She was leading an ordinary life at that time and was working at a New York dental office. Janet meant real trouble for her family. For as much as Dad might have irritated my grandma, she wasnt one to throw her daughter into the street. According to Gina and Gregg, Hill spent his days at the racetrack gambling and his nights drinking. Gregg and Gina talk about life in witness protection and their book, On the Run: A Mafia Childhood. He didnt make eye contact with her, she recalled. The girls didnt ask questions and tried not to disturb them. She then dragged him out of the bed by the crotch and beat him with a telephone. Yet again, he was saved by the government. - Episode dated 11 January 2005 (2005) . This behavior was partly out of love, and partly out of greed for the luxurious lifestyle, his criminal background gave her. Hed tell my grandma he did a guy a favor and bought a load of merchandise from him, stuff she could help sell to the neighbors. She ended up seeing Hill one last time (she has always called him Martin). He started groping her in the front seat and my mom told him to stop but he didnt so she slapped him. Theyd get a tip from one of the guys on the loading docks at Kennedy Airport whenever a good load was going out, and theyd follow the driver until he stopped at a red light. He went out every night dressed in sharp suits and stayed out until dawn if he came home at all, and he always had money to throw around, twenty for the doorman, fifty for the waiter. His first arrest came when he was 16 years old and he carried out the Lufthansa raid after serving a six-year prison sentence in the Seventies. Henry Rafferty, 22, from Hartlepool, Cleveland, died after he was struck by a car while sleeping on the driveway of a house in the town following a night out with friends. In recent times however he ventured out in public more opening a restaurant called Wiseguys, launching his own brand of spaghetti sauce and appearing on US TV talking about gangster movies. Thats who my dad was to me then, a wonderful man who brought me dolls and called me Princess. As it turned out, Hill's new married life in Washington would provide him with enough real-life scandal to fill another book, even as he was penning the first about his life as a member of the mafia. Usually, though, we were in our beat-up Oldsmobile Toronado, the car we got after my father accidentally dropped a lit cigarette in the front seat of our 1969 Chrysler Newport, causing it to go up in flames. Gina also got married and started her own family. Today, Karen and her two children, Gina and Gregg continue to use an alias to protect their identity. It seemed like this woman knew who her husband was. But Hill, aka Marty, was bored, reckless, and started hustling more and more. I dont know how long wed lived there before my mom told me Dad was leaving. Hill was sent to prison. People named Gina Hill. After he and Karen divorced, Karen went off the grid. Sherry had to explain to Samantha who HH was. Janet and a few members of her team used disguises when necessary; they staked out Sherrys home, salon, and the places she ate and shopped at. He was eventually removed from the general inmate population. Aside from betting at the tracks, he started operating a horse-drawn trolley tour of Cincinnati (making sure to show his passengers the fountain featured in the opening credits of WKRP in Cincinnati). Her dreams did come true as the film showed her transition from just an ordinary woman to the gangsters wealthy wife. He told others that he was an insurance investigator for arson cases (completely fake, but he had some experience with torching places down). Most of the time the two versions are totally different. Karen Friedman Hill (born January 16, 1946) is an American woman best known for her involvement in the American Mafia as a result of her marriage to Henry Hill, a Lucchese crime family associate. The Feds also changed the familys last name again: this time to Scott. Disorder in the household turned into utter mayhem. I don't think it lasted more than a month, and it brought about an ugly breakup. In walked a likable 38-year-old guy who appeared at their table and introduced himself as Martin Lewis. You can imagine the look on Hills face when he came home to see both his wives talking at the kitchen table. Suddenly, a man who never knew life outside of the mob, was walking the streets as one of us. 00:44 GMT 27 May 2022. Her children released a book in 2004, titled On the Run: A Mafia Childhood, that tells their own version of their experience with the Mafia. The problem now was that the Hills were kicked out of the Witness Protection program, based on continued arrests and breaches of security. Hill was dealing drugs, which led to his arrest in a DEA sting. When Anders asked her: 'Do you know Martin Lewis?' @page { margin: 2cm } p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; direction: ltr; line-height: 120%; text-align: left; orphans: 2; widows: 2 }. His greatest