one Lufthansa employee hostage and then rounded up the rest of his co-workers. Hill was born to Henry Hill Snr. Soon enough, the Lizard King is well out of it and at one point of the show, begins to shed his clothing. Today, Henry Hill and his wife life somewhere in America. This could have been Geffkens Bar, which was said to have been one of his hangouts. He is most famous for being portrayed by actor Ray Liotta in the 1990 blockbuster movie, Goodfellas as a Lucchese family associate involved in several high profile robberies, murders, scandals, and finally as an FBI informant. The mobster famously portrayed by Joe Pesci in "Goodfellas" killed two made men, tried to rape the wife of his gangster pal Henry Hill and stupidly lifted his ski mask during 1978's . He's like King Midas, but with the Internet. Henry Hill was born June 11, 1943 in Brownsville Brooklyn. Henry was raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, along with his eight siblings in an ordinary working class environment. While he eventually found loving adoptive parents, the mold had been cast. LOS ANGELES (AP) Henry Hill spent much of his life as a "goodfella," believing his last moment would come with a bullet to the back of his head. Once they had everyone tied up, they hit the airlines vault, grabbing the boxes of cash there were 72 of them, weighing 15 pounds apiece and made their escape. The house is the third one on the left after the Brooklyn Food Stamp Center. Henry was one of the only survivors and he was finally caught in a position where he might be persuaded to talk. ''That`s why I couldn`t figure out why Henry was so nervous when I went to see him and why Jimmy (Burke) and his wife Mickey were acting so strange. I would have a couple of days to pick up some cash and also a couple of days to see if Jimmy was really planning to kill me. Then when I recorded Respect, one day I go up to Atlantic, which was on 60th Street and Broadway at the time. All the while, Karen has been living under an assumed name and the details of her current life are not public. After planning it out in Burke's Queens restaurant, the six men in the van, along with Burke's son and another associate in a nearby Buick, set off for JFK to pull off the robbery. Burke was known as Jimmy the Gent because he was always passing out wads of cash and big tips to everyone in the neighborhood, but the nickname also contained more than a trace of irony. What town did Henry Hill live in? He didn`t even count it. The movie "Goodfellas" told the story of Henry Hill the gangster who famously . Want to keep the conversation going? At the time, Henry was living with his parents outside of Fresno, California. Celebrated as both a technological genius and a folk . He was involved in arson, stealing cars, hijacking trucks, etc. That meant Paulie wouldn`t use his influence with the cops or the courts or the lawyers or the bondsmen. This cabstand was maintained by Paul Varios rival, so the crime family wanted to destroy it. Robert Germaine Sr. was none other than the father of the 19-year-old confidential informant whose information had started the entire investigation. Personality Thanks for reminding about it. Since 1987, Henry has been clean. As a boy, he idolised the gangsters who hung out at a coffee shop across the street from his apartment. Phil managed Vanilla Fudge and from there, he got contacts with other bands. Henry: ''I knew I was vulnerable. The wiseguys would have played cards on that sidewalk into the early morning hours (and nobody ever called the cops). The Action House, which was Long Island's premier music venue from the mid-sixties to the early 70's, was indeed crucial to the development of the area's nascent local music scene in the sixties. Henry died on June 12, 2012, due to a heart disease. He said he wasn`t going to help Henry get out of this. Even at the end, with all the threats I was getting and all the time I was facing behind the wall, I still loved the life. '', Nicholas Pileggi. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The company, Birardi Movers, is a real moving company in Old Bridge, NJ 15 minutes from Marlboro, where IMDb says the scene was shot. Today, Henry Hill and his wife life somewhere in America. He is so carefully guarded and his new identity is so vigorously protected by the U.S. Henry, who'd bounced around across the U.S. and ultimately landed in southern California, died of complications related to heart disease at the age of 69 in 2012. In On the Run: A Mafia Childhood, Gregg Hill described the drug-fueled orgies that were the norm in his parents sleepy suburban home. Like this post and want to share? ''I know if I go to Florida with Stabile, I`m not coming back. Hi Alexa. Henry: ''The hardest thing for me was leaving the life I was running away from. We walked out laughing. Today, this stretch of Pine Street, between Pitkin Ave. and Conduit Blvd., still has a very working-class feel. Second, I have an actual book of matches from The Bamboo Lounge. Where the hell did that mistake originate from, seriously. Most are not open to the public. promoted several Freak Out shows at the club. A recent visitor to this blog provided new information as to the current situation of the site of the Action House: the former Action House building was torn down well over ten years ago. He explained that we were all in danger. Here are nine real-life locations you can still visit in New York. From General George Washington to Barack Obama, Long Island has played host to U.S. President's since the country's origins. When people say, I remember the good old days, if you really think back, maybe there were one or two days that were really great and the rest of them were like shit. Here is the only 4 things that Henry Hill ever did that was a big deal: Was involved in the murder of Billy Batts. On New Years day in 1842, John Thoreau cut his finger while shaving and soon became sick with tetanus and lock jaw. His