Henry Hill

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Henry Hill is the main protagonist of the 1990 Martin Scorsese film GoodFellas. He was based on the real life mobster, the late Henry Hill Jr.

He was portrayed by the late famous actor Ray Liotta who also voiced Tommy Vercetti from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and by Christopher Serrone as a teenager.

In 1955, high school student Henry Hill becomes enamored of the criminal life in his neighborhood and begins working for Paul "Paulie" Cicero and his associates: James "Jimmy the Gent" Conway, a truck hijacker; and Tommy DeVito, a fellow juvenile delinquent. Henry begins as a fence for Jimmy, gradually working his way up to more serious crimes. Enjoying the perks of their criminal life, the three associates spend most of their nights in the 1960s at the Copacabana nightclub, carousing with women. Henry starts dating Karen Friedman, a Jewish woman from the Five Towns area of Long Island. Initially troubled by Henry's criminal activities, Karen is eventually seduced by his glamorous lifestyle. Despite her parents' disapproval, they marry.

In 1970, Gambino family member Billy Batts repeatedly insults Tommy at a nightclub owned by Henry over his past as a shoe-shine boy. Enraged, Tommy and Jimmy kill him. The murder of a made man would warrant retribution from the Gambino mafia; another made man, possibly even Paulie, would be forced to kill the perpetrators. Realizing this, Jimmy, Henry and Tommy cover up the murder. They transport the body in the trunk of Henry's car and bury it in upstate New York. Six months later, Jimmy learns that the burial site is slated for development, forcing them to exhume and relocate the decomposing corpse which makes Henry vomit from the smell.

Henry later cheats on Karen with Janice. When Karen finds out about their relationship, she tries to confront Janice and then threatens Henry at gunpoint. When Henry moves in with Janice, Paulie gets involved and tells him to go back to Karen after getting a debt from a gambler in Tampa. When he returns, he and Jimmy are arrested and both receive a 10-year parole. Henry has drugs smuggled in by Karen and sells them to a fellow inmate from Pittsburgh in order to support the family. When he was later paroled 4 years later, he gets warned by Paulie to stay away from drugs, and also warned him that Jimmy has been growing overambitious and that Tommy is getting out of control with the extent of their criminal activities. But Henry doesn't listen to Paulie's orders to prevent drug trafficking and expands the cocaine business, eventually involving Jimmy and Tommy without Paulie's knowledge.

He goes along with Jimmy's plan to commit the Lufthansa heist at John F. Kennedy International Airport, stealing $6 million. After Jimmy realizes a few members bought expensive items such as a car and a fur coat and the getaway car is found by police, Jimmy has most of the crew killed. Henry even buys an expensive Christmas tree (the most expensive Christmas tree at the store) for his family for Christmas and didn't even get caught. Tommy is eventually killed in retribution for Batts' murder, having been fooled into thinking he would become a made man.

By May 11, 1980, Henry has become a nervous wreck from cocaine use and insomnia. He tries to organize a drug deal with his associates in Pittsburgh, which the mafia was against as it was a dangerous business and he eventually brings police attention on him which gets him arrested again, by narcotics agents and jailed. After he is bailed out, he discovers the $60,000 worth of cocaine being missing and realizes that Karen flushed the cocaine down the toilet which makes him get mad at Karen and go in a breakdown and eventually leaving the family penniless. When he confronts Paulie, he apologizes and begs for his help, and Paulie eventually gives him $3,200 and ends their association. When he faces federal charges and realizes Jimmy plans to have him and Karen killed, Henry decides to enroll in the Witness Protection Program and become an FBI informant. He gives sufficient testimony to have Paulie and Jimmy arrested and convicted. Now that Henry's out of the gangster life, he's forced to live like a normal citizen. He narrates: "I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook".

The ending reveals that Henry is still in the Witness Protection Program and in 1987, he was arrested in Seattle, Washington for narcotics conspiracy and he received 5 years probation. Since 1987, Henry has been clean. Henry and Karen Hill separated in 1989 after 25 years of marriage.