success, the heist that made him a minor legend in the New York underworld, was burglarizing an Air France strong room at Kennedy Airport in 1967 and walking out with $480,000. Karen today continues to use an alias to protect her identity, as do her two children, Gregg and Gina. He had a few cover stories under his belt, about how he worked for the government (not so far from the truth). Against his fathers wishes Hill got in with the mafia crowd aged 11 when he started hanging around with the infamous Lucchese family. He and his family were put under witness protection. Read an excerpt. Born on June 11, 1943, in the tough Brownsville area of New York, Hill was the fifth of seven children and the first son to his Sicilian mother Carmella and his father, also called Henry. They knew Hill was going to go to a dance club, so Sherry and Karen walked in arm and arm. Karen got officially separated from Henry in 1989, and she filed for divorce in 1990, which got finalized in the year 2002. According to Henry and Karen's daughter, Gina, in the book On the Run: A Mafia Childhood (via Today), Karen witnessed Henry's dangerous side after an incident with her neighbor. I had a much different childhood than most children, for starters, I and my brother grew up in the Witness Protection Program; however, this blog is about my father, not us. He's my husband. It got to the point where one day, Hills wife picked up the phone and received a blunt warning: Tell Marty hes dead.. There was also another reason for why she didnt want to cut the cord Yes, she was pregnant. 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 50 convictions, including those of caporegime (captain) Paul Vario and fellow associate James Burke . Henry worked his way up, became an earner, and proved himself worthy of playing a key role in the notorious heist of Lufthansa Airlines in 1978. They started double dating (with Vivian and her husband) and Hill always made an impression with his 100-dollar tips. But then federal prosecutors indicted them for extortion, which they could do because my father had crossed state lines. As for Sherry, shes now around 70 years old and goes by Scarlett. In 1955, Hill began to warm up to Paul Vario by running some errands for the mafioso at Vario's meat stores,. With Janets help, Sherry sued Hill for compensation of the money he siphoned off from her when they were married. The mobster, who died at the age of 69 in 2012, assumed varying cover stories during his time in witness protection. When Sherry said no, she got violent again. Karen found this incident so insulting that she angrily slapped him. For a while, the four of them were like two pairs in a pod. On the Run: A Mafia Childhood is the authors' account of their childhood as the son and daughter of Henry Hill, the infamous mobster and informant whose story was the basis of Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi and the movie Goodfellas by Martin Scorsese.. She stormed out of the house as her daughter called out to her, Mom, what are you doing?. It was an incident which made the bond she shared with Henry stronger. Sherry threw all my clothes out of her second-story bedroom window right into a pile of snow. He was given a bulletproof vest to wear whenever he was with Hill, but he never wore it. Married to a mobster, Karen tried to maintain any form of normalcy in her chaotic life. This time, the family was placed in Redmond, Washington, and right off the bat, Hill spoke to an acquaintance in Kentucky asking him to ship one of the horses he had bought for his daughter to him, the one named Banana Split. She was born in New York City and raised on Long Island around the Five Towns, the daughter of Jewish parents. All rights reserved. But what did Hill want from her after all this time? Now that Sherry was no longer the target of her investigation, Janet started to sympathize with her and even became her friend. And then wed get to the prison. What was once a general underlying anxiety was now full-fledged panic. See Photos. Most girls would have been terrified at a similar situation if they had to find their man covered in blood and holding a gun. Thats no way for a married man to behave! So my parents moved in and out, depending on how much money they had. Late gangster Henry Hill - who was portrayed by Liotta in Martin Scorcese's hit 1990 movie - was taken into the FBI's witness protection program with his wife Karen and their two children, Gail and Michael, in 1980 after helping to jail members of his infamous mafia gang. Sherry may have been nave, but she was no aggressor. GREGG: Wed be up all night, I would be, anyway, riding in the front seat to help my mother stay awake. Everyone in Redmond just figured it was a joke, of course. Hed been running with mobsters for more than half his life, since he was eleven years old and started cutting school to hang out at Uncle Paulies cabstand in the Brownsville East section of Brooklyn. Under the witness protection program, they and their. Anders said: 'Heres wife Number One and wife Number Two. The testimony led to 50 convictions and meant that Hill, his wife Karen, and their two children had to be put in the US Marshals Witness Protection Program in 1980. 