On January 14, 1979, Tommy DeSimone walked out of his house in Queens, New York, and got into a car with two men he knew. He was 28 years old. He believed he was on his way to becoming a made man in the Lucchese crime family. Instead, he was driving to his execution. His body was never found.
DeSimone was one of three men who killed Billy Batts, a made man in the Gambino family, in 1970. The murder became famous through the film *Goodfellas*. The other two men involved were Jimmy Burke and Henry Hill. Nine years later, only Tommy paid with his life.
Burke died in prison decades later. Hill lived to 69, sold his story, and became known as a government witness. The question is why the mafia executed DeSimone and allowed the other two to survive. The answer comes down to one thing: DeSimone was a liability the mob could no longer control.
The mafia does not kill for revenge. It kills for survival. By 1979, keeping Tommy DeSimone alive was the most dangerous decision the Lucchese family could make.
DeSimone was born on May 24, 1950, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His family was already deep in organized crime. His grandfather was a mob boss in Los Angeles. His uncle was a Gambino family member. Crime was not a choice for Tommy. It was an inheritance.
By his teenage years, his family had moved to Brooklyn. He was already running with criminals and already known for being violent. At 15, he was introduced to Paul Vario, a powerful capo in the Lucchese crime family. Vario ran a crew in Brooklyn that controlled truck hijackings and loan sharking. Tommy became a Vario associate, as did Henry Hill.
Henry Hill later said the portrayal of Tommy in *Goodfellas* was mostly accurate, with one major exception. Joe Pesci, who played him, was 5'3". Tommy DeSimone was over six feet tall and built like a linebacker. He used his size to intimidate everyone around him. He was not just violent. He was reckless, impulsive, and uncontrollable.
DeSimone’s first known murder happened in 1968. He was 17 years old. According to Henry Hill, Tommy shot and killed a stranger named Howard Goldstein. There was no motive. There was no beef. It was violence for the sake of violence.
By 1970, Tommy was a full-time earner for the Vario crew. He was involved in truck hijackings at JFK Airport and helped fence stolen goods. But he had a problem. He could not stop killing. And he was killing the wrong people.
On June 11, 1970, a Gambino associate named William Bentvena walked into the Suite Lounge in Queens. Everyone called him Billy Batts. He was 49 years old and had just been released from prison after serving six years for narcotics trafficking. The night was meant to be a welcome home party.
Batts knew DeSimone from years earlier, when Tommy worked as a shoeshine boy. That night, in front of everyone, Batts decided to humiliate him. He told Tommy to go home and get his shine box. It was a public insult. Batts was a made man. Tommy was just an associate. Tommy could not respond.
But Tommy did not care about the rules. Henry Hill saw what was happening and tried to calm him down. They waited until the bar began to empty. Around 3 a.m., they went back inside. Tommy walked up to Billy Batts and beat him unconscious with a pistol. Jimmy Burke joined in. They kicked him and stomped him. Batts’ skull cracked. Blood pooled on the floor.
Henry Hill helped load the body into a car trunk. Batts was still alive. They drove to a location near the Connecticut border. When they opened the trunk, Batts was still breathing. Tommy stabbed him repeatedly. Jimmy Burke shot him four times in the chest. Then they buried him.
Six months later, they dug up the body and moved it to another location. They thought they had gotten away with it. They had not. You do not kill a made man and walk away. And Billy Batts was not just any made man. He had friends. Those friends were about to become a problem.
The murder of Billy Batts was not just a Lucchese family issue. It was a Gambino family issue. Batts was Gambino. Tommy, Jimmy, and Henry were Lucchese associates under Paul Vario. Killing a made man from another family without permission was an act that could start a war. The only question was how long it would take for the truth to come out.
For Tommy, the Billy Batts murder should have been a wake-up call. He had crossed the biggest line in the mafia. He should have laid low. Instead, he did the opposite.
Later in 1970, just months after killing Batts, Tommy was at another bar. A young man named Michael Gianco was working there. Everyone called him Spider. He was a low-level associate who fetched drinks and ran errands. One night, Tommy was drunk and playing cards. He shot Spider in the foot for fun.
