Jimmy Burke

Martin Scorsese's 1990 classic Goodfellas follows the rise and fall of Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta, a half-Irish, half-Italian kid from Brooklyn who spends his life chasing the glamorous mafia lifestyle.

Working alongside charismatic capos Jimmy Conway, played by Robert De Niro, and the hot-tempered Tommy DeVito, played by Joe Pesci, Henry achieves wealth, respect, and, uh, immunity from the law.

But as their criminal empire grows, so does the paranoia.

Fueled by greed, betrayal, and a chaotic turn into drug trafficking, the tight-knit gang unravels from the inside, leaving Henry with a choice between ultimate ruin or betraying the only life he's ever wanted.

... for Goodfellas, being their only win.

Beating, which I think is interesting, Bruce Davison for Longtime Companion, never saw it, Andy Garcia for The Godfather Part III, I don't even know what to say about that, Graham Greene for Dances with Wolves, and Al Pacino for Dick Tracy.

Who, by the way, Al Pacino was offered Jimmy Conway-

Really?

I actually found the Indiana marriage certificate while he was at Terre Haute in Indiana.

And what's interesting is Kathy... is Kathy Burke, the daughter of longtime Lucchese mob associate Jimmy Burke.

Obviously, we can see the resemblance.

They look exactly alike.

From there, we get into his years investigating the mafia, the organized crime strike force, and the real people behind names that would later become familiar to millions of moviegoers.

We talk about Paul Vario, Jimmy Burke, Tommy DeSimone, and of course, Henry Hill.

We get into Lufthansa, the Boston College point shaving case, the realities of using criminals as government witnesses, and what it was actually like investigating organized crime during an era where the mafia still wielded tremendous power in New York City.

And eventually we get to Goodfellas, how Ed ended up in the movie, what it was like working with Martin Scorsese and the cast, and how closely the film resembles the people and events he actually experienced.

So – The Lufthansa employee, the cargo terminal employee, was worthless.

So we didn't get anything from him.

But even before he refused to cooperate, we were coming up against a brick wall because Jimmy Burke was systematically killing any witnesses or any people who were knowledgeable about the robbery.

who he was concerned about becoming witnesses against him.

And, again, some guys will report directly to – to an underboss or a boss.

I mean, you look at like, you look at a guy that was never made, you know, a guy like, you know, Jimmy Burke.

Look at all the people Jimmy Burke had under him.

He wasn't even a made guy.

Joe Watts had people around him.

That family's been decimated for the most part.

All right, here we are.

Tony Soprano, 6653, says, Who is Stanley Diamond? He was an associate of Jimmy Burke, but little is known about him.

They would tip a dollar every now and then, but they always resented it.

Jimmy Burke, on the other hand, was spending hundreds of dollars on tips without a care in the world.

Henry saw the doorman get a $100 bill just for opening the door for Jimmy.

The barman also got 100 for keeping the ice cubes cold.

Meanwhile, Henry got a $5 tip every single time he brought Jimmy another beer or a sandwich.

Once Jimmy started taking a shine to the kid, those $5 bills turned into 20s.

According to Hill, Jimmy Burke was one of the most successful hijackers in the city, specializing in cargo trucks going to and from the airport.

He targeted hundreds of trucks a year and earned his nickname of Jimmy the Gent from his habit of putting a $50 bill in the wallet of the driver that he was robbing.

Top billing is Robert De Niro as Jimmy Conway.

Real name was James Burke.

Rhea Liotta as Henry Hill.

We've got Joe Pesci as Tommy.

Goodfellas was based off of that book.

story and Jimmy Conway, Jimmy Burke, you know, he was passed around a bunch of foster homes and was actually sexually assaulted by his foster parents a lot and hit and abused.

So that explains a lot for why he was such a terrifying mafia guy, you know, because he always he killed people stole everything and like this was a bad person but you know it doesn't justify it but you there's reasonings for why people are the way they are and yeah when you have a grown-up like that it's it's hard to to to become a truly good person but renton has really good qualities to him and i think his parents know that and they they try hard you know and it hurts the most because you try and they just it's all about if the person wants to listen uh do and make the change let's say you You can't do any more if you're already trying a lot.

You just can't do anything else.