Booknote: Wise Guy

Nicolas Pileggi, Wise Guy: Life in a Mafia Family. New York: Pocket Books, 1987.  ISBN: 0-671-72322-7.

Genre: nonfiction
Subgenre: memoir, biography, Mob, Mafia, true crime
Format: paperback
Source: Interlibrary Loan from Hutchins Library. The book came from Barr Memorial Library, Fort Knox, Kentucky (yes, the U.S. Army's library. Book even was stamped "Property of the U.S. Army.")

I've wanted to read this for a while, and I finally got to read it this year. By now, many people know this book is the basis of the popular mobster movie Goodfellas. Odds are good you've seen the film. If you have seen the film, I recommend you read the book. Scorsese, the director, and the writers kept the movie extremely close to the book. Sure, details are changed or omitted for the sake of the film. What they produced is very faithful to the book. In fact many of the dialogue lines in the movie come straight from the book. If you've seen the movie, you might even hear some of the actors' voices as you read the book. That's how close they kept to the book.

If by some miracle, you have not seen the film, then I recommend you read the book first. It is an engrossing and fast read, and it is true. Pileggi tells the story of Henry Hill, an "earner" in the Lucchese Crime Family. While Hill was not a "big shot," he was very involved in various aspects of the Mob and its daily business and operations. His story gives a view of what wiseguys really do on a daily basis to find the next hustle so they can earn money for themselves and their superiors. It is all about the money, and being a good earner is where the value of a wiseguy lies. Pileggi also tells Hill's story without romanticizing it. Sure, there are glamorous moments in Hill's story, but overall most of the story is gritty, mundane at times, and soon we see there is no real honor in Cosa Nostra. The concept of "family" is just a word, and once you become vulnerable, or worse a liability you will get whacked by that family, possibly your best friend will be your killer.

As I said, this is an engrossing read. Once I started, I just wanted to keep on reading. I can see why the book was made into a movie. Its structure does lend itself to a visual adaptation. If you've seen the movie, you'll find yourself noticing the details they changed, how they were changed, and what was kept.

Overall, I really liked the book, and I do recommend it. It does make me want to watch the movie again. The strength is in Henry's story. Pileggi and Hill tell it well and make it interesting. Plus, unlike so many Mafia books about bosses and big shorts, this is one of the few book that gives us a view of the man on the ground, the earner who makes money for those on top. The author describes why Henry Hill became so valuable to the authorities once he turned government informant:

"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" (260).

 A solid read.

4 out of 5 stars.

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This book qualifies for the following 2020 Reading Challenges: