1Former mob informant Henry Hill — immortalized on the big screen in “Goodfellas” — passed away last night at 69.
TMZ first reported the death.
Hill’s girlfriend, Lisa Caserta told the New York Post that Hill suffered a heart attack in May.
“He went into the hospital and it was really touch-and-go for a long time,” she told the paper.
Hill was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn in 1943 and became involved with the organized crime at an early age.
The former mobster’s life was chronicled in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film “Goodfellas, which Caserta said Hill called “99.9 percent accurate.”
Ray Liotta, who famously portrayed Hill “Goodfellas” tweeted, “RIP Henry Hill. I owe you so much.”
Mob culture has inspired an entire genre of cinema over the past 50 years or so. We live in a country which glamorizes crime and makes anti-heroes and martyrs of criminals. Read a bit more about organized crime’s affect on Hollywood with the Top 10 Gangster Films of All Time (including Goodfellas of course!) at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/01/top-10-gangster-films-of-all-time.html