220, and maybe a little precocious. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. You want to have some fun? Sherry asked Karen. Kaylen Martin would frequently get into her old Ford Pinto and drive, just to get away from it all. Isnt that special?'. But when he arrived in Washington, Hill was able to wipe his slate clean - or at the very least overhaul the image he was presenting to the world. Henry Hill then became an informant to the FBI, which caused Karen and the children to enter the Witness Protection Program, where they were given new identities and lived in numerous locations through the 1980s. And his connections. When Hill showed up to find all of his stuff buried under snow, he raised all hell. Im going to bash Sherrys face in, and then Im going to beat your father, Karen replied. The driver looked a few years older than her, weathered but attractive. How could she have been so blind? Still, there were those close to Anders who voiced their doubts about her sudden infatuation with Hill, with salon owner Vivian Walsh, who owned the space where Anders rented a chair, warning that there was 'something kind of creepy about him'. In an interview with CBS News in 2009, Gregg, whose face was disguised, recalled that there was a breaking point where he couldn't take it any more. And here comes my second wife, he bragged when she walked up to him. In the film, Karen Hill was portrayed as a woman with a sense of rationalizing everything her husband Henry had done. Watch a rare interview with one of the most famous wiseguys of all time Henry Hill, of "Goodfellas" fame. And so, she pulled Hill by the collar and dragged him to Sherrys house with papers in hand. He said he felt closer to God now. In fact, it was reported that he even tried to convince the FBI to allow him to take two of his lovers into witness protection with his wife and children, according to writersMatthew Pearl and Greg Nichols of Truly*Adventurous. But there would always be at least one nice old lady whod say, Oh, how cute, and give us cookies and milk. Back in Washington, Sherry had to get back to work. And she was already pregnant with my brother. Bracco did not meet with Hill prior to filming. Now that the secret was out, Janet no longer had to tiptoe around. In the late sixties and early seventies, when he had a wife and two young kids at home, my father was a full-time criminal. But I wasnt in a laughing mood. Against his fathers wishes Hill got in with the mafia crowd aged 11 when he started hanging around with the infamous Lucchese family. by Gregg Hill (Author), Gina Hill (Author) 344 ratings Kindle $11.99 Read with Our Free App Hardcover $28.79 64 Used from $2.36 12 New from $24.85 2 Collectible from $14.00 Paperback $18.93 6 Used from $8.11 6 New from $17.81 Mass Market Paperback $3.04 12 Used from $3.04 She even ended her friendship with Samantha, whom Hill told her he slept with one night (he never did). The Hills werent given a choice of where to live, so they ended up in Omaha, Nebraska. As a host and someone who has been in that world, Tony Delvecchio wont let Henry Hill off the hook so easy. After their divorce, he remarried and had another child. On New Years Eve, he didnt show up for, leaving her crying for hours. Unfortunately, Hill later discovered the only reason the girl married Hill was because she thought he had money. She was notorious mobster Henry Hill's girlfriend - the dude from Goodfellas who passed away at age 69 yesterday. The newspaper article on this blog is the very same one that my father stumbled upon to find the Cabstand job that started his segway into the mafia life. Goodfellas saw Henry Hill doing all types of criminal activities, but one his mob boss, Paul Cicero, wasn't on board with was drug trafficking - and here's why. Gregg ultimately became a successful attorney. This is me and my brother, Gregg Hill. Sherrys next move was breaking the bad news to her mother, who adored her son-in-law, and to her son, Kris, who was heartbroken. That gangster, shed say, only shed spit out the words. The comments below have not been moderated, By Please enjoy this small glimpse into the life of a mobster/father that my family and I are able to share. Reprinted by permission of Warner Books. Goodfellas didn't leave Henry's personal life behind and included his wife, Karen Hill (Lorraine Bracco), in the story. Eventually, Hill testified against his former associates to avoid a possible execution by his crew or going to prison for his crimes. It was Janet. The rest of the book details how Hill kept on breaking the rules of the governments Witness Protection Program, and as a result, the Feds had to keep re-locating Hills family to different locations to keep them safe. She was, however, a private detective. Of course, not. When I