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Wiseguy
Nicholas Pileggi’s vivid, unvarnished, journalistic chronicle of the life of Henry Hill—the working-class Brooklyn kid who knew from age twelve that “to be a wiseguy was to own the world,” who grew up to live the highs and lows of the mafia gangster’s life—has been hailed as “the best book ever written on organized crime” ( Cosmopolitan ).
This is the true-crime bestseller that was the basis for Martin Scorsese’s film masterpiece GoodFellas, which brought to life the violence, the excess, the families, the wives and girlfriends, the drugs, the payoffs, the paybacks, the jail time, and the Feds…with Henry Hill’s crackling narration drawn straight out of Wiseguy and overseeing all the unforgettable action.
Read it and experience the secret life inside the mob—from one who’s lived it.
This is the true-crime bestseller that was the basis for Martin Scorsese’s film masterpiece GoodFellas, which brought to life the violence, the excess, the families, the wives and girlfriends, the drugs, the payoffs, the paybacks, the jail time, and the Feds…with Henry Hill’s crackling narration drawn straight out of Wiseguy and overseeing all the unforgettable action.
Read it and experience the secret life inside the mob—from one who’s lived it.
383 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
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27770 people want to read
About the author
Nicholas Pileggi
9 books317 followersNicholas Pileggi is best known for writing the book Wiseguy, which he adapted into the movie Goodfellas, and for writing the book and screenplay Casino. The movie versions of both were co-written and directed by Martin Scorsese. Pileggi also wrote the screenplay for the 1996 film City Hall. He began his career as a journalist and had a profound interest in the Mafia. This is where he developed his intuition to author books such as Wiseguy and Casino. He is also the author of the book Blye: Private Eye.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,247 reviews
March 5, 2025
I first read this when it came out in the mid 80s. I was 70 or 80 pages into it when Henry Hill first mentioned his niteclub on Queens Boulevard, The Suite. At that point I realized I had worked in Henry's club as a musician in the early 1970s. I remembered Henry (never knew his last name) standing at the end of the bar most nights watching the action and hanging out with his friends. Of course at that point the book grabbed my total interest and I finished it in a few hours. It's arguably the greatest "inside the mob" expose ever written.
June 4, 2020
I loved it. I loved it. I loved it.
First things first, GoodFellas is my favorite movie. One more time for the people in the back: not only is GoodFellas my favorite film, I’m borderline obsessed. So what I’ll do here is try my best to not turn this into a movie review. Though you probably couldn’t tell the difference.
For those of you who may not know (um, have you been living under a rock, and how did you find this book?!) “Wiseguy” by Nicholas Pileggi published in 1985 is the basis for Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic, “GoodFellas” (1990). The book is based on the life of former New York gangster turned FBI informant Henry Hill and the events that led to the change from the former to the latter.
This was a wonderful read in so many ways. It’s the only time in my reading experience where I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed the book after seeing the movie, and believe me, I’ve seen the movie countless times. Scorsese- the greatest filmmaker of all time- masterfully brought it to life on screen (as only Scorsese could). It doesn’t matter if you’ve seen GoodFellas, you will enjoy the book nonetheless and that is A RARITY. I always recommend reading the book first or the movie will mar the reading experience. For all the books I’ve read where I saw the movie first I always end up hating the book. Every. Single. Time. Except this one.
What amazed me most is how closely the movie aligns with the book, because let’s be honest people, Hollywood screenwriters have butchered many a book. A lot of Ray Liotta’s, um, I mean Henry Hill’s classic one liners and pithy monologues are straight from the book. Much of the praise for the movie belongs to Pileggi; like the film, Wiseguy is entertaining from start to finish. It’s nonstop. A thriller and absolute banger right to the very end. Oh how I loved it. FIVE STARS!
See, I told you the movie and book review would sound the same.
First things first, GoodFellas is my favorite movie. One more time for the people in the back: not only is GoodFellas my favorite film, I’m borderline obsessed. So what I’ll do here is try my best to not turn this into a movie review. Though you probably couldn’t tell the difference.
For those of you who may not know (um, have you been living under a rock, and how did you find this book?!) “Wiseguy” by Nicholas Pileggi published in 1985 is the basis for Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic, “GoodFellas” (1990). The book is based on the life of former New York gangster turned FBI informant Henry Hill and the events that led to the change from the former to the latter.
This was a wonderful read in so many ways. It’s the only time in my reading experience where I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed the book after seeing the movie, and believe me, I’ve seen the movie countless times. Scorsese- the greatest filmmaker of all time- masterfully brought it to life on screen (as only Scorsese could). It doesn’t matter if you’ve seen GoodFellas, you will enjoy the book nonetheless and that is A RARITY. I always recommend reading the book first or the movie will mar the reading experience. For all the books I’ve read where I saw the movie first I always end up hating the book. Every. Single. Time. Except this one.
What amazed me most is how closely the movie aligns with the book, because let’s be honest people, Hollywood screenwriters have butchered many a book. A lot of Ray Liotta’s, um, I mean Henry Hill’s classic one liners and pithy monologues are straight from the book. Much of the praise for the movie belongs to Pileggi; like the film, Wiseguy is entertaining from start to finish. It’s nonstop. A thriller and absolute banger right to the very end. Oh how I loved it. FIVE STARS!
