goodfellas

A detailed Summary of goodfellas

Martin Scorcese's GoodFellas, a 1990 film based on Nicholas Pileggi's Wiseguys, follows Henry Hill through his life in organised crime. The movie begins when he first enters the neighbourhood organised crime branch in Brooklyn, New York, and finishes when he leaves it to go into the FBI's witness protection program. Henry first becomes associated with the Mafia when he gets an after school job at the cabs office across the road, which happens to be run by the Mafia. His first run-in with the law is when he is caught selling cigarettes out of the boot of a car. This incident taught him two important lessons leading to his graduation into a true part of the Mafia: never tell on your friends and always keep your mouth shut. Even though Henry was now a part of the Mafia, he could never be "made." That was the highest honour; you must be one hundred percent Italian to become a true member of the family. The way they worked was that the boss, Paul Sorvino (Paulie), would start a bus!

iness or join a business as a partner and buy things on store credit, but never pay for it. They would sell everything they bought out the back door at a discount. Once they had borrowed all the money from the bank they could and were out of money the

s apartment. He also began to do drugs as well. His life begins to get out of control and everyone around him is getting knocked off. Henry finally got caught and arrested for selling cocaine. In exchange for not being sent to prison he testified against his former partners, including Paulie. He was put into the FBI's witness protection program and forced to live a normal life. He no longer got everything he wanted with such ease, and had to wait for things just like everybody else.

Henry knew of the Mafia but was unaware of all of the privileges and pleasures that came along with its deviant status. He learns how to act and who to respect from the older members. Another step to entering organised crime that Becker points out are that once publicly labelled they are treated differently by society and act according to that label. When Henry becomes associated with the Mafia, people begin to treat him with respect, out of fear. He dresses nice, never waits in line to go to dinner, and gets the best seats when he goes to clubs. Henry had his drug deals on the side, and did not tell Paulie because he knew it would not be accepted. Paulie would probably have had him killed. They were also expected to keep secrets at all costs from law enforcement.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Henry Mafia, Bats Henry, Sorvino Paulie, Brooklyn York, Conway Paulie, Billy Bats, Henry Hill, Paulie FBI's, Scorcese's GoodFellas, organised crime, sent prison, Pileggi's Wiseguys, witness protection program, witness protection, billy bats, henry associated, fbi's witness, protection program, henry mafia, selling cocaine, henry associated mafia, fbi's witness protection, associated mafia,

Approximate Word count = 844
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

join now Save Paper

Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

"Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
Jack M.
"With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
Brian P.
"I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
Sara J.
"I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
Rachel W.
"I love this site!!!"
Marie N.

goodfellas

Related Essays

Professional Essays

Saved Paper

Newest Essays

Testimonials