June 11, 1943 - Henry Hill
His decision to cooperate with federal authorities after his 1980 arrest made Hill one of the most consequential informants in organized crime history, helping dismantle significant operations within the Lucchese family. What distinguishes him on a site like this is less the scale of violence than the insider's vantage point he offered — decades of proximity to organized crime that he ultimately turned against his associates. That testimony, along with Nicholas Pileggi's account and Scorsese's adaptation, ensured his story became one of the most recognized windows into mid-twentieth-century American mob life.
From Wikipedia
Henry Hill Jr. (June 11, 1943 – June 12, 2012) was an American mobster who was associated with the Lucchese crime family of New York City from 1955 until 1980, when he was arrested on narcotics charges and became an FBI informant. Hill testified against his former Mafia associates, resulting in fifty convictions, including those of caporegime (captain) Paul Vario and fellow associate James Burke on multiple charges. Hill subsequently entered the Witness Protection Program but was removed from the program in 1987.
Hill's life story was documented in the true crime book Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family by Nicholas Pileggi, which was subsequently adapted by Martin Scorsese into the critically acclaimed 1990 film Goodfellas, in which Hill was portrayed by Ray Liotta. The crime comedy film My Blue Heaven is a heavily fictionalized version of Hill’s life story, its screenplay written by Pileggi’s wife Nora Ephron based on joint researched sessions with her husband.
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