was five, my mother made a left turn into a gas station in Island Park in front of a drunk driver who was speeding. Copyright 2004 by Gregg Hill and Gina Hill. Before he could properly get kicked out of Sherrys house, he passed out. Did she know of his past, his family, his involvement as an informant? But by this point Anders was pregnant and flatly refused. But even her most suspicious friends found something appealing about this Martin guy. And so, Hill was released on probation. Finding steady work at a local morning show in Seattle, she moved to the city. Sherry wasnt going to sign anything without an attorney. When Hill (played by Ray Liotta) said that Karen (played by Lorraine Bracco) looked just like Elizabeth Taylor, Sherry felt chills down her spine as Hill had used the same line with her. Henry Hill, an associate in the . 21:30 GMT 26 May 2022 Hes a married man! Gram would scream. Announcing his death, Hills girlfriend Lisa Casserta said he struggled with alcoholism. She knew that she will go places and can lead an extravagant life if she married him. Worse, he behaved like it was some mobster joint back in New York City. With nothing much that they could do, Sherry and Samantha put him in a room to sleep it off. But the heist turned up the heat on all the guys connected with it. Funnily enough, in a way that fit his lack of concern, his latest identity combined the names of his favorite comics: Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. But I definitely remember the Fairview. 'I'm Marty Lewis, and this is my first wife. Sherry would lie to herself it was the stress of a new relationship, thats all. The born and bred New Yorkers were now hosting impromptu polo matches in their fields. Second son of John Aldersey (c Tony also probes Hill on the ultimate, moral penalty of terrorizing another human being, beyond the consequences of the law. He even bragged about his double life to his friends. Thats how their life together started, nightclubs and pistol-whippings. She found him at the bar next door. Now, almost 25 years later, Gregg and Gina Hill are breaking their own silence in a new book called "On the Run: A Mafia Childhood. The siblings were invited to discuss the book on Today. Heres an excerpt: GINA: One of my earliest memories of my dad was my mom telling me he was going away. Her neighbor, an older man named Corkie, let Sherry and her son hide in his cabin in the woods on Lake Crescent. where their family surname was changed to Haynes. So, he became an informant. So it's cool.'. The two met for the first time at a, Karen Friedman Hill was mostly unaware of her husbands illegal, Things took a nasty turn when Henry received a ten-year sentence for, Henrys children officially released a book titled On the Run: A Mafia Childhood, in the year 2004 that gives the readers an insight into the family's life. It began to snow and soon enough, all of his stuff was buried under the white. I wondered how long it would be before I could wrap my arms around his neck and feel the smooth leather of his blazer or smell his Paco Rabanne cologne lingering in the apartment after he left to go to The Suite. Henry Hill, Karen, Gregg, Gina. To Sherry, she looked like a young Katharine Hepburn. '[Sherry and I] both knew the marriage wasn't valid when we sobered up,' he recalled. Karen Friedman Hill (born January 16, 1946) [1] is an American woman known for her involvement in the American Mafia through her husband Henry Hill, who was an associate of the Lucchese crime family. He got mad and threw her out of the car, miles from home, and tore off so fast that the tires threw gravel in her face. What that meant was that the Church offered legal provisions for one-party annulments under certain circumstances. There would be a guard at the main entrance, an enormous black steel gate, waiting with a massive key, just like in the old movies. It was only a matter of time until Hill landed in prison. They were acquitted in that case. There was a doorman at each of the three different sections of the complex and a big circular driveway out front, and we had a small terrace that overlooked the park. The two women who were married to the same man talked. He was back off the wagon drinking, drugging risking his cover while his family did everything they could to lay low. Heres wife Number One and wife Number Two, Sherry announced. The events of their life were chronicled in the 1990 film Goodfellas and several books. Then one of them would stick a gun in his face. My father would do almost anything to make a score. No one asked why it was so urgent for him to leave the country. The guards made her take everything out and then they searched the bag with a baton and a miniature flashlight. Karen Hill eventually confessed to her daughter Gina that it was the fascination and glamour of the criminal lifestyle that attracted her to Henry. On her way home, Sherry mulled over what she had just discovered a massive blow to the bubble she was (sort of) living in.
