Original subtitles

20 years ago, Juan Scorsese made a movie about my life.

And there's a lot of stuff that he left out.

The wise guys had a certain code of ethics that you had to follow.

Drugs was like the big no -no.

There was only two outcomes.

Either death or incarceration for the rest of your natural life.

Drugs was my downfall.

It's a scourge and a curse, and it almost cost me my life.

I'm Henry Hill, the real good fella, and this is my story.

I started hanging out with mobsters when I was, you know, 10, 11 years old. I

went to work as a kid washing their cars.

These guys fascinated me. They were the role models in my neighborhood.

They walked around with big diamond pinky rings and wads on bills.

So I got addicted to that lifestyle at a very young age.

Paul Vario was one of the capos in the Lucchese family.

Paul, he got a piece of everything.

That's the way it worked. We had to give tribute to the boss.

Paulie probably loved me like a son. I was a good earner for our club.

Jimmy the Gent Burke.

The guy that Robert De Niro played in Goodfellas. He was like an older

He could have been mayor of New York.

You know, had he went down the right path, that's how charming he was.

And on the other side, he'd chop your head off with an axe.

We broke every law in the books.

I used to commit three felonies before lunchtime some days. You know, to me it

was normal.

I would do whatever I was told to do, no matter what, you know.

Dig a hole or, you know, whatever.

You know, I did a lot of nasty stuff in my life that I do regret to this day.

Jump ahead to 1974.

I was convicted by the federal government for assault and extortion on

bookmaker in Florida that owed money.

All rings, watches, jewelry.

The guy was a nightclub owner, and we snatched him out of the nightclub.

Nobody takes any money from Paulie. Nobody takes any money from me. I pistol

-whipped him, along with a couple other cohorts.

The guy wound up with 80 stitches in his head.

That life is a violent, insane subculture that you just can't

imagine unless you're a part of it.

I thought it was normal, but in my heart and soul, I knew it wasn't.

Prisoners stripped down. Quickly.

Let's move it.

I knew I was screwed right from the minute I set foot in the penitentiary.

Quickly. Come on, you guys. Let's go. Let's move it. They tell you to strip,

they strip search you. They assign you a number. That's what I was. I was just a

number amongst 6 ,000 inmates.

The inmates were just as scary as the guards.

From walking around New York with... You know, rolls a hundred elbows.

How am I going to get along in this place?

I was lost.

The minute I turned a corner, who do I see? Right in front of me.

And other members of our crew.

He was serving two or three years for tax evasion.

Paulie tells the guard.

You're not going to need this stuff. Give it to somebody.

Yeah, we'll take care of him. We got nicer stuff, you know, upstairs.

$50 to the right guy, $100, whatever it was.

Paulie took care of it.

And I was assigned to the honor dorm. I was in with the boys.

It was easy living.

That's yours.

Test it out.

What do you think, huh?

Very comfy.

What do we got going on with this? For you.

All silk. The only dorm was these large, large rooms with five beds in it.

You're my boy, right? I appreciate it. Thank you.

Hot place to cook on.

Private bathroom. Private shower.

Big TV room.

Tennis courts.

Miniature golf courts.

Honestly. You want a drink?

Scotch? Bourbon? Gin?

Yeah, I am in the penitentiary. And they're offering me booze.

Ten dollars.

Good to be among family.

Henry's here.

Let's enjoy.

What do you want to eat? This is a pasta.

Just keep the cigarette ash out of mine.

It's not even lit. It could kill you.

We had about 10 to 12 guards on a payroll.

Back in those days, it was easy to do. See you tomorrow.

Even the priest was on a payroll.

Good stuff. Bye.

Special order for you.

Hey, you never know when you're going to need some rope, right?

You never know when you're going to need some rope, right? For myself and for

Paulie and guys like us, wise guys, life was pretty easy. The ones that didn't

have it so well was my wife and my family.

Every time you get in the car, you two just fight.

I just need to go. I'm going to go.

No, I'm sorry. That's my bag. That's okay. There's nothing in there.

I'm sitting in a visiting room, and I'm sitting there waiting for my wife and

children to walk in.

Karen, she's a ball breaker, and she could be a ball breaker at all times.