Spider recovered and came back to work. A few weeks later, Tommy was at the bar again. Spider made a smart remark. Tommy pulled his gun and shot him three times in the chest. Spider died on the floor. Henry Hill later said that was the moment he realized Tommy was a psychopath. Not because of the murder, but because of how unnecessary it was. Spider was not a threat. Tommy killed him because he was bored.
In 1974, Tommy murdered another Gambino associate named Ronald Jerothe, known as Foxy. The motive was unclear. The result was the same. Another body. Another Gambino connection. Another reason for the Gambino family to want Tommy dead.
By the mid-1970s, Tommy DeSimone had built a reputation. He was a killer and an earner. But he was also a liability. He was unpredictable. He drew attention. He made enemies. He had killed two Gambino-connected men without permission. The Gambino family did not forget. They were waiting and building a case for why Tommy had to go.
In December 1978, everything changed. On December 11, six armed men walked into the Lufthansa cargo building at JFK Airport. They pulled off the biggest cash robbery in American history. They stole $5.875 million in cash and another $875,000 in jewelry. The total was nearly $6 million, worth about $28 million today.
The mastermind was Jimmy Burke. The crew included several Lucchese associates. Tommy DeSimone was one of them. The plan was brilliant. The execution was flawless. Each man was supposed to receive $750,000. Most of them never saw a dime.
Jimmy Burke started killing everyone involved. One by one, the Lufthansa crew disappeared. Shot. Strangled. Dumped in car trunks. Buried in vacant lots. Jimmy was eliminating witnesses and keeping the money for himself. By the summer of 1979, seven people connected to the heist were dead.
But Jimmy did not kill Tommy. He did not have to. Someone else was already handling it.
On January 14, 1979, Tommy DeSimone’s wife reported him missing. She said she had not seen him in a few weeks. The last time they spoke, he borrowed $60 from her. He said he had to go somewhere important. He never came back.
Here is what really happened. The Lucchese family told Tommy he was going to be made. Becoming a made man was the ultimate goal. You took an oath. You became untouchable. Tommy had been waiting for this his entire career. He got into a car with two men he trusted. They told him they were driving to the ceremony. They were not.
According to multiple sources, including Henry Hill, Tommy was taken to a house in Queens. He walked into an empty room. He realized immediately what was happening. The room was supposed to be filled with Lucchese family members. Instead, it was a trap.
John Gotti, a rising star in the Gambino family, was waiting. Some reports say Gotti shot Tommy three times in the head with a silenced pistol. Others say Tommy Agro, another Gambino killer, was also there. Either way, Tommy DeSimone was executed. His body was never recovered.
The Lucchese family approved the hit. They had to. Tommy had killed Billy Batts. He had killed Foxy Jerothe. Both were Gambino connected. The Gambino family demanded justice. The Lucchese family could not protect Tommy anymore. He had become too dangerous. So they gave him up. They used the fake making ceremony as bait. Tommy walked right into it.
So why did Jimmy Burke and Henry Hill survive? They were there. They participated. They helped bury the body.
Jimmy Burke was born on July 5, 1931. He was nicknamed Jimmy the Gent because he was known for being generous with stolen goods. He was one of the most feared and respected criminals in New York. He was a Lucchese associate under Paul Vario. He was a master planner and a stone-cold killer.
But Jimmy Burke was Irish. In the mafia, you had to be 100% Italian to become a made man. Jimmy could never be made. He could never take the oath. He existed in a gray area. He was incredibly valuable, but he was not technically part of La Cosa Nostra.
That is why the Gambino family could not demand his death the same way they demanded Tommy’s. When you kill a made man, you violate the most sacred rule in the mafia. The punishment is death. But Jimmy was not a made man. The rules were different.
The Gambinos could have pushed for his execution, but it would have caused a war. And Jimmy was too valuable to the Lucchese family. He was making them millions. The Lufthansa heist alone should have netted the family a massive cut. Killing Jimmy would have cost them their best earner.
Jimmy Burke was also smart. After the Billy Batts murder, he laid low. He did not brag. He did not draw attention. He let Tommy take the spotlight. He let Tommy be the face of the problem. When the Gambino family came calling, the Lucchese family could point to Tommy and say, “He was the one.”
Jimmy killed strategically. Tommy killed impulsively. Jimmy made money. Tommy made enemies. Jimmy was a professional. Tommy was a psychopath. In the mafia, professionals survive. Psychopaths do not.
