This column first appeared in July 2009.
Editor’s Note: Henry Hill died in June 2012.
This is a story for guys. It has little to do with Indiana or her fair capital city, but it is well worth noting for the irony of its subject’s content and the ability to demonstrate the vast proliferation of the internet and eBay in our culture and everyday life. I’ve written articles on the strangeness of eBay in the past, but this one trumps them all.
The 1990 Martin Scorsese film “Good Fellas” is considered a classic and holds sway as one of those films that pops up often on Saturday afternoon cable networks, causing any man who channel surfs past it to stop and kill an afternoon watching it, regardless of how many times he might have seen it before. Nominated for six Academy Awards, the film starred Oscar winners Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci along with Ray Liotta as Irish/Italian “wiseguy” Henry Hill.
The film follows the rise and fall of three New York City gangsters over three decades and is narrated from start to finish by Liotta’s characterization of Henry Hill. It’s a brutal portrayal of Hill’s life as a mobster, from schoolboy days to adulthood. The film’s opening line sets the tone for the entire film when Henry states, “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster,” and features dozens of memorable scenes and quotes that have become a part of every male viewer’s memory and lexicon; including the most famous bar walk-through since “Star Wars” where Hill introduces the viewer to mobsters with intriguing names like “Johnny Roast Beef,” “Nicky Eyes” and “Jimmy Two Times.” While the criminal story line and its character’s’ immoral vices are nothing to admire or aspire to, the film itself is a classic.
The film ends with a drug-addicted Henry Hill turning on his mob associates and testifying against them in court — sending many of them to Federal prison, where several would die jail — all in an attempt to save his own skin. Liotta’s Hill character ends the film with Henry in witness protection, with a price on his head and an open lifetime “Hit” contract out for his death, uttering the closing line: “I’m an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.” Henry slipped into anonymity and for a time lived just across the Indiana border, south of Cincinnati in Independence, Kentucky. However, it did not last long, as Henry continued his criminal lifestyle and was kicked out of the witness protection program in the early 1990s. This is where the story gets weird.
Nowadays, Henry Hill sells his artwork on eBay. Yes, since June 8, 2004, mobster Henry Hill sells his watercolors and personal items on eBay under the name “mob*pop*artbyhenryhill” with an eBay store named “Henry Hill Goodfella Artwork.” Not only artwork, but wacky and weird items from his past, including ice picks, shoeshine boxes, casino memorabilia, clothing, and assorted personal care items all autographed by Henry Hill himself. Believe me, looking at the items for sale in his eBay store is a surreal walk down memory lane.
His watercolors are crudely done and it’s easy to follow Hill’s alcoholic mood swings by looking at the hues and shades of these amateurish renderings. Some are brightly colored while others are dark and foreboding. What makes them interesting is that most are scenes from the “Good Fellas” movie, which are, in turn, scenes from Henry Hill’s life itself. Many of the paintings incorporate quotes from the film in their images. Amazingly, Henry paints crime scenes in which he admittedly participated, including the Lufthansa air heist in 1978, the killing of Gambino family member Billy Batts in Henry’s bar in 1970, as well as truck hijacking, arson and the famed “Pizza Connection” drug trafficking ring that finally brought Henry to justice in April 1980.
Hill’s paintings sell for anywhere from $25 to $50 and come directly from Hill in an envelope featuring Henry’s return address in Malibu, California, on the front. Henry signs every painting, encloses certificates of authenticity along with photos of himself holding each painting. The photos themselves are amazing as they reveal the “Gangster as old man” which were obviously taken with Henry in an inebriated state. Sometimes Hill includes a signed quote from the film with your order. Henry incorporates quotes from the film in your eBay feedback like: “NOW GO GET YOUR SHINEBOX!” and “You dig the hole.” I know because I’ve actually bought a few of the paintings myself.
Speaking for many baby boomers of my era, I find the concept of owning these paintings, often for less than the price of a pizza dinner, irresistible. I do not condone, nor do I recommend or emulate any part of Henry Hill’s lifestyle. I am not suggesting that anyone who reads this article go and buy a piece of art from a stone criminal like Hill. I am only reporting what I see as an illustration of just how insidious eBay and the worldwide web has become in our lives. Evidently an admitted mobster, with a price on his head, personally responsible for numerous crimes as well as for sending 50 members of the feared Lucchese mafia family to prison, is content to hide in plain sight and sell what amounts to artistic confessions on “America’s Marketplace,” eBay.
Al Hunter is the author of “Haunted Indianapolis” and “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide.” and the co-author of the “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Osborn H. Oldroyd: Keeper of the Lincoln Flame”, “Thursdays with Doc. Recollections on Springfield & Lincoln” and “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
