Goodfellas: The REAL Tommy

in the annals of mob movie history no figure looms quite as large as Joe Pesci known for his portrayal of hyper-violent short-tempered gangsters Pesci electrified Cinemas all across the world in 1990 with his oscar-winning performance as Tommy DeVito an aggressive and unpredictable Mafia associate with the Lucchesi crime family in the movie Goodfellas while Joe Pesci's character was a sick individual he was in fact a watered-down version of the real thing as the producers for Goodfellas have come out and said that the real-life Tommy was so sadistic and callous that audiences would not have believed that such a man ever existed so in this video we will explore the rise and fall of the real Tommy Tommy DeSimone Tommy was born on May 24 1950 in Cambridge Massachusetts to a family that already had strong connections to La Cosa Nostra as his paternal grandfather Rosario DeSimone and his Uncle Frank de Simone had both at one point been the boss of a crime family based in Los Angeles his two brothers Robert and Anthony were also Associates with the Gambino family in New York with the largest influence on young Tommy's life was family friend and Mafia associate Jimmy Burke Jimmy took a young Tommy under his wing and began involving him in various criminal schemes such as car theft insurance fraud and cigarette smuggling as an adolescent Tommy also would have been responsible for Less glamorous duties such as pouring drinks serving food and Shining shoes while Jimmy was a great earner and was also very popular due to his friendly and outgoing personality he would never be a full member of a crew due to his Irish ancestry as only full-blooded Italians are eligible to become an official member also known as a maidman of La Cosa Nostra as such Jimmy was an associate working under Paul Vari a capo with the Lucchesi family operating in Brooklyn New York while Jimmy was known for his personal charm inside he harbored a darkness and was known for his hair trigger temper as Henry Hill explained in the 1985 book Wise Guy quote Jimmy had a reputation for being wild he'd whack you there was no question Jimmy could plant you just as fast as shake your hand it didn't matter to him at dinner he could be the nicest guy in the world but then he could blow you away for dessert he was very scary and he scared some very scary fellows nobody really knew where they stood with him but he was also smarter than most of the guys he was around and he was a great earner Jimmy always brought in money for Paulie and the crew and that in the end is why his craziness was tolerated in 1963 Jimmy introduced 14 year old Tommy to Henry Hill who was 21 at the time and had recently been discharged from the Army Jimmy and Henry had recently gotten involved in the cigarette smuggling business and it was proving to be highly lucrative Jimmy asked Henry to watch out for the young Tommy and to teach him the ins and outs of the cigarette business before long the two were making almost four hundred dollars every day selling smuggled cigarettes at construction sites and subway stations all throughout Brooklyn the two were generating so much money that before long they purchased their own semi-trailer which they would frequently drive down to North Carolina and fill to the brim with cigarette cartons which went for two dollars ten cents compared to New York where the same carton would cost 3.75 because of the difference in cigarette taxes this plan was so successful that it didn't take long for the market to become oversaturated with cheap cigarettes as other groups such as the Columbo crew got wise to the scheme and began smuggling in cigarettes too but by that point Henry and Tommy had already moved on and they were now stealing cars off the streets and then shipping them to Haiti which earned them approximately 750 dollars a car they were also involved in numerous other crimes such as extortion fraud fencing stolen property and truck hijacking even in those early days Tommy quickly gained a reputation for having an explosive temper and was known to lose his cool at the drop of a hat he also seemed to enjoy hurting others as it was a tradition of his that every time he purchased a new firearm he would first try it out on a random civilian that same day Henry saw this first hand one night as the two were walking down a Brooklyn Street Tommy who was 17 at the time said quote hey Henry watch this he then shouted at a random passerby hey [ __ ] when the man turned around Tommy pulled out a pistol and shot him several times the man was a complete stranger and as he laid dying Henry said wow that was cold-blooded to which Tommy replied well I'm a mean cat Henry would later speculate that Tommy's bloodlust stemmed from the fact that one of his older brothers had cooperated with police years ago and because of that he felt a need to overcompensate by being the most bloodthirsty guy in the whole crew one thing he wasn't overcompensating for however was his size as in the movie Goodfellas the character based on him is played by Joe Pesci who stands at just 5-4 in real life however Tommy was muscle bound and stood at 6-2 and was known for his intimidating physical presence in 1948 New York International Airport later renamed JFK International opened up in Queens