See, I told you the movie and book review would sound the same.
November 11, 2019
“For Assistant U.S. Attorney McDonald and the Strike Force prosecutors Henry Hill was a bonanza. He was not a mob boss or even a noncommissioned officer in the mob, but he was an earner, the kind of sidewalk mechanic who knew something about everything. He could have written the handbook on street-level mob operations. Ever since the first day he walked into the Euclid Avenue Taxicab Company back in 1954, Henry had been fascinated by the world he had longed to join, and there was little he hadn’t learned and even less that he had forgotten.”
Part of me wishes that I had read this book, which directly inspired Goodfellas, without having seen or even having any knowledge of the movie. There’s so much about Goodfellas that seems outrageous and over-the-top and made up, so it was almost weird to learn that Henry Hill was a real person, and that everything he describes in his memoir actually happened. Having seen the movie created this weird mental disconnect where even though I knew I was reading a memoir, it still felt kind of like a novel. (It also doesn’t help that the narration in Goodfellas is practically lifted word-for-word from the text of Hill’s memoir, to the point where I hope he got a screenwriter’s credit for the movie)
So I would actually be more likely to recommend this to someone who’s never seen Goodfellas, who can appreciate the sheer outlandishness of this memoir. Henry Hill, in collaboration with Nicholas Pileggi, wrote this book after he’d been placed in witness protection after ratting out the other members of his New York mafia family – so at that point, he’d already burned all his bridges and had nobody left to protect and nothing much left to lose. This means that he shares everything in this memoir, detailing the murders, the robberies, the drugs, the affairs, the betrayals…it’s all here, and it’s all just on the safe side of completely unbelievable.
I call it a memoir, but the book is really Pileggi’s – he writes it as a straightforward nonfiction book, but thanks to extensive phone interviews he conducted while researching the book, there are long sections told in Hill’s own words as he details his rise and fall in the mob. Together, they make the perfect blend of writers: Pileggi’s background is crime journalism, so he knows how to interview his subject, do research, and present the facts in a way that’s informative and engaging. And Hill’s voice is clear and distinct (like I said, a lot of Henry Hill’s narration in the movie is just lifted straight from the book), and best of all, he’s able to articulate the appeal of the mob world while also acknowledging the ugly aspects of it. This isn’t The Godfather, which reinvented mafia thugs as sophisticated outlaws too smart to work within the confines of society. Wiseguy is Henry Hill showing us all the ugliness that comes with the glamour, because he knows that we came to see both.
“It wasn’t that Henry was a boss. And it had nothing to do with his lofty rank within a crime family or the easy viciousness with which hoods from Henry’s world are identified. Henry, in fact, was neither of high rank nor particularly vicious; he wasn’t even tough as far as the cops could determine. What distinguished Henry from most of the other wiseguys who were under surveillance was the fact that he seemed to have total access to all levels of the mob world.”
(Also, the reason I initially decided to read this book was because of this great fun fact that I came across: so while Nicholas Pileggi was doing research for Wiseguy, he was married to Nora Ephron. Ephron would sometimes call Henry Hill late at night and chat with him (because of course Hill was bored as hell in witness protection), and she eventually wrote My Blue Heaven, which was a comedy starring Steve Martin as a former mob boss who’d been placed in the witness protection program. I love this so much, because Martin Scorsese read Wiseguy and decided to make a movie about his rise in the mob world, while Nora Ephron spoke with Henry Hill and made a goofy comedy about a mob boss after the mob.)
Part of me wishes that I had read this book, which directly inspired Goodfellas, without having seen or even having any knowledge of the movie. There’s so much about Goodfellas that seems outrageous and over-the-top and made up, so it was almost weird to learn that Henry Hill was a real person, and that everything he describes in his memoir actually happened. Having seen the movie created this weird mental disconnect where even though I knew I was reading a memoir, it still felt kind of like a novel. (It also doesn’t help that the narration in Goodfellas is practically lifted word-for-word from the text of Hill’s memoir, to the point where I hope he got a screenwriter’s credit for the movie)
So I would actually be more likely to recommend this to someone who’s never seen Goodfellas, who can appreciate the sheer outlandishness of this memoir. Henry Hill, in collaboration with Nicholas Pileggi, wrote this book after he’d been placed in witness protection after ratting out the other members of his New York mafia family – so at that point, he’d already burned all his bridges and had nobody left to protect and nothing much left to lose. This means that he shares everything in this memoir, detailing the murders, the robberies, the drugs, the affairs, the betrayals…it’s all here, and it’s all just on the safe side of completely unbelievable.
I call it a memoir, but the book is really Pileggi’s – he writes it as a straightforward nonfiction book, but thanks to extensive phone interviews he conducted while researching the book, there are long sections told in Hill’s own words as he details his rise and fall in the mob. Together, they make the perfect blend of writers: Pileggi’s background is crime journalism, so he knows how to interview his subject, do research, and present the facts in a way that’s informative and engaging. And Hill’s voice is clear and distinct (like I said, a lot of Henry Hill’s narration in the movie is just lifted straight from the book), and best of all, he’s able to articulate the appeal of the mob world while also acknowledging the ugly aspects of it. This isn’t The Godfather, which reinvented mafia thugs as sophisticated outlaws too smart to work within the confines of society. Wiseguy is Henry Hill showing us all the ugliness that comes with the glamour, because he knows that we came to see both.