She was a Jap, you know, a Jewish -American princess.

She was used to living a certain lifestyle, and she wasn't living that

anymore.

I could see on her face that she was upset.

She was breaking my ball from the second she walked in. I got two children that

I got to feed, Henry.

I got no money.

Karen, calm down. I had to give up the new car.

She had to give up her new car. Oh, I'm sorry.

Henry, I had to take money from the kids' college funds.

You know, to survive.

And she's blaming me.

Why the hell are you in a penitentiary? Hello?

I'm doing 10 years and you're telling me why am I here? You know why I'm here. I

committed a crime.

Will you see me here, Henry? Please, impart some of your wisdom. Okay.

Sweetheart, not now.

And my family? My family's telling me to divorce you. Huh? At that point, you

know, I said, Karen, stop.

Please, you know, stop breaking my balls.

I'll figure something out.

I'll get you some more money. I will find a way. Honey, sweetheart, I will

figure something out.

I know the only way to get some more money.

was to deal some drugs.

Back in those days, drugs was like the big no -no.

If you got caught dealing, even marijuana, they were giving out, you

-year sentences like they were giving out free lunches.

Most of these guys that dealt drugs and got arrested, they became rats and

informants.

Paulie knew this. He instilled on us, you know, stay away from the heroin and

the cocaine and the marijuana because it'll only fall back on me.

If Paulie ever knew that I was dealing drugs, I was a dead man. I knew I'd get

whacked.

But what options do I have?

Karen was on her own. I felt ashamed. I felt bad for my, you know, for her.

I didn't care what Paul yet said. I knew that I could do it behind his back.

I'm going to do it.

The idea for me was to start small and stay small.

I had no dreams of being a big drug dealer.

I tell Connie. You know people on the outside.

Your sister knows some dealers.

You pick me up some good, good weed.

Some good corn bean stuff. Some tie stick.

I can't do this. Okay, well, listen. This is, this is, it'll be really easy.

was nervous that first.

Wait a minute. Wait, you don't think they're going to check?

Can't you ask someone else to do it?

They're not going to search you. There's no sniffer dogs.

There's no x -ray machines.

Connie, you put the drugs in your bra. You have really nice boobs, sweetheart.

You got big, uh.

Big gazooners, you know, so just, you know, put the drugs in your body. Don't

even put them with the food.

You sure?

I'm sure. You sure this is going to work? Yeah, come on.

Come on, it's no big deal.

She started bringing me stuff almost on every visit.

Until I leave it in the ladies' room, in the towel dispenser.

It was really a joke, actually.

I was probably making $500 ,000 to $1 ,000 a month.

After a couple of years behind the wall, I met Paul, Paul Mazey.

He was from Pittsburgh.

He was the way for smuggling marijuana or big -time, you know, bales of it.

We became the main suppliers for 1 ,500 guys using drugs.

We had it going on, and I made a lot of money doing that.

One day, there was no one in the room.

Apparently, they brought me some marijuana, and I was packaging it up for

$10 bags.

Pauly walked in the room.

Hey, Pauly, are you crazy?

Pauly busted me. I was that nervous wreck.

Just to make a little extra money. If they bust you doing this, how do I know

you don't rat on me, huh?

I didn't know there was anybody to kill right there. Nobody's ever going to

know, Paul. And I don't have to tell you.

What happens to rats?

Do I? Yeah, my back was against the wall, and I knew it.

Aaron really needs the money. It's just on the inside.

If I ever hear you doing this on the outside, I'll kill you.

Get out of here. Get out of my sight.

He let it slide, you know, while I was in the pen.

He didn't care. He can get away with it. But in the street, you know, it was a

no -no.

After about four years, I had enough money to hire a good lawyer.

I finally was granted parole.

I'm going to miss you very much.

To finally be released, it was an exhilarating feeling.

Everything revolved around cash, so I had to put my thinking cap on and figure

what am I going to do.

I had my wife drop me off in Pittsburgh.

I had to go pick up $25 ,000 owed to me by Paul Massey.

Paul?

He had got released prior.

Hey, Paul. I knew that I had this money coming.

At the time, I had told my wife to start looking for a house.

Hey, Paul.

Surprise, surprise.

