Tommy DeSimone

Thomas Anthony “Tommy” DeSimone (May 24, 1950 - disappeared January 17, 1979) was an Italian-American mobster who was a member of the Lucchese Crime Family. Alongside Jimmy Burke and Henry Hill, he was the star of the 1990 film called Goodfellas where he was parodied as Tommy DeVito and performed by Joe Pesci.

Biography

Tommy DeSimone was born on May 24, 1950 in Cambridge, Massachusetts to an Italian-American family. DeSimone had two sisters named Dolores and Phyllis and two brothers named Robert and Anthony. His brothers were both associates of the Gambino Crime Family. As a youth, Tommy's father owned a print shop which he lost due to a gambling addiction. In 1965, DeSimone was introduced to Paul Vario, a capo in the Lucchese family and eventually began working with Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke, taking part in hijackings and selling stolen property.

In April of 1967, after receiving a tip about a score at an Air France terminal at the JFK International Airport, DeSimone and Henry Hill walked out of the terminal with $400,000-$700,000 in cash, this robbery brought them much popularity in the Vario crew.

In 1970, shortly after being released from prison at a club owned by Henry Hill, Billy Batts, a member of the Gambino family was drinking at the club when he was badly beaten by Burke and DeSimone and then put into the trunk of a car and driven out to Upstate New York but on the highway there, the three men heard thumping from the trunk of the car. They pulled over and it was revealed that Batts was still alive and shortly after was beaten to death with a shovel and a tire iron and quickly buried near a dog kennel owned by a friend of Burke's. Around three months later, Hill and DeSimone exhumed Batts' remains and crushed them in a car in New Jersey.

On December 11, 1978, DiSimone and other associates robbed a Lufthansa cargo terminal at JFK airport and stole over $5,000,000. Soon after, DeSimone shot and killed Parnell Edwards who failed to dispose of the vans from the robbery.

On January 14, 1979, DeSimone was reported missing by his wife and was never seen again. While it is not disputed that DeSimone is dead, exactly how he died is still surrounded in mystery, Henry Hill stated that DeSimone had been murdered by the Gambino family in retaliation for the murder of Billy. Hill claimed that DeSimone suspected he was going to become a made man in the Lucchese family. It is suggested that Paul Vario was behind Tommy's death as well as it is also speculated that John Gotti, a personal friend of Batts, killed DeSimone himself.