“It wasn’t that Henry was a boss. And it had nothing to do with his lofty rank within a crime family or the easy viciousness with which hoods from Henry’s world are identified. Henry, in fact, was neither of high rank nor particularly vicious; he wasn’t even tough as far as the cops could determine. What distinguished Henry from most of the other wiseguys who were under surveillance was the fact that he seemed to have total access to all levels of the mob world.”
(Also, the reason I initially decided to read this book was because of this great fun fact that I came across: so while Nicholas Pileggi was doing research for Wiseguy, he was married to Nora Ephron. Ephron would sometimes call Henry Hill late at night and chat with him (because of course Hill was bored as hell in witness protection), and she eventually wrote My Blue Heaven, which was a comedy starring Steve Martin as a former mob boss who’d been placed in the witness protection program. I love this so much, because Martin Scorsese read Wiseguy and decided to make a movie about his rise in the mob world, while Nora Ephron spoke with Henry Hill and made a goofy comedy about a mob boss after the mob.)
August 23, 2020
Goodfellas (originally titled Wiseguy) is a terrific true crime book that just stops short of romanticizing the life of a gangster. The book is about working class Italian and Irish gangsters in Brooklyn, starting from their early days in the 1950s to their fall in the 70s and 80s, told through the eyes of a foot soldier - Henry Hill and his wife Karen.
Pileggi lays things down for us, like the milieu or an important happening and then lets Henry and Karen Hill talk us through their lives. The conversational style of the book written in colloquial language makes the characters and situations seem very real. Initially, you have Henry Hill boasting about how cool it is to be a gangster and what a wonderful time he had compared to all the squares in America. But Karen Hill's (who is Jewish and an outsider) account of life as a gangster's wife is probably more important. She tells us how all the gangsters and their wives wore expensive clothes and dined at posh places but ultimately they lived in slums or some run down place and they were always in and out of jail. The Lufthansa heist and how the event eventually led to the downfall of Henry Hill and his cohorts was the highlight of the book. It is amazing that people like Hill and Jimmy Burke existed only a few decades ago. They were like animals who woke up in the morning and just went out and stole stuff from people. Atleast some kids in those days might have looked upto these guys. Today its all Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet.
Now I don't know if Henry Hill was fibbing and Pileggi simply went along so that he could get a bestseller out of his association with Hill. Even if some of the stuff in the book was the writer's imagination, it is still terrifically entertaining and also spawned one of the best films of the 90s.
Pileggi lays things down for us, like the milieu or an important happening and then lets Henry and Karen Hill talk us through their lives. The conversational style of the book written in colloquial language makes the characters and situations seem very real. Initially, you have Henry Hill boasting about how cool it is to be a gangster and what a wonderful time he had compared to all the squares in America. But Karen Hill's (who is Jewish and an outsider) account of life as a gangster's wife is probably more important. She tells us how all the gangsters and their wives wore expensive clothes and dined at posh places but ultimately they lived in slums or some run down place and they were always in and out of jail. The Lufthansa heist and how the event eventually led to the downfall of Henry Hill and his cohorts was the highlight of the book. It is amazing that people like Hill and Jimmy Burke existed only a few decades ago. They were like animals who woke up in the morning and just went out and stole stuff from people. Atleast some kids in those days might have looked upto these guys. Today its all Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet.
Now I don't know if Henry Hill was fibbing and Pileggi simply went along so that he could get a bestseller out of his association with Hill. Even if some of the stuff in the book was the writer's imagination, it is still terrifically entertaining and also spawned one of the best films of the 90s.
April 29, 2012
“Wiseguy” tells the story of the life of career criminal Henry Hill, well known in the film “Goodfellas,” which is based upon this book. As with many books that go to films, the inner details add depth to Hill’s story and give the reader a better feel for the disturbing and violent life he lead. With the romanticism of film removed, the facts are told mostly from Henry and his wife at the time, Karen. What I liked most about “Wiseguy” is the true events, rather than the detailed idealistic fiction of alternative stories about organized crime. I don’t believe the book is to make the reader sympathetic with Hill; instead it’s telling the story of his unconventional life that’s quite a miracle he survived on hindsight. For fans of crime books, and for fans of “Goodfellas” don’t let the film do all the talking. This book is excellent and well worth the time. Five stars!
December 15, 2023
Nicholas Pileggi's non fiction book, Wiseguy, is the basis for the film, GoodFellas, directed by Martin Scorsese (1990). It's the true story of Henry Hill, a member of the Lucchese organised crime family in New York. Henry's heyday takes place during the 1960s and 1970s when he works under the protection of mob boss Paul Vario in the Brownsville-East New York section of Brooklyn.
Has there ever been a greater disparity between a book and a film adaptation?
This is not to suggest that Wiseguy (aka GoodFellas) is anything other than a good book, it’s just that the film is a masterpiece, and so much more than just this book brought to life on the screen.