Henry, Henry, how you doing? How you doing?

Good to see you. Good to see you. What's with the poodle? Paul Massey had a dog

grooming parlor.

It was a front for his drug dealings. I need my money, Paul.

I think he had $6 ,000 or $7 ,000 to give me. I can give you cash now, all

right? Where's the rest of it, Paul?

Where's the rest?

Will you take product?

Take product, you know? I said product. Product?

Yeah, come on. He opens up his garage.

Voila!

And it's a headstock with big bells and I wanted to fix up one bell. And he

throws it out of the way.

Are you kidding me?

Yeah, look at that.

I'm thinking of Paulie waving this from my face.

Prison is one thing. This is the street. Here I am, you know, sitting on a half

a ton of marijuana.

If Paulie found out, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to get

killed. If a federal offense is bringing it over the state line, you know, all

these things are going through my head. What am I supposed to do with it? You

want me to go back in there? Don't you want it? Come on.

You can move it, right?

It was so hard not to go back to that lifestyle.

The money was astronomical.

My wife had picked out this house. She's already decorating it and calling it

carpet. You know, it was just all kinds of insanity.

I was out of a penitentiary pulling 60 pounds of grass back in New York.

I had to walk between the raindrops, you know, at this point.

I didn't want to take it out to Paulie because I was dealing drugs on the

outside. As soon as they got pinched, I knew I was okay.

It was probably a week or two before I was able to collect all my money.

Karen, love the new house. I can't believe it, Henry.

Wow, so much room here. I want to knock down this wall right here, and I think

right here, the big rug.

By the way, she started knocking this wall down, and I had to get interior

decorated. I want a nice big hanging lamp right here. She wasn't satisfied

just that, you know, the house the way it was. I'm going to have to make you a

whole lot more cash there, aren't I?

I started dealing weight and marijuana.

And I started dabbling in cocaine, too.

I had connections in Florida.

I'd shoot down here on a weekend.

I used to meet my connections at the Players Club. It was a big hotel and

club.

We would exchange money for suitcases full of kilos of cocaine.

The shopping bag's full of money that I was creating.

It was unbelievable.

I've got something extra special for you this time, my friend. My drug dealing

also had a byproduct, which was weapons.

What do you think? Where did you get all these?

Paul Mazza had a customer of his who worked for a major armory of a gun

manufacturer. I got a line into a guy. He's got a bad habit. And once Paul had

his fingers into him, this guy started trading weapons for product.

And they were untraceable.

Never fired, which was a unique situation.

44 Magnum. Paul asked me if I was interested in acquiring weapons.

I knew exactly who would want most of these guns.

Sure. I'll take them all.

Jimmy.

Jimmy the Gent Burke.

Oh, yeah. Blake? Perfect.

When I first told Jimmy about the guns, he got real excited.

Do you think pilots should put on these babies?

I believe so, Jimmy.

Never been used before, right? Yeah, they're untraceable. Jimmy, I got them

straight from the manufacturer.

No. I don't want to know.

I was really excited when I told him that.

All right, I want them. I'll take all of them.

Great. Excellent.

These little beauties are my friend. At that point, we was all in trouble way

over our heads because of me.

I was in the shower, and a bulletin comes across the radio.

Six armed men raided the Lufthansa International Terminal.

An untold amount of money. They claim it's $4 million. They claim it's $6

million. They don't even know themselves how much money was taken.

I started banging the shower. I got so excited, you know.

I knew it was Jimmy. Probably everybody else in the city knew who it was, too.

We had pre -planned it, but I didn't know when it was going to go down. I had

clue.

I supplied the guns for the robbery, so I was elated. I was down for at least

half a million dollars. I was set.

I was finished with the life of crime.

Karen!

Karen!

The Lufthansa heist at that time was the largest cash robbery in the history of

the United States. Total amount, it was about $6 million.

I met Jimmy at 10 o 'clock. First thing, you know, he grabbed me, hugged me. We

did it. We did it. You know, he was all excited and I was all excited.

Jimmy ran it down to me that there's going to be a lot of heat on us.

You're going to be tailed.

No brand new cars.

Don't buy no new houses.

You know, just be cool.

Man, look, we got this made in the shade if we keep going, okay? Right, right,

right, right.

I don't want no one making any slip -ups. Nobody.

Yeah, Jimmy, I hear you.

Because, uh, we know that you've been dabbling in cocaine.

I just want to get the heck out of here at this point.

Well, what can I say, Jimmy? I'm expanding my business. Does Paulie know?

Does Paulie hate to be there?

I don't know if I was going to get killed right there. You know that,

If I got pinched.

You know, by the DEA, Paul knew that he'd be part of the food chain, so to

speak.

All of a sudden, Jimmy takes something out of his pocket. You know what that

Yes, you know what that is? It's his coat.

Heroin.

I looked at him like, what?

Jimmy, are you crazy?

I was shocked. Well, number one, it was kind of okay to deal with marijuana, but

heroin was like the big no -no. You can move that for me, right?

Huh? You still got those connections?

Right? Why did we have to do this? Why did we have to get involved in our own

business? But I couldn't question Jimmy.

I don't know. I never moved nowhere.

Hey, Jimmy.

Jimmy, don't worry about it. Yeah, I can do it. I can do it. Hey, hey, hey. God

forbid, you know, Paul ever found out.

No one could have saved us.

You still got those connections?

Right?

Every couple of weeks, I'd pick up product one kilo at a time.

I'd leave the money in the car. I'd leave my keys on top of the wheel well.

I'd go back to the car, and the cash would be removed, and there would be

product in the trunk.

I didn't want Paulie to find out how much I was dealing and what I was

so I needed my own little secret crew.

I had this girlfriend named Robin Koppelman.

robbing an apartment a couple blocks from my house.

It was small.

I used to call it my bat cave because it was down below the ground.

I brought you a little something. For me?

Yes. She was a great kid.

Liked to do drugs, so we had something in common.

I started using Robin's place to cut the heroin.

A little leptin baking for you because your cooking's atrocious.

I would take an ounce of Manit, a powdered baby laxative. This is the

dust. Put it in a big bakery sifter.

Even with a surgical mask, I would mix it. I'd feel real funny. I'd feel good.

I was inhaling it, you know, as it was just floating in the air.

But in a matter of weeks, I became addicted to it.

I mean, I lost all reality with life itself and being careful and being

cautious.

There was one point where I was lugging the stuff myself. I was flying from New

York to Pittsburgh.

For some reason, against my better judgment, I was getting careless, I

I had just wrapped two or three ounces of heroin.

And I kind of concealed it in my bag because I never had gotten searched for

some reason.

Maybe I was doing a little too much coke at the time.

The final checkpoint before getting on the plane, I got waved over.

Excuse me, sir. Can I check your bag?

Right here.

What's that?

Can I check your bag here?

Yeah, well, you know.

What's this about?

I looked at him, you know. He looked at me. He opened the bag.

You know, in plain sight.

You talk about sweating, I first started to get, you know, get nervous.

I'm going to close it back up. Go ahead.

Okay, thank you.

Great.

Yeah, have a nice day.

You know, he was daydreaming.

I was like shocked, you know.

I mean, and I never, I don't think I've ever carried drugs on a plane from that

point ever in my life.

Being in the drug business, I needed people to transport the stuff.

Judy was my main courier.

She was homespun, just like a normal, normal...

Hick, very non -conspicuous.

She used to transport maybe four ounces at a time.

Which happened to a leg for a baby.

She used to use different babies.

I mean, she used to make a trip every week or every ten days.

The second main courier that I had was Bobby Germain Jr.

His father was a big drug dealer who I knew.

Yeah, yeah, Mr. Hill. Got any other work you want to throw my way?

So I enlisted him as one of my couriers.

Let's do that.

And it was a big mistake on my part.

Around this time, it was after the little fencing robbery.

FBI, we're here to see Henry.

Henry, FBI!

Because I was on federal parole to enter my house without a search warrant.

I just want to talk.

We know you were involved in the Lufthansa robbery.

Henry, do you know Jimmy Burke?

Am I under arrest right now? We're just talking.

We're just talking.

Show you these photographs.

I'm not saying another word, and please don't talk until my attorney gets here.

These are all associates of Jimmy Burke.

