Was Tommy DeVito Based on a Real Person? Tommy DeSimone's Story
Mobsters DailyYes — Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas is based on Thomas DeSimone, a volatile Lucchese associate in Jimmy Burke's crew, whose real crimes included murdering a made Gambino man; DeSimone disappeared in January 1979, aged 28, almost certainly killed in retaliation, and his body has never been found. Joe Pesci won an Oscar playing him.
Two Tommys, both terrifying
The real DeSimone was a tall, lanky enforcer — physically nothing like Pesci — attached to Paul Vario's Lucchese crew and to Burke's robbery operation, the crew behind the Lufthansa heist's true story. Henry Hill's memoir Wiseguy describes the film's signature scenes with uncomfortable fidelity: the shooting of the waiter Spider for talking back, and the murder of Gambino made man Billy Batts after Batts mocked him with the shinebox insult. The film version's mechanics are in why Tommy was killed in Goodfellas; the real version is worse, because Batts was protected and everyone knew the price.
November is here and the holidays are closing in, which makes this the season of the Tony Soprano Ugly Christmas Sweater — the black-and-white Tony stencil on a proper Christmas sweatshirt. Tommy's Christmas is a man spending money he has already been marked over. The sweater spends better: it just takes the room.
The disappearance
Killing a made man without permission carried a death sentence, and after Lufthansa, DeSimone was a liability from every direction. In January 1979 he was told he was finally being made — the honour the film's Tommy is lured away to receive — and was never seen again. Henry Hill believed the Gambinos got him for Batts. No body, no grave, no prosecution: a lupara bianca, the vanishing trick.
Frequently asked questions
Did Tommy DeSimone really shoot Spider? Henry Hill's account says yes — first in the foot, later fatally, as the film reproduces.
How old was Tommy DeSimone when he died? He was 28 when he disappeared in January 1979. His remains were never recovered.
Was Billy Batts a real person? Yes — William "Billy Batts" Bentvena, a made member of the Gambino family, murdered by DeSimone and Burke's crew in 1970 after his release from prison.
Keep reading: Was Jimmy Conway Based on a Real Person? · How Goodfellas Filmed the Copacabana Tracking Shot
From the shop: Get Your Shinebox Mob Quote Tee — Billy Batts' fatal insult, worn the way Tommy never could.
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