GoodFellas the film is a work of art which takes the wonderful little incidental lines and vignettes in the book and frequently makes them into something magical. For example, the wise guy cooking scene in the jail, or Henry Hill taking Karen on their date to the Copacabana via the back entrance, the kitchen and, finally, into a front row table that magical appears. Or the post-Lufthansa deaths (the “Layla” montage in the film), or the day when a coked up Henry Hill is trailed by a helicopter soundtracked by The Rolling Stones. These are somewhat matter-of-fact descriptions in the book but which Scorsese turns into cinematic gold.
So essentially what readers get in Wiseguy (aka GoodFellas) is the source material for the film. What struck me was how remarkably faithful the film is to the book. Some of the characters are removed, some names are changed, some sections removed, some expanded, but the entire book is very familiar to anyone who has seen the film with much of the film's narration quoted verbatim from Henry Hill's own words.
So, if like me, you’ve seen the film multiple times, is it worth reading the book? Probably not. It’s good but the overwhelming sense of familiarity makes it all feel very recognisable. That said, if you really love the film then you will inevitably still get quite a lot out of reading the book including quite a lot of interesting detail about what the authorities did leading up to Henry Hill's arrest, and the aftermath of his entry into the Federal Witness Program.
Whilst reading it, it is soon very obvious why Martin Scorsese was so attracted to this story, indeed I can almost imagine his excitement, as he works out how to structure key scenes and who to cast.
By the way the legendary “Am I some kind of clown, do I amuse you…” scene is not in the book and, apparently, was improvised by Joe Pesci who had seen a real mobster do something similar.
GoodFellas is an amazing tale, and a wonderful evocation of a bygone era but is one of those rare occasions where the film is all you really need.
Needless to say, Henry and his pals are amoral scumbags, and Hill is a sociopath whose justification for his crimes is that his needs outweigh everyone else's, and he dismisses anyone who is hardworking, honest or trusting as weak and just asking to be ripped off.
Still, his outlaw mentality made for a a good book, and a classic film.
Has there ever been a greater disparity between a book and a film adaptation?
This is not to suggest that Wiseguy (aka GoodFellas) is anything other than a good book, it’s just that the film is a masterpiece, and so much more than just this book brought to life on the screen.
GoodFellas the film is a work of art which takes the wonderful little incidental lines and vignettes in the book and frequently makes them into something magical. For example, the wise guy cooking scene in the jail, or Henry Hill taking Karen on their date to the Copacabana via the back entrance, the kitchen and, finally, into a front row table that magical appears. Or the post-Lufthansa deaths (the “Layla” montage in the film), or the day when a coked up Henry Hill is trailed by a helicopter soundtracked by The Rolling Stones. These are somewhat matter-of-fact descriptions in the book but which Scorsese turns into cinematic gold.
So essentially what readers get in Wiseguy (aka GoodFellas) is the source material for the film. What struck me was how remarkably faithful the film is to the book. Some of the characters are removed, some names are changed, some sections removed, some expanded, but the entire book is very familiar to anyone who has seen the film with much of the film's narration quoted verbatim from Henry Hill's own words.
So, if like me, you’ve seen the film multiple times, is it worth reading the book? Probably not. It’s good but the overwhelming sense of familiarity makes it all feel very recognisable. That said, if you really love the film then you will inevitably still get quite a lot out of reading the book including quite a lot of interesting detail about what the authorities did leading up to Henry Hill's arrest, and the aftermath of his entry into the Federal Witness Program.
Whilst reading it, it is soon very obvious why Martin Scorsese was so attracted to this story, indeed I can almost imagine his excitement, as he works out how to structure key scenes and who to cast.
By the way the legendary “Am I some kind of clown, do I amuse you…” scene is not in the book and, apparently, was improvised by Joe Pesci who had seen a real mobster do something similar.
GoodFellas is an amazing tale, and a wonderful evocation of a bygone era but is one of those rare occasions where the film is all you really need.
Needless to say, Henry and his pals are amoral scumbags, and Hill is a sociopath whose justification for his crimes is that his needs outweigh everyone else's, and he dismisses anyone who is hardworking, honest or trusting as weak and just asking to be ripped off.
Still, his outlaw mentality made for a a good book, and a classic film.
August 25, 2011
I think this could have been a very jarring book had I not seen the movie Goodfellas so many times I practically have it memorized. As with the Godfather book/film, Goodfellas is an extremely faithful representation of Wiseguy.
As many people have pointed out previously, what sets this book apart is the outright bluntness in the delivery. It wastes no time trying to water the cold, hard facts down or romanticize the lifestyle of a mafioso. We're talking about people who would murder their best friends and probably not feel too guilty about it afterward. It's a very chilling thought and it makes Henry's desire to want to be a part of the life absolutely mystifying.
This is a well-written, no-nonsense book that holds the reader by the throat from start to finish.
As many people have pointed out previously, what sets this book apart is the outright bluntness in the delivery. It wastes no time trying to water the cold, hard facts down or romanticize the lifestyle of a mafioso. We're talking about people who would murder their best friends and probably not feel too guilty about it afterward. It's a very chilling thought and it makes Henry's desire to want to be a part of the life absolutely mystifying.
This is a well-written, no-nonsense book that holds the reader by the throat from start to finish.