New York and by the early 1960s over 30 billion dollars worth of cargo passed through the airport every year this proved an irresistible lure for local gangsters and soon almost every criminal organization in New York had people at the airport scoping out potential scores no one was better at robbing the airport than Jimmy who created a complex web of insiders and collaborators who kept him informed of where and when the best loot was coming in because many of the airport's 50 000 employees were from the local area it was easy for Jimmy to threaten them into compliance some were even already indebted to Jimmy and his associates an example of this was an Eastern Airlines truck driver who had accumulated a massive gambling debt with one of Jimmy's bookies in return for the debt being forgiven the truck drive driver accidentally dropped some mail pouches on the road to the post office when Jimmy went to collect them he discovered that they contained almost two hundred thousand dollars in cash money orders and stocks now while many airport employees either took bribes or were threatened into helping some honest individuals went to the police these brave souls were routinely murdered by Jimmy and his crew with Tommy often being the trigger man corrupt cops on Jimmy's payroll regularly informed him of any potential Witnesses who were then quickly killed before they could become a problem one year over 10 such people were murdered on Jimmy's orders and their bodies would eventually be discovered in the trunks of several abandoned cars in the airport's long-term parking area on April 7 1967 Jimmy's crew orchestrated what was at that point their single largest Heist according to an inside source Air France was the carrier for American currency that had been exchanged in Southeast Asia and so the airline routinely returned money back to the U.S for depositing with American Banks The Insider claimed that one plane usually delivered three or four packages each containing sixty thousand dollars and that it would be easy to steal and so on April 7th Tommy and Henry drove to the Air France cargo terminal at JFK airport with an empty suitcase the two then simply walked into the area unchallenged and used a duplicate key to enter the Vault they then filled their suitcase to the brim with money and then just walked out with 420 thousand dollars no one was harmed and no shots were fired with the robbery not being discovered until two days later with his share of the heist Henry purchased a restaurant on Queens Boulevard named The Suite while he initially planned for it to be a legitimate business that would be kept far away from his criminal Associates within a couple of months it became another mob hangout and was particularly popular with high-ranking Gambino family members it was here where Tommy would commit his most infamous act in early June 1970 William bent Vena also known as Billy Batts was released from prison after an eight-year sentence for selling narcotics to an undercover police officer when a mobster gets out of prison it's customary that his friends throw him a large party to celebrate bats was a made man with the Gambino family and he was also longtime friends with future Gambino family boss John Gotti the celebration was held at Robert's Lounge a nightclub owned by Jimmy late into the evening a visibly drunk Billy noticed Tommy sitting at the end of the bar Tommy was only 20 at this point and so Billy recognized him the 12 year old shoeshine boy he had known all those years ago before prison now all grown up he then made a snide remark asking Tommy if he still shines shoes Henry described what happened next by saying quote I looked over at Tommy and I could see he was fuming at the way Billy was talking Tommy was going nuts but he couldn't do or say anything Billy was a made man if Tommy so much as took a slap at Billy Tommy was dead still I knew he was pissed we kept drinking and laughing and just when I thought maybe it was all forgotten Tommy leaned over to Jimmy and me and said I'm gonna kill that [ __ ] while Henry tried to dissuade him Jimmy instead took the opposite course of action and over the next couple days he continuously reminded Tommy of what had happened and the disrespect that Billy had shown him he likely did this because before Billy went to prison he had been operating a lucrative loan sharking business that Jimmy had taken over while he was in custody now Billy was eager to get his business back which Jimmy had no intention of letting happen two weeks later on June 11th Billy was inside the sweet drinking close to midnight Tommy walked in and noticed that Billy was there alone and so he quickly whispered something to Jimmy who then approached Billy and started buying him more drinks Tommy then whispered to Henry keep him here I'm going for a bag which Henry knew meant that he was getting a body bag while Tommy was gone Jimmy kept Billy entertained by telling him stories while also making sure that his cup was never empty it seemed to Henry that Billy was having a great time but 20 minutes later Tommy was back this time carrying the bag in one hand and a gun in the other as Tommy quietly approached Jimmy put his arm lightly over Billy's shoulder in a friendly manner Henry described what happened next by saying