They were whipping out these photographs of murder scenes of guys that got

whacked and where they found the body.

In the dumpster, he left a couple of bodies.

In the street.

Talk to me, Henry.

You know, when I saw these photos, I knew that Jimmy was a fascinating and

cutting the ties to everyone involved in the Alfonso robbery.

I know nothing.

The way he said, is this strictly necessary?

Henry, you need to protect yourself.

We just want him to help himself and help us. We can offer you witness

protection. We'll give him immunity.

We're your only chance.

Jimmy Burke.

is going to kill you. They were planting the seed that I had a place to turn

before I got killed.

And they kept saying, you're going to get whacked.

You're going to get whacked, Henry. Jimmy Burke is going to kill you.

Even though I was using about a gram of coke a day, I knew I had to stay sharp

and one step in front of Jimmy and Paulie.

My wife got a phone call from Jimmy's wife to meet him at the Galleria.

Oh, nice.

I said, Jimmy, I had another visit from the Fed.

Jimmy's all paranoid and he's real shaky and talking to me the way I'm not used

to him talking to me. They keep coming back to your house. Explain this to me,

Henry. You sure you're not talking to these guys? Why do they keep coming back

to your house? What if Ed's busting your balls? No, no, you explain to me.

You've got to be saying something.

Jimmy, I didn't say nothing. I'm strung out on heroin. I'm all fidgety and shaky

and I'm sweating.

Please. I didn't say nothing to them. You must be talking to them.

Get up.

Follow me. Go in the bathroom.

Follow me.

You follow me.

Now, Jimmy. Get in there. Get in there.

Jimmy, you've been talking to the fed, huh? He's looking at me. You don't like

him. He's like, he's a cop.

That's if you're wearing a wire.

You're wearing a wire now.

I'm not wearing a wire. You're wearing a wire.

I looked at him like he had two heads. Shut up. Take off your jacket.

Jacket. Yes, your jacket. Take off your jacket. Okay, Jimmy. All right, I'll

take off my jacket. You know, I'm trying to explain to you. Shut up. Shut up.

He says, drop your pants.

I drop my pants, you know.

He didn't trust me no more. And that

scared the dickens out of me. I mean, it really did.

The guy was insane.

He was responsible for...

35, 40 killings.

Karen, can we move it, please?

I'm coming.

Jimmy was correct about one thing. That was under 24 -hour surveillance.

The day it all came to an end for me, everything went kaput.

Just blew up in my face.

There was so much going on in my personal life. I had to go pick up

I had to deliver guns.

I had to get Judy prepared to deliver drugs to Pittsburgh.

It was an insane day.

I'm strung out, snorting heroin and cocaine.

My habitat escalated from a social user to a strung out junkie.

There's this helicopter just huddling over my head. I think there's a

following us.

She looks at me like I'm half nuts.

I'm going to go through the park and lose this guy.

By four o 'clock, I had gotten rid of the helicopter that was following me. I

still had to pick up the product.

My partner in the drug business, he was staying in a hotel out in the Hamptons.

When

I

run, I get a phone call from Robin.

She wants to know to put her cut on heroin.

She started breaking my balls, even on the phone.

If

she could have

jumped through the phone at me, she probably would have strangled me.

If I got off the phone with Robin, I had to call up Judy. She was at my house.

To make a plane reservation for later that evening.

I distinctly told her not to use the phone at my house.

Because I knew my phones were tapped at that moment.

Don't worry, I won't do it.

And sure enough... My

head was spinning at 150 miles an hour.

I had a hectic day. I was being followed. I had to deal with Marvin. I

deal with Karen.

I had to deal with Judy.

I just wanted a day to end.

Do you know what time it is? And you're heading out straight away?

What kind of relationship are we having here? When I got to Robin's house, she

immediately started about our relationship.

I got a million and one things to do. I got a lot on my plate right now. I got

nothing. I was saying to her, calm down, Robin.

Don't worry. We'll talk about this another time.

Every woman in my life at that point was just on my back and down my throat.

I was about to get rid of them all and get a whole new batch of them.

Judy, come on. We got to go. Let's move.

I can't go yet.

What? My lucky hat.

I started to go ballistic, honest to God. I mean, I started to lose it. You

to get on a plane at night. You couldn't have told me this before?