November 12, 2008
Based on evidence given while going into the witness protection program, this is a gritty view of what it is actually like to be a 'Wise Guy' or Mafia thug. I was amazed & repelled by the book. Unlike the Godfather which made a hero out of such men & touted a loyalty & honor throughout the ranks, this book shows the actual setup. How self-interest rules their lives & how little empathy they have.
I didn't like the book or the subject, but it was well written & worth reading. I just find the idea of people leeching off society the way they do repugnant.
I didn't like the book or the subject, but it was well written & worth reading. I just find the idea of people leeching off society the way they do repugnant.
February 8, 2024
Ünlü Goodfellas filminin bir kitaptan uyarlandığını bilmiyordum. Nicholas Pileggi kurgu dışı yazılarıyla da ünlü bir senaristmiş. Kitabı da döneminin yankı uyandıran suçlarının peşinden giderken kaleme alıyor. Henry Hill mafyanın ayak işlerini yaparken beklemediği kadar yükselen biridir. Hapse girdiğinde ise devletle işbirliği yapmaya karar verir. Pileggi de tanık korumayı seçen Hill’in biyografisini yazmaya çalışıyor. Hill ile yaptığı görüşmelerde çok açık olduğunu söylüyor giriş yazısında. Tüm anılarını dışarıdan bir gözlemci gibi aktarabildiğinden bahsediyor. Nasıl olsa filmi izledim diye düşünmeyin bence kitap dahasını anlatıyor. Henry Hill’in suç dünyasından aldığı zevk filmdekinden daha yoğundu. Tanık korumada geçen yaşamında özlediği şey de bu hayatın şaşaası oluyor. Bunu hiç çekinmeden söylüyor. Yine aynı dönemde alkolizmle savaşıyor. Ray Liotta, Henry Hill’in bağımlılıklarıyla savaşmasında yardımcı olmuş. Hayatını biliyor olmama rağmen ilgiyle okudum kitabı.
July 20, 2023
I was so excited to finally read this. Honestly, it ended up being a disappointment. Turns out Henry Hill is just not very interesting as far as organized crime figures go. I'm a huge fan of the film and Ray Liotta made Henry Hill way cooler than he actually is. The real Henry Hill wasn't very smart. He was a woman beater and a coke head! I gave this 3 stars because I did learn a few things that aren't talked about in the film. I'm definitely obsessed with the subject of the American Mafia and organized crime. This book is considerably weaker than most of the other books I've read on the subject. This is one of those rare occasions where I'd go with the film over the book!
November 6, 2023
Goodfellas is one of my favorite movies so listening to this was a real treat especially because so much of the book was used word for word in the movie script.
Unfortunately I was only able to get ahold of the abridged audio so I feel like I missed out on a lot, including new tid bits that may not have made it into the film. For this reason alone I'm giving it 3 stars.
Unfortunately I was only able to get ahold of the abridged audio so I feel like I missed out on a lot, including new tid bits that may not have made it into the film. For this reason alone I'm giving it 3 stars.
July 4, 2016
I waited for this book for a long time. Watched my favorite movie "Goodfellas" based on this book several times. So when I got the hard copy of the book, I could not resist myself finishing it at once. It is As good as the movie. But if someone watches the movie, the book is waste of time in my opinion. The movie is a total honest representation of the book. But my case is different. I love to read about Mafia. :)
The book is based on the real life story of a mobster Henry Hill. He used to be a member of Lucchese crime family. A deeper look into a Mafia World And it's something different to know about the Mafia from someone inside the under world. The experience was totally different from reading a Mafia Fiction (i.e. The Godfather, The Sicilian, Omerta etc). When I read The Godfather, I don't know from where it came, but a strange sympathy worked for the Mafia. But when I read this book, I came across to know about Mafia (the real Mafia) that it's totally different from what I read in those fictions. It's not so sympathetic and it's quite brutal and blood thursty. The money and self-interest is everything in this world. In this sense, I will give all the credit to Henry Hill. He was so honest about his detail description.
Nothing but a 5 star from me. Mafia is always a core interest for my reading habit. :)
The book is based on the real life story of a mobster Henry Hill. He used to be a member of Lucchese crime family. A deeper look into a Mafia World And it's something different to know about the Mafia from someone inside the under world. The experience was totally different from reading a Mafia Fiction (i.e. The Godfather, The Sicilian, Omerta etc). When I read The Godfather, I don't know from where it came, but a strange sympathy worked for the Mafia. But when I read this book, I came across to know about Mafia (the real Mafia) that it's totally different from what I read in those fictions. It's not so sympathetic and it's quite brutal and blood thursty. The money and self-interest is everything in this world. In this sense, I will give all the credit to Henry Hill. He was so honest about his detail description.
Nothing but a 5 star from me. Mafia is always a core interest for my reading habit. :)
September 22, 2019
Of course my reading of this book was heavily influenced by the fact that I’ve seen the movie Goodfellas about 10 times. I can totally understand how someone read this and thought “I have to make this story into a movie.” Henry Hill is larger than life, and his journey from a little boy helping out at a cab stand to becoming one of the top players in the Lucchese crime family is incredible to read about. He tells the story with such wit and cleverness that entire paragraphs of his words were used verbatim in the movie.