five-star rated Goodfellas Tour of NYC has been featured in Airbnb Magazine. Hill, his wife Karen and their two children entered the witness protection program after his testimony, though Hill couldnt quite stick to the straight-laced anonymity required of the participants. It stops on Hill stepping out of his front door to get the paper, as he tells us in his voiceover that he gets to live the rest of his life like a schnook. The last place Henry Hill lived and dealt drugs from before he was "pinched" was in Rockville Centre, one town away from where I grew up. They were all trying to be like the Rascals, with the Hammond B-3 organ. In the years that followed, he began working for both the Lucchese and Colombo crime families. Any other rare finds from the movie? And what I mean by that is his involvement was literally being told about the idea from a guy, then him going and telling Jimmy Burke. First, Im a Canarsie native. ''But still I wasn`t sure. Nowadays, its a Caribbean restaurant/karaoke bar. They'll just say, "I logged on to the Jim Groom this morning. The boyhood scenes fromGoodfellaswere filmed inAstoria, but Henry Hills real boyhood home is still standing on Pine Street. Thanks for this presentation of all the locations associated with Henry Hill, I read this article with interest, and the attached pictures are fantastic too! Less than six months after "Hannibal the Cannibal" and friends had popped so many celebratory bottles of chianti, a real-life horror movie was continuing to unspool. During the initial years of their marriage, they lived with Karens parents at their home in Lawrence, New York. ''We got new Social Security numbers, and the kids got new identifications for school. He was affiliated with some people from Brooklyn, Queens and LI who put together a consortium to buy the club. Tyler Henry started being paid for his medium abilities while he was still attending Sierra Pacific High School, receiving about $40 per reading. and Carmela Elizabeth Hill and had about eight siblings who all grew up in one of the poorest residential areas in Brownsville, Eastern Brooklyn. He was South Shore trash, just like me Part of the joy of reading this book for me was Hills insistence on naming people and places so regualrly. ''Instead, I showed up at Jimmy`s sweatshop. Where on Long Island did Henry Hill live? ''When I walked out of his office, I knew we were going into the program. Henry Hill and the Real-Life GoodFellas: The True Story Behind the Movie, Photo: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images, Photo: Orjan F. Ellingvag/Corbis via Getty Images, Photo: Courtesy Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images, Idaho Murders: What Led Police to Bryan Kohberger, robbing an Air France cargo terminal at JFK, initially come from a Lufthansa employee named Louis Werner, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. The Hill wedding is abutted by two scenes. True, but they all had the same blue-eyed soul style, including your band. An article on the Wikibin site reveals the following: "Phillip was a Lucchese crime family controlled rock and roll music promoter who was an associate of the Lucchese crime family figures Paul Vario and Henry Hill. Its classic! Mann and William Broder, the Nassau County assistant district attorney, took notes as the young man began giving them details about the drug ring. The remainders fall here. Most of the witnesses and participants had either been murdered or disappeared. ''I went to see Paulie (Paul Vario, Henry`s mob boss), who was very upset with Henry. So many of the scenes where Henry Hill is courting Karen at the beginning or when hes is driving around like a paranoid maniac towards the endare landscapes that almost seem like polariods from my childhood. His children go to private schools. Not in real life.). He was too vulnerable. Gina claimed that her mom and dads friends used to borrow her Miss Piggy mirror during parties, only for her to find it littered with coke residue the following day. On February 14, 2012, he was inducted into the Las Vegas Mob Museum. The Museum of the American Gangster in New York City exhibits one of his paintings and a suit, which was once owned by him. Yes, as of last year, it was Kings Nissan. He and Lisa appeared in several documentaries and TV shows, including The Howard Stern Show. He was once asked if he felt guilty about glorifying his life as a criminal through self-written books and he replied by saying that he did not care what others had to say as he was doing the right thing. As Dorothy Davids writes, "It was a rich life.". All the details from the above clues match up perfectly: two houses with reverse setups, the house with dormers in the background, the bricks. I was just learning how to play thenwe were making rules up as we went along. Fast Facts: Henry Clinton. What town did Henry Hill live in? His wife Karen, played by Lorraine Bracco in GoodFellas, was initially unaware of his crime connections, but ultimately embraced the lifestyle. It was perhaps the first true temple of "cool" here in suburban Long Island. An article on the, Heres a list of some of the cool shows that happened, 04-24-70 Rod Stwart & Small Faces, Boomerang, Velvet Nite, 05-02-70 Manfred Mann, Hamilton Face Band, 05-08-70 Pacific Gas & Electric, Cactus, Happiness Is, 05-23-70 James Gang, Steeplechase, Factory, 06-26-70 Illusion, Boomerang, Steeplechase, 07-24-70 Delaney & Bonnie,Dr.John, Boomerang, 08-07-70 Terry Reid, Chickenshack, Boomerang, The Illusion @ The Action House circa 1971, This post is dedicated with much love to my buddy Les, who used to tend bar at The Action House back in the day. ''On May 16, after 18 days in jail, I felt the time was right to make my move. So did Marty Krugman (GoodFellas fans would know him as the wig salesman Morrie Kessler), though he was taken out more for his demand for half a million dollars as the guy who brought the tip to Hill in the first place.