Judy.

Judy.

Judy.

Come on, now!

Me and Judy, we get in the car.

Back out of the driveway.

All of a sudden, his lights start flashing.

I was afraid I was going to get machine gunned at that point by Jimmy or Paulie.

Please.

And I can't say the real word on TV.

But I knew I was getting killed. I knew it was the cops.

Wise guys don't talk like that with those corny lines.

Only cops do.

I got arrested for trafficking in heroin, cocaine, and the indictment read

in some pages.

They charge us with everything but treason, I think. I was facing 20 years.

One of my careers.

Bobby had given me up.

He would have probably got maybe a year if he'd have kept his mouth shut.

But yet he gave his father up, myself up.

He was a weak punk kid. Had no regard for no one, not even his own father.

They hadn't planned to arrest me that night until Judy made that phone call

my home.

When he sees what we got, it's going to be a piece of cake.

They'd wiretap my phone, Robin's phone.

They'd wiretap some poor major's phones in Pittsburgh.

It's going to work.

They had an anti -case.

The feds were ready to make a deal with me at that point. We need your help. We

need you for the Lufthansa robbery, and we want you to be a witness.

Witness protection for yourself, Karen, and the kids.

They started giving me all kinds of deals.

My saviors. The government knew how valuable I was to them. I was the key to

solve the biggest cash robbery in United States history.

You've got to give this up. They offered me everything on a silver platter. They

wanted me to betray my whole crew.

You're out of your mind.

The first thing that would come to Jimmy's mind and...

And Paulie's mind that I would become an informant. I would become a rat. Do you

know what will happen to me if I go out there after I give you names? I was on a

Ferris wheel. You know, I didn't know what I was going to do.

I didn't trust the FBI.

I certainly didn't trust Paulie or Jimmy.

What do you think your chances are out there?

All I want to do is make bail.

And I was going to take off. I was going to go on a run.

You turn over Paulie Vario, Jimmy Burke, and the entire crew. You're out of your

mind. What do you think your chances are out there?

I still had in the back of my mind that I was going to bail out and split.

I told Karen to go and get the money. She put up the $50 ,000 and bailed me

I didn't know if I was going to get killed right there, just walking out of

jail.

Hey, watch it.

I was scared.

I was afraid to even leave my house

at that point. I knew I was going to get whacked.

Hello? Jimmy kept sending messages almost on a daily basis.

He's got to see me. He's got to see me.

Okay. What are you going to do?

I don't know, Karen.

Jimmy is one guy that never would have stopped haunting me. I know that.

You can hide out for a while.

Until it all calms down.

I'll find you.

I agreed to a meeting that Sunday morning at the show with Diana.

The Sherwood Diner was a real public place, and I knew I was safe to go

It was wide open, and I knew they couldn't drag me out of the back room of

diner without me yelling and screaming.

He was sitting right in the front window, observing

if I was being tailed there.

It seemed like a mile to get to his room.

They finally let you out, huh?

Sit down. All right. I sit down. How you doing, Jimmy?

I'm all right.

Good. Good.

Do you want to click an order?

Let me get a melon honeydew.

Jimmy didn't eat melon.

He normally ate a huge breakfast with a lot of ketchup on it.

He took ketchup on everything.

And it was just weird. You want a health kick, Jimmy?

Something like that. He had a nervous attack with his glasses. He kept putting

them on, taking them off. I know that we can get through this.

You've been through worse than this, you and me.

Those are my case files you got there.

Henry, we can beat this case.

I know, I got a great shot.

I didn't have a chance to beat that case.

I knew I was a dead man, you know, and I knew that he knew he was a dead man

along with me. What were you thinking? This is sloppy right here. Everything

were saying, I was agreeing to it, Jimmy, you're right.

What are you, nuts?

I'm so stupid sometimes, I don't know.

You know...

Trying to convince him that, you know, in the meantime, I just want to get the

heck out of here at this point. You know who ratted you out, right?

Bobby Jr.

Of course, I knew who the informant was.

This week, he said, I want you to fly down to Florida.

This is where Bobby Jr. is living.

And he flies over to his book of matches with an address on it.

