The late Henry Hill entered the Federal Witness Protection Program
in 1980 and assisted the government in building cases against
forty-six top Mafia associates, severely wounding the major five
gangland organizations. He collaborated with author Nick Pileggi on
the book Wiseguy, which became a New York Times #1 Best Seller. In
1990, Nick Pileggi and Martin Scorsese adapted Wiseguy to a
screenplay, and with Henry Hill’s guidance, Mr. Scorsese directed
the film. Until he died in 2012, Henry Hill toured the country on
speaking engagements lecturing high school students not to emulate
his past life and career.
Daniel Simone is a writer who has co-written autobiographies and
published numerous shorter pieces on prominent figures in film,
theater, and fiction. He created and wrote a monthly feature for
Long Island Pulse magazine called “Between the Lines” where he
interviewed and profiled renowned novelists. In September of 2012,
he appeared in the one-hour Biography Channel documentary Mobsters:
Jimmy the Gent Burke, which centered on the life and career of
Jimmy Burke.
For about a fourth of this remarkable true-crime story, readers
will feel these low-level mobsters are the cutest little
psychopaths ever. Boozing, gambling, wrenching, stealing- just guys
having fun. Their charm fades, though, as we move into the meat of
the story, the 1978 heist of $6 million from the Lufthansa safe at
Kennedy Airport. The late Henry Hill- Ray Liotta played him in
Goodfellas – was on the fringe of the action. With coauthor
Simone’s help, he narrates much of the story- up to the end, when
he turns snitch. Simone tells the rest of this engrossing tale
directly, and he is one helluva writer. One man’s “temper ignited
as easily as gasoline vapor.” A woman’s running mascara “made her
look like a spider.” Simone spends much time on officialdom’s
attempts to jail these reprobates, and maybe it’s unintentional
that he makes the cops out as no brighter than the perps they
chase. Like many of the most compelling true-crime tales, the
distinction between cops and robbers is blurry at best. Fine
reading. – Don Crinklaw
*Booklist*
Cinematic in style, this enthralling read is one you won’t want to
miss.
The Lufthansa Heist is an amazing, in-depth look at one of the most
notorious heists in American and Queens history.
*The Queens Gazette*
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