Life of Henry Hill in Wiseguy

The life of Henry Hill, as told in Nicholas Pileggi's Wiseguy, is a life in which everything is the reverse of what the

rest of the world experiences. What most Americans see as bad, Hill and his Mafia friends saw as good. Even those things where the world would agree with the Mafia were reversed. Hill and his friends placed a heavy emphasis on providing for their families and protecting them in any situation. But they resorted to violence whenever they chose and worked extremely hard at making sure they could get the jump on all the other criminals in fighting for a share in the criminal opportunities that were available. Through all this they developed a belief that theirs was the only way-to-live. There is never any questioning of the way they live and as Hill's wife, who was not from his world, is gradually pulled into it the reader can see how there is a complete transformation of her values as well. The book demonstrates how completely people can take on a view of the world that has nothing at all to do with what everyone else regards as normal.

Henry Hill was born in 1943 in Brownsville-East in New York where his father was an electrician, "the kind of guy who worked hard his whole life and was never there for the payday" (21). By the time he was eleven Henry Hill knew that what he wanted most in the world was to be one of the wise guys associated with the taxi stand across the street from his parents' home. He saw their lives as glamorous and free and far a

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ne worked more or less free-lance on all the different criminal projects, they all belonged to an organization that was centrally run but had a minimum of visible business. Paul Vario and his brother Babe took care of protection for the members of their family and received shares of everyone's earnings in return. They paid off police officers, union officials, and politicians and over the years a sense of cooperation developed between the two sides. As Hill said, "when they took money from Babe, they knew it was safe" (55). After a few years of his very active, busy life of crime, Hill met his future wife Karen who recalled that she was eighteen "and really dazzled". by the apparent power and wealth that Hill possessed (65). They married without Karen knowing for sure what Henry did for a living -- accepting the no-show job that he used as a cover. But Karen soon discovered what he was involved in and what an unusual world she had entered. The codes of social behavior, such as Friday nights for going out with girlfriends and Saturday nights for wives, soon began to make sense to her as she became more involved. The centerpiece of the criminal work that Henry Hill was engaged in was the stealing of everything that was not n

Category: Psychology - L