You want me to take care of this?

He never asked me to kill anybody before.

Of course, I agreed.

Yeah, Jimmy.

Yeah, absolutely.

I knew that it was baloney.

I want you to take Anthony Green Eyes with you.

Will you take Anthony Green Eyes with me down to Florida? He was a member of our

club. A killer, stoniest murderer.

This is a done deal right here.

How do I get whacked? I'm hearing you.

Good. I would never make it to no airport.

I started making all kinds of excuses.

Actually, I should go check in with Karen.

I'm going to go do that. Come on, relax, huh?

Take it easy.

We shook hands and, you know, give each other, you know, like a hug.

I could see it was all good play acting on his part.

I knew my choices were getting smaller and smaller.

Either I was a dead man or going to witness protection.

I was so relieved the day I signed that contract.

You know, it was such a burden lifted off my shoulders.

There was a point in my life I had to put a gun on my mouth and blew my brains

out before I agreed to be a stall pigeon or a rat, you know, whatever you want

to call it.

At that point, I was willing to sing like a canary.

I opened up a can of wines that even they were amazed at.

I put away Jimmy for murder, Paulie for racketeering, Paul Mazie for drug

smuggling. I mean, everybody that I was ever involved with illegally.

It took seven years, ten trials. At that point, I was the most important

informant in modern law enforcement history.

I thought I was going to live my life like an average Joe.

Like an average schnook.

Little did I realize, I had an Achilles heel.

Drugs.

In 1987, there were still parts of my head.

Jimmy and boys still wield a lot of authority.

They still controlled crews, and they still had the power to have me whacked.

Jimmy had private investigators trying to find out where I was living.

I did look over my shoulder constantly.

I had this ranch. I mean, it was gorgeous.

I had five horses at that time.

I was living in an alias, Martin Todd Lewis.

I used to tell people I worked for an insurance company, and I was an Austin

investigator.

Between the FBI and the Marshal Service, They pretty well kept me well

protected.

I was still a party animal. I was still doing drugs.

And drinking quite heavily.

The amazing thing about drugs is that you can find anywhere in the United

States, no matter what small town I lived in. If you was a drug addict, you

would find drugs. You would seek them out, and you would find them.

Two of the dealers that I used to party with was Fernando from Colombia.

And Juan from Peru.

What are you two doing?

I had owed Fernando and Juan a $9 ,000 drug debt.

I don't know. It's a lot of money.

But I will find a way. Yes. Yes.

I wasn't able to pay them. So they approached me and they said that they

help me get out of debt.

We got the coke.

You got the connections.

Still in the witness protection program. It wasn't a cool thing for me to do.

I could get myself in a whole lot of trouble, but getting out of debt looked

even better to me. Sure.

I'll do it.

And being the schemer and wise guy that I thought I was, I agreed to help them

move some quantity of cocaine.

So I proceeded to introduce them to different dealers.

It'll be okay.

I've known Casey for a while, so she'll be good. I'm in a hotel room with

Fernando. You don't like spending time with me in a motel, huh?

Only if you wear a skirt.

They pull them out for you if you're nice.

There's a knock on my door.

Right.

It's a friend of mine, Casey, who's a dealer. He brings this guy from Texas

along with him.

That wanted to buy two heels of coke.

Yeah, ready to do it?

You got any samples?

Bad dump in the woods.

I lay out three or four big lines of coke.

All right.

You get to do the honors.

He snorts it. It's always this beautiful stuff.

I want to buy two kilos.

Two kilos? Okay.

So where's the money?

He says, I got to go and get it.

My partner's down the road in the car. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

You want to buy two kilos of coke and you don't got the money.

It's in the car.

Something's wrong. I can smell something wrong with this guy.

It's in the car. Okay, well, I don't know how they're used to doing things in

Texas, but here, we bring the money.

Yeah, but this didn't make no sense.

What did I teach you in Texas?

I just want to get this meeting over with and get the hell out of there.

What about my coke?

Are you kidding me?

You are not getting your cocaine today.

We're getting out of here.

That night, I was out to dinner with Karen, and I get a phone call from

And he says, Henry, you got to do us a favor. Me and Fernando got arrested.

$150 ,000 bill each. You got to put up your ranch as collateral.