quote I was on the other side of the bar when Tommy took the 38 out of his pocket Billy saw it in Tommy's hand the second he saw what was happening Jimmy tightened his arm around Billy's neck shine these [ __ ] shoes Tommy yells and smashes the gun right into the side of Billy's head Billy's eyes opened wide Tommy smashed him again Jimmy kept his grip the blood began to come out of Billy's head it looked black the beating was so Savage that all three men presumed that Billy was dead and so they shoved his body into the trunk of Henry's car they knew that since Billy was a maid man the gambinos would spare no expense in finding his killers and so it was imperative that they hid his body somewhere it would never be discovered Jimmy said that he knew a guy who owned an animal hospital in Upstate New York where no one would ever look with no other options the three then climbed into Henry's car and began the journey on the way they stopped at Tommy's house to pick up a shovel unfortunately for them though his mother was still awake and she made them all stay for coffee and breakfast the three were there for a little under an hour and then immediately resumed their mission two hours later while they were on the highway a loud thumping noise soon started to come from the trunk it was so loud it woke Jimmy from his sleep the three then stared at each other before they all realized that Billy wasn't Dead Tommy angrily slammed the brakes and then leaned over the seat and grabbed the shovel without a word the three men then got out of the car and waited until there were no more headlights coming up the highway they then opened the trunk and Tommy started smashing Billy with his shovel while Jimmy hit him using a tire iron after only a couple of seconds they then closed the trunk and silently resumed their journey by the time they arrived at their destination it was almost morning and it took almost an hour for them to dig a big enough hole they then covered Billy with lime filled the hole and drove back to New York City but they weren't done with Billy yet as just three months later Jimmy learned that his friend who owned the animal hospital had sold the land to housing developers he then ordered Tommy and Henry to travel back to the scene and dig up Billy's body in order to bury it somewhere else the two then drove back to New York City with Billy's body in the trunk of Henry's new Pontiac Catalina Convertible and buried him in the basement of Robert's lounge and then a couple of months later they dug Billy up again and put him in a trash compactor in a New Jersey junkyard for weeks after Henry couldn't escape the stench of Billy's body and smelled it everywhere no matter how many times he washed his clothes clothes are showered eventually he burned the outfit he was wearing that day and also left his car in a junkyard Tommy thought he was crazy and said that he would have happily kept the car so the smell would remind him every day about how he had taken care of that miserable bastard Billy bats not long after the bats murdered Jimmy Tommy Henry and several of their Associates were drinking and playing cards in the basement of Robert's Lounge when their server a 16 year old kid named Michael spider gianco forgot to get Tommy's drink Tommy started berating him and then pulled out his handgun and started shooting at the floor near spider telling him to dance one of the bullets struck spider in the thigh and he had to be taken to a local doctor a week later spider was back at the card game serving drinks this time with a full leg cast at three in the morning a drunk Tommy then began shouting at spider and ordered him to dance for their Amusement in an act of defiance spider instead said Tommy go [ __ ] yourself which led to Tommy's seething as his friends began making jokes at his expense with Jimmy saying what Tommy are you you going to take that from this Punk then out of nowhere Tommy pulled out his pistol and shot spider three times in the chest killing him for a moment no one said a word until finally Jimmy got up and yelled all right you dumb [ __ ] if you're going to be a big [ __ ] wise guy you dig the hole Tommy felt insulted and began swearing to himself but he eventually took spider's body and dug a hole in the cellar Tommy was getting out of control and by that point even routine extortion missions would end in Murder a couple of weeks later while Jimmy and his crew were unloading stolen cigarettes at a trucking Warehouse the foreman who had no idea who Jimmy or any of his men were demanded to see their Union cards the foreman said that if they weren't able to provide their Union cards then he was going to shut down the loading dock Jimmy tried to reason with the man then bribe him and when that didn't work he threatened him but the foreman wouldn't be intimidated and so Jimmy left the next day he sent Tommy and another member of his crew named Stanley Diamond to the man's house to intimidate him the foreman lived in New Jersey and on the drive over both Tommy and Stanley got more and more angry about the situation about how the man wouldn't listen to Jimmy and now because of that they had to drive all the way out to New Jersey Jimmy had ordered them to just rough up the foreman so he'd cooperate next time but instead they beat him to death in his own house nobody was safe from Tommy and his sadistic nature not even his friends or their loved ones in 1972 Henry was convicted of extortion and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison while he was serving his sentence in Louisburg penitentiary in Pennsylvania Tommy took this as an opportunity and attempted to rape Henry's wife Karen when she resisted him he instead beat her up and left Henry was released on parole on July 12 1978 and almost immediately after he was told by a local bookie named Marty Krugman that the German airline Lufthansa flew in large amounts of U.S dollars to its cargo terminal at JFK International Airport Henry brought the tip to Jimmy who began planning for what would eventually turn out to be the heist of the century the intricate details of the heist and its aftermath are beyond the scope of this video and will be covered in a future video but suffice it to say the heist was a complete success and in the end Jimmy and his crew made out with almost 6 million dollars in cash and 875 000 in jewelry making it the largest robbery ever committed on U.S soil at the time after the heist a Lucchesi family associate named Parnell Stacks Edwards was tasked with disposing of the getaway vehicle he was supposed to drive it to New Jersey where it would be destroyed in a junkyard instead however he got high and left the vehicle parked in front of a fire hydrant outside his girlfriend's house the police discovered the vehicle two days after the robbery and found Stack's fingerprints all over it and they soon connected it to the heist after learning what had happened Paul vario ordered Tommy to take out Stacks which he did on December 18th shooting him five times in the head this would prove to be Tommy's final murder as unbeknownst to him the gambinos were hot on his Trail and Out For Blood In addition to his murder of Billy Batts Tommy had also earned their ire by killing Ronald foxy geroth in 1974. foxy was a protege of John Gotti and a popular member of the gambino crew who had a reputation for being a great earner Tommy had been dating Foxy's younger sister and when she broke up with him he savagely beat her this led to Foxy telling anyone who'd listened that he wanted to kill Tommy and so on December 18 1974 Tommy went to Foxy's house and knocked on the door when he opened it he immediately punched Tommy in the face which caused him to fall over on the ground Tommy managed to pull out his handgun and shoot foxy dead five years later on January 14 1979 Tommy's wife reported him missing to police she claimed that the last time she had seen her husband was a few weeks earlier when he had borrowed 60 from her what exactly happened isn't clear but what is known is that the week after Christmas Jimmy and Henry traveled to Fort Lauderdale in Florida to resolve some issues related to a recent drug deal Tommy normally would have gone with them but he was finally becoming a made man and thus would have to stay in New York to attend the ceremony while the two were in Florida Jimmy went to a phone booth so he could call back home and hear the good news but after he came out of the booth Henry would later recall quote he came out of the booth and I saw he had tears in his eyes I don't know what's going on and he says that they just whacked Tommy the Gotti crew they whacked Tommy it was over Tommy having killed Billy Batts and a guy named foxy they were made guys with the gambinos and Tommy had killed them without an okay nobody knew Tommy had done it but the gambinos had somehow gotten the proof they had a sit down with Paulie and they got his okay to kill Tommy how the gambinos found out what Tommy had done and just who was the person to kill him is still a subject of controversy Henry himself would later speculate that the drug deal that had sent him and Jimmy to Florida was nothing but a ruse to get them both out of the way then when Tommy arrived at the meeting John Gotti personally pulled the trigger and shot him in the back of the head others believed that Tommy was slowly tortured to death by either Gotti or another member of The Gambino family named Thomas Agro who was a close friend of Foxy and was also the same man who would kill Tommy's older brother Anthony later that year as for how the gambinos Learned of Tommy's role in the death of Billy Batts It is believed by many mob historians that information was supplied to them by none other than Paul vario who unbeknownst to anyone else had been carrying on an affair with Henry's wife Karen that had started while he was serving time in federal prison Paul had never liked Tommy due to his unpredictable nature and some believe that when he heard that Tamiya tried to rape Karen that it was the last straw but these are just theories and it is likely that we will never definitively know the story of Tommy desimone's Final hours and that was the video it if you enjoyed please like And subscribe thanks and I'll see you next time

Channel: Crime Time Stories

Views: 1,610,139

Keywords: mob, moob, mafia, tommy, tommy desimone, tommy desimmone, tommy devito, goodfellas, crime, orgasnized crime, organized crime, lucchese, robert de niro

Id: bDIaArAb2ro

Length: 18min 45sec (1125 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 28 2023