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July 21, 2021
I think i like this sort of book because it reminds me of being back home in NY, of being a kid and getting my haircut in a tiny hole-in-the-wall barbershop run by Sicilian guys where, around Christmas or New Years, men in pin-striped suits with pinky-rings show up and smoke cigars (laws notwithstanding) and offer you a trago ("bere") even though you can't possibly be old enough to drink. It reminds me of neighborhoods that are "safe" because nobody else is dumb enough to make trouble there and restaurants that occupy four stories but only serve food on the first floor.
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December 20, 2021Nicholas Pileggi admitted somewhere that the screenplay for Goodfellas, co-written with Martin Scorsese, improved on his book: it's more succinct, more impactful. He was right.
Still, the book is also excellent, a worthy progenitor of the greatest gangster film--and one of the greatest films of any kind--ever made. I enjoyed seeing just how many of Henry Hill's own words made it on to the page--and from there to the screen--verbatim. Goodfellas radiates authenticity for the best possible reason.
Wiseguy even has some advantages over its still-more-brilliant offspring. A two-and-a-half- hour biopic must necessarily simplify and omit events. In Henry Hill's case, a lot of those events are interesting.
The Boston College point shaving scheme, for example. It's barely alluded to in Goodfellas (just once, by a low level con man named Morris, right before Tommy, Joe Pesci's famously terrifying character, drives a shiv repeatedly into his brain stem). Wiseguy, with more room to roam, delves into the nitty gritty. If, like me, you're fascinated by such details, then the book is an indispensable companion of the film.
I've read Wiseguys at least 3 times and watched Goodfellas more times than I can remember, but I can't imagine ever getting tired of either.
Still, the book is also excellent, a worthy progenitor of the greatest gangster film--and one of the greatest films of any kind--ever made. I enjoyed seeing just how many of Henry Hill's own words made it on to the page--and from there to the screen--verbatim. Goodfellas radiates authenticity for the best possible reason.
Wiseguy even has some advantages over its still-more-brilliant offspring. A two-and-a-half- hour biopic must necessarily simplify and omit events. In Henry Hill's case, a lot of those events are interesting.
The Boston College point shaving scheme, for example. It's barely alluded to in Goodfellas (just once, by a low level con man named Morris, right before Tommy, Joe Pesci's famously terrifying character, drives a shiv repeatedly into his brain stem). Wiseguy, with more room to roam, delves into the nitty gritty. If, like me, you're fascinated by such details, then the book is an indispensable companion of the film.
I've read Wiseguys at least 3 times and watched Goodfellas more times than I can remember, but I can't imagine ever getting tired of either.
April 4, 2018
Wiseguy was a fascinating read for so many reasons. The biographical account of low-level mafia man Henry Hill was the inspiration for the classic movie Goodfellas. Like the movie, the book takes us inside the life of a gang of criminals who made their money every illegal way imaginable - from stick ups, to rigging NCAA basketball games, to robberies, to insurance fraud, etc. I found it fascinating that the movie really followed the book and that much of the narration in the movie was directly from the book, and that these were quotes directly from Henry Hill and his wife Karen. This was great storytelling.
October 29, 2016
After reading this book I am sure going to watch the movie goodfellas(as also it has a high rating on IMDb).
Talking about the biography it was a great ride, I enjoyed reading this book. And I am sure you will too!
Talking about the biography it was a great ride, I enjoyed reading this book. And I am sure you will too!
April 11, 2022
Goodfellas is one of my top 3 favorite movies and I now know it has a lot to do with having such great source material. I really enjoyed Wise Guy by Nicholas Pileggi.
It was cool to see what they changed from the book to the movie and what was left out.
It was cool to see what they changed from the book to the movie and what was left out.
September 9, 2016
I enjoyed this but I'm going to say something I rarely or never say - watch the film instead.
The best bits of the book are the interviews with Henry Hill, and most of them appear verbatim as a voice over in the movie. As such, the book adds very little to the enjoyment or detail of the film version.
There are a couple of extra details but, on the whole, it's probably not worth reading as I'd give the film a clear five stars.
(I'm not sure I'm happy with myself for doing a review saying films are better than books so I'm going for a lie down.)
The best bits of the book are the interviews with Henry Hill, and most of them appear verbatim as a voice over in the movie. As such, the book adds very little to the enjoyment or detail of the film version.
There are a couple of extra details but, on the whole, it's probably not worth reading as I'd give the film a clear five stars.
(I'm not sure I'm happy with myself for doing a review saying films are better than books so I'm going for a lie down.)
June 7, 2024
it fucking entertained me
April 16, 2025
Had no clue Goodfellas was based so closely on the true story! This is soo similar, good thing I like the movie - 3.5*
October 1, 2025
I can’t believe I didn’t read this book until now. If the following things are true about you, then you need to read this:
1. You love Goodfellas
2. You like to read
Almost every iconic line from the movie is straight from this book, plus some additional details and fun side stories that didn’t make it into the movie, such as:
- Getting assigned to the farm job in prison was incredibly chill and basically allowed you to go wherever you wanted for a few hours because you could just hop the farm fence
- One prison he got transferred to had tennis courts, a gym, jogging tracks, and a nine-hole golf course
- You could also go on 5 day rehab furloughs through the Chamber of Commerce, weekend religious visits home, etc… One month he strung together so many days off that the joint ended up owing him a day!