You are kidding me, right?

I said, all right, listen, I'll put my ranch up. I'll go down to the bondsman

tomorrow.

That was the nail in the coffin, the final nail in the coffin.

Casey, Fernando were all in the DA's office recording this whole

All these guys wound up testifying against me that I was the kingpin in the

middle of all of this, and they presumed that it was my drugs.

Five minutes later, there was a squad of DA agents.

Come into this restaurant and arrest me.

When I found out I was Henry Hill, the U .S. Attorney's Office presented me as a

career criminal, a career drug dealer, on and on, public enemy number one.

I hit the terminal island under the name of Martin Lewis.

I was faced in 40 years.

I was nervous that there would be some wise guy prisoners that might know I was

really Henry Hill.

At that point, my face was kind of pretty well known. You know, I'd been on

television quite a few times.

It was real frightening, you know, at first for myself.

Witness protection wanted nothing to do with me.

They officially came to the jail I was in.

and served me with papers.

I was no longer in the Witness Protection Program.

I was putting myself into the lion's den.

A couple days after, I'm minding my own business. I'm not talking to nobody.

I'm Martin Lewis, prisoner so -and -so, so -and -so number.

All of a sudden, at the other end of the door, I hear this voice.

Henry, hey, Henry.

Henry Hill. It's Michael Francis, who is the son of a cop in the Colombo family.

It's been quite some time, hasn't it? I had met him in New York many, many years

ago. I don't want any problems from you.

Yeah, sure, Henry. No problem, Henry. Good. Just stay away from me on the

You don't know me, I don't know you. Listen, why don't you just take off?

Hey, Henry, we'll be seeing you.

Bottom line is, I know I'm screwed.

That afternoon, I was walking around the track on the main yard.

Hey, Henry. Hey, Michael.

In here, my name is Mark Lewis. Do you understand? Do not call me by that name

again. I'll kick that through your head.

He says, hey, Henry, he says that a couple of guys on the other side over in

honor dome want you to come over and have dinner.

A couple of guys want me to have dinner? Yeah, I don't think so. Have a nice

day. You're expected, Henry.

You know what? Sure thing.

That sounds great.

You're expected, Henry.

At that point, you know, I knew that I was in a heap of trouble.

It was scary, to say the least.

Come Monday morning, I hear my name on a loudspeaker.

I'm mentoring the captain's office, and he starts raising his voice. What are

you, nuts? What are you, crazy?

You're going to get set up here?

Henry Hill,

why in God's name didn't you tell me who you were before I let you out in that

yard? Are you stupid?

Yeah, I felt like a jerk.

You ought to thank your friend Michael.

He told me your name.

What I didn't know at that time, that Michael Francis was also an informant

the government.

They would have killed you right there at the dinner they were going to have

you. Probably would have got your throat cut or poisoned or something.

The guard transported me to a hospital wing where I would be safe.

I think I had used up at that point nine of my lives.

Someone up there loved me for some reason.

My attorney approached me and told me that one of the main publishers in New

York wanted to do a book of my life story.

They teamed me up with this crime writer, Nicholas Pelleggi, who proceeded

write the book Wiseguy.

It was so therapeutic for me at that time in my life that it did me as

much good as it did my pocket.

While I was in rehab, Martin Scorsese had bought the rights of my story to

a movie out of it, which was Goodfellas, and it was nominated for six Academy

Awards.

I'm sitting outside this rehabilitation place in California, and this big

stretch limousine pulls up.

It was a flashback to the days I used to watch those Cadillacs for Paulie and

drive around when I was 14 years old.

It was Martin Scorsese.

He was on the way to the Academy Awards.

And he said, Henry, I wish you well. Get well soon.

And hopefully I'm going to get a statue tonight for us. I was really stoked.

It's still mind -boggling how after 20 years I was able to turn a lemon into a

peach.

When they passed away, I mean, sure, I felt bad. But these people were about to

kill me. I knew the way they thought and their process.

I wouldn't wish my life on no one else. I mean, it was, you know, I'm not

feeling sorry for myself or crying in my beer.

I'm just very fortunate to be alive today.

You know, I mean, I'm just very blessed. That's all I can really say.