Jimmy Burke was eventually convicted of multiple crimes. He died in prison on April 13, 1996, at Wende Correctional Facility in New York. He was 64 years old. He died of natural causes. The mafia never touched him.
Henry Hill was born on June 11, 1943. He was half Irish and half Italian. Like Jimmy, Henry could never be a made man. He was an associate, a lower-level earner who did jobs for Paul Vario and Jimmy Burke.
He was involved in the Billy Batts murder. But he was the least involved. Tommy beat Batts. Jimmy shot him. Henry helped clean up. He was there. He participated. But he was not the main actor. In the eyes of the Gambino family, Henry was a minor player. That distinction saved his life.
Henry Hill was also smart enough to get out before the hammer dropped. In 1980, he was arrested on narcotics charges. He was facing serious prison time. He made a decision. He became a government informant. He testified against Paul Vario, Jimmy Burke, and dozens of other mobsters. His testimony led to 50 convictions. He entered the federal witness protection program. The mafia could not touch him.
Even before Henry flipped, the Gambino family was not demanding his death. They wanted Tommy. Tommy was the problem. Tommy was the one who killed Billy Batts. Tommy was the one who killed Foxy Jerothe. Tommy was the one who could not be controlled. Henry was a footnote. Footnotes do not get executed.
Henry Hill was kicked out of the witness protection program in 1987 after he blew his cover and continued committing crimes. He spent the next 25 years living in the open. He wrote books. He did interviews. The mafia knew where he was. They could have killed him at any time. They did not.
Henry Hill died on June 12, 2012, one day after his 69th birthday. He died of heart disease in a Los Angeles hospital. Natural causes. The mafia never came for him.
The mafia does not kill everyone involved in a problem. They kill the biggest liability. Tommy DeSimone was the biggest liability the Lucchese family had ever seen.
Tommy killed Billy Batts, a made man. That alone was a death sentence. But Tommy did not stop there. He killed Spider. He killed Foxy Jerothe. He was violent, impulsive, and unpredictable. He drew attention from law enforcement. He made enemies in multiple families. He was a ticking time bomb.
By 1979, even Paul Vario, Tommy’s protector, could not shield him anymore. The Gambino family wanted blood. The Lucchese family had a choice. They could protect Tommy and risk a war with the Gambinos. Or they could give him up and maintain peace. The decision was easy. Tommy had to go.
Jimmy was too valuable. He was a top earner. He was smart. He was controllable. The Lucchese family was not going to sacrifice their best money maker. Henry was too insignificant. He was a low-level associate. He was not worth the effort. Once he became a government witness, killing him would only make things worse.
The mafia is a business. They kill when it is necessary. They kill to protect the organization. They kill to maintain order. Tommy DeSimone threatened all of that. He was chaos in human form. Chaos gets eliminated.
Tommy’s death sent a message. It told every associate in every family that you cannot kill a made man. You cannot act without permission. You cannot put your ego above the organization. If you do, you will die. It does not matter how much money you make. It does not matter how tough you are. The rules are the rules.
Tommy broke them. He paid the price.
Jimmy Burke understood that. He played by the rules just enough to stay alive. He made money. He stayed valuable. He kept his mouth shut. He survived.
Henry Hill understood it, too. He knew when to run. He knew when to talk. He traded his loyalty for his life. It worked.
Tommy DeSimone never understood. He thought his reputation would protect him. He thought his connections would save him. He thought being a killer made him untouchable. He was wrong. In the mafia, nobody is untouchable. Especially not the guy who cannot control himself.
On January 14, 1979, Tommy DeSimone climbed into that car thinking he was about to achieve his dream. He was about to become a made man. He was about to become untouchable. Instead, he walked into a room and was executed by the very people he thought would embrace him.
The mafia does not forgive. It does not forget. It does not waste time on second chances. Tommy had nine years to prove he could be trusted. He spent those nine years proving the opposite. He killed recklessly. He made enemies. He drew attention. When the bill came due, there was nobody left to protect him.
Jimmy Burke and Henry Hill survived because they were smarter. They understood the game. They knew when to step back. Tommy never learned that lesson. It cost him everything.
The mafia does not kill for revenge. They kill for survival. Tommy DeSimone had to die. Jimmy Burke and Henry Hill did not. That is not luck. That is the rules.