- More backstory on the Boston College basketball points shaving scheme. The players kind of sucked at it, plus on the day where they would have made the most money, their guy in Vegas got there too late to make the bet
1. You love Goodfellas
2. You like to read
Almost every iconic line from the movie is straight from this book, plus some additional details and fun side stories that didn’t make it into the movie, such as:
- Getting assigned to the farm job in prison was incredibly chill and basically allowed you to go wherever you wanted for a few hours because you could just hop the farm fence
- One prison he got transferred to had tennis courts, a gym, jogging tracks, and a nine-hole golf course
- You could also go on 5 day rehab furloughs through the Chamber of Commerce, weekend religious visits home, etc… One month he strung together so many days off that the joint ended up owing him a day!
- More backstory on the Boston College basketball points shaving scheme. The players kind of sucked at it, plus on the day where they would have made the most money, their guy in Vegas got there too late to make the bet
June 2, 2025
Eerste keer een deel met audioboek geluisterd terwijl ik in de tuin werkte. Verrassend goed meegevallen, voor herhaling vatbaar. Goed boek, zat volledig in de maffia vibe.
January 3, 2013
This is the sort of book that makes reading true crime interesting. What I mean is this: while reading about gruesome murders is sometimes chillingly good, and one reads such books just for the shock value, sometimes a book comes along that gives you the big picture. This is such a book.
Henry Hill fell in love with the Mafia way of life as a kid, and he stuck to it until the bitter end - or rather, until he had two choices. Either join the Federal Witness Protection Program, or face the music with the mobsters he had been living his life since he was twelve. The music would have killed him.
Pileggi's book traces the life of Henry Hill through all his scheming and swindling, from earning a few pennies delivering sandwiches to poker players to stealing cigarette trucks, and on to stealing millions of dollars' worth of cash and other goods from Kennedy Airport. It is sobering to see how anything is stealable in their world, and how little faith these people have in ownership.
It is also hair-raising to read this book and learn how these mobsters would just identify a target, be it Italian scarves, a truck of booze, or a load of mink furs, and they'd just go and grab it. Sometimes there is assistance from the people who have been charged with delivering the truck - they may be in on the hit and get a little bit of the money, but more often they just enter the truck, tell the driver they know where he lives, and drop the hapless guy off the truck by the highway and disappear with his truck.
It is this disregard for other people that makes this such a chilling book. In this world of wiseguys, all is theirs for the taking. In fact, it made me think that if this is still the case, that anything you happen to possess that is of interest to the Mob can be taken away from you, the much-touted American concept of freedom is not very valid. At least you're not free to own things, and if you try to put your case to the law, Hill provides ample examples of how both the police and the judicial system has members on the take.
And when you finally get to the end, and see how Hill escapes a bullet in the head (that was issued to everyone else who knew of the Lufthansa heist) to become a Federal employee, you wonder... is this all okay and correct that this should happen? People are killed en route to this, millions of dollars of property and cash are redistributed among wiseguys, and yet the prime mover becomes another man in lieu of the one he never was. I am not sure.
Read this book to learn about the business of being a wiseguy, but for splatter and flying kidneys, read "The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer" instead.
Henry Hill fell in love with the Mafia way of life as a kid, and he stuck to it until the bitter end - or rather, until he had two choices. Either join the Federal Witness Protection Program, or face the music with the mobsters he had been living his life since he was twelve. The music would have killed him.
Pileggi's book traces the life of Henry Hill through all his scheming and swindling, from earning a few pennies delivering sandwiches to poker players to stealing cigarette trucks, and on to stealing millions of dollars' worth of cash and other goods from Kennedy Airport. It is sobering to see how anything is stealable in their world, and how little faith these people have in ownership.
It is also hair-raising to read this book and learn how these mobsters would just identify a target, be it Italian scarves, a truck of booze, or a load of mink furs, and they'd just go and grab it. Sometimes there is assistance from the people who have been charged with delivering the truck - they may be in on the hit and get a little bit of the money, but more often they just enter the truck, tell the driver they know where he lives, and drop the hapless guy off the truck by the highway and disappear with his truck.
It is this disregard for other people that makes this such a chilling book. In this world of wiseguys, all is theirs for the taking. In fact, it made me think that if this is still the case, that anything you happen to possess that is of interest to the Mob can be taken away from you, the much-touted American concept of freedom is not very valid. At least you're not free to own things, and if you try to put your case to the law, Hill provides ample examples of how both the police and the judicial system has members on the take.
And when you finally get to the end, and see how Hill escapes a bullet in the head (that was issued to everyone else who knew of the Lufthansa heist) to become a Federal employee, you wonder... is this all okay and correct that this should happen? People are killed en route to this, millions of dollars of property and cash are redistributed among wiseguys, and yet the prime mover becomes another man in lieu of the one he never was. I am not sure.
Read this book to learn about the business of being a wiseguy, but for splatter and flying kidneys, read "The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer" instead.
January 17, 2023
The book is based on the true story of the mobster Henry Hill. It is the book that Goodfellas was made after, in fact Nicholas Pileggi co-wrote the script and the version I listened to had an introduction by Martin Scorsese. I had not realized how closely Goodfellas was based on true events so the book had the added benefit of making me appreciate the movie even more. The book and movie are thus very much alike, with the book just going deeper into characters and events, the epilogue was also very interesting.
You get the feeling of a man telling his story without holding anything back, with nothing to lose and that would be a rare thing from a man this deeply involved into a major New York crime family at the height of organized crime in the US. Pileggi's writing style is gripping and informative, making it a page-turner for anyone interested in the inner workings of the mafia. Pileggi's extensive research and interviews with Hill and others provide a unique and authentic perspective on the life of a wiseguy.
Overall, the book is simply great, Wiseguy is a must-read for fans of true crime and anyone interested in the history of organized crime in America.
You get the feeling of a man telling his story without holding anything back, with nothing to lose and that would be a rare thing from a man this deeply involved into a major New York crime family at the height of organized crime in the US. Pileggi's writing style is gripping and informative, making it a page-turner for anyone interested in the inner workings of the mafia. Pileggi's extensive research and interviews with Hill and others provide a unique and authentic perspective on the life of a wiseguy.
Overall, the book is simply great, Wiseguy is a must-read for fans of true crime and anyone interested in the history of organized crime in America.
July 25, 2022
There are lots of reviews for this book... and this isn't the first or even second time I have read it but I am still going to chime in. This is a wonderful book if you like mobsters. A lot of reviews say watch the movie and I can't disagree ... Martin Scorsese is a genius and the screen play used great chunks of the book. But the book is so much more, because while the movie features Henry Hill the book stars Henry Hill. And Henry Hill is absolutely fascinating...
If you like the movie Goodfellas and want to see another film with many of the same actors I strongly recommend Cop Land https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118887/... which is a different view of corruption.
Useless trivia why was a book titled Wiseguy released as a movie called Goodfellas? because there was a TV show called Wiseguy which was plot wise closer to Donny Brasco https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092484/...
If you like the movie Goodfellas and want to see another film with many of the same actors I strongly recommend Cop Land https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118887/... which is a different view of corruption.
Useless trivia why was a book titled Wiseguy released as a movie called Goodfellas? because there was a TV show called Wiseguy which was plot wise closer to Donny Brasco https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092484/...
September 9, 2022
Still a fascinating story regardless of the many times I’ve seen Goodfellas.
This book, Wiseguy, is the book the film Goodfellas is based on. Henry Hill, started working for the mafia as a kid at 10 years old, and with both his intelligence and street smarts, grew to be the most trusted man in the Lucchesee crime family in NY.
He was finally arrested and turned Federal witness for five years giving up everyone of his friends to the prosecutors.
As of 2011, per the epilogue, he was still living under the witness protection program.
Rumor has it that a new film, called Wiseguys, might be filming this year with some big name actors. We’ll have to wait and see.
Reading this book about 30 years since it first published almost seems anticlimactic since we know about it in so many ways.
But it was a sensation back in 1990, so I feel it rated Five Stars!
PS. The author, Nicholas Pileggi, was married to Nora Ephron before her illness and death.
This book, Wiseguy, is the book the film Goodfellas is based on. Henry Hill, started working for the mafia as a kid at 10 years old, and with both his intelligence and street smarts, grew to be the most trusted man in the Lucchesee crime family in NY.
He was finally arrested and turned Federal witness for five years giving up everyone of his friends to the prosecutors.
As of 2011, per the epilogue, he was still living under the witness protection program.
Rumor has it that a new film, called Wiseguys, might be filming this year with some big name actors. We’ll have to wait and see.
Reading this book about 30 years since it first published almost seems anticlimactic since we know about it in so many ways.
But it was a sensation back in 1990, so I feel it rated Five Stars!
PS. The author, Nicholas Pileggi, was married to Nora Ephron before her illness and death.
July 27, 2022
I have never been very interested in the crime genre, both fiction and non-fiction. That being said, I could not put this book down (figuratively, since I listened to it). This book was recommended to me by my cousin, and even though it is non-fiction it read like a novel. It's crazy thinking that this is actually the story of someone's life.
This is the story of Henry Hill, who was part of the mob in New York City from the 1950s-80s until he was arrested and became an informant for the FBI. This book chronicles Henry's involvement with the mob, how he got in, how he became successful, and how he got out. He is oddly likable and it's funny because even knowing he was basically a crime lord, I was very disappointed in him when he started cheating on his wife.
This book was very well-written, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it.
This is the story of Henry Hill, who was part of the mob in New York City from the 1950s-80s until he was arrested and became an informant for the FBI. This book chronicles Henry's involvement with the mob, how he got in, how he became successful, and how he got out. He is oddly likable and it's funny because even knowing he was basically a crime lord, I was very disappointed in him when he started cheating on his wife.
This book was very well-written, and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it.
August 17, 2022
3.5 stars! Wiseguy is an enjoyable read, fast-paced, and very entertaining. It is so crazy to think that the various heists that were talked about in the book were somehow being pulled off (for the most part) and I tended to forget that this was a true story and not a fictional story due to the outlandish nature of what was actually happening in Henry Hill’s life at the time. Very good read overall!
January 8, 2017
This has to be one of the best books I've read about gangsters, the mafia. I've read this book twice. I read it years ago before the movie Goodfellas came out and I've seen that movie so many times! It has become one of my favourite movies. Its not often a movie can be as good as the book but this is definitely the case
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