On the Run

October 1, 2004
Fans of mob turncoat Henry Hill based on Nicholas Pileggi's Wiseguy (an account of Hill's life) and the popular film adaptation Goodfellas will be forced to dramatically re-evaluate him after reading this gripping memoir by his children-who were only a passing blip in those earlier versions. Their warts-and-all portrayal of the immense disruption to their lives caused by their father's criminal recidivism is often heartbreaking. At a young age, they were exposed to family friends like Jimmy "the Gent" Burke, whom they knew as Uncle Jimmy, unaware he was a brutal truck hijacker. When investigators on the 1980 multimillion-dollar Lufthansa heist obtained Hill's cooperation as a witness, the children were given an hour to pick through their possessions to select what they could take with them into their new life in the witness protection program. Gregg and Gina often give overlapping perspectives of the same events, as they struggle to adjust, without the benefit of any guidance, and to craft plausible backstories for their new classmates and neighbors. Gregg's story is especially moving as he traces his personal evolution from model student to an adolescent forced to protect his mother from his father. The grimness is leavened with humor, and the many readers who will be rooting for these innocent victims will be heartened by their capacity to transcend a truly awful upbringing. B&w photos. Agent, Joel Gotler at AMG Renaissance. (Sept. 21) .

August 1, 2004
Though their family was anything but typical, Gregg and Gina Hill lived more or less normal lives until spring 1980, when their father, "Wiseguy" Henry Hill, went into the Witness Protection Program, taking his family with him into an unknown and dangerous future. Here, Gina and Gregg tell the story of their early lives, the misery, discomfort, and fear that living on the run brought them, and their attempts to live a normal life when the facade could come crashing down any second. Told chronologically in alternating voices, the experiences of Gregg and Gina are as notable for their differences as for their similarities. Gregg, two years older, was the serious one who could see the danger their father posed to the family, while Gina believed in her daddy through all of his irresponsible behavior and broken promises; her awakening to reality is particularly painful. Whether or not readers remember the notorious subject of Nick Pileggi's Wiseguy and Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, they will be spellbound by the heartbreaking story of his children. Recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/04.] Deirdre Bray Root, Middletown P.L., OH

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2004
What it has been like to be the children of Wiseguy Henry Hill.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2004
While Martin Scorsese's almost-lovable wiseguy Henry Hill led a life of unbroken adventure with the Mob--finding haven in the federal witness protection program when he informed on his colleagues--it was hard to know just who, besides Hill's crime victims, was paying the tab. In this wrenching but involving account, we find out: his children. Hill's son and daughter pick up the story pretty much where Scorsese's " Goodfellas" left off: the family packing their belongings into Hefty bags and hustling to safe houses in the Hamptons, then Omaha, then rural Kentucky, then finally Redmond, Washington. "Our lives weren't just falling apart," explains son Gregg, "they'd been vaporized, liquidated, erased." And their father only made things worse, resuming his criminalizing but also carelessly exposing the family to the mobsters trying to kill them. Miraculously, son and daughter here seem to have outrun the horror of their childhood, so far.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)

August 16, 2004
Fans of mob turncoat Henry Hill based on Nicholas Pileggi's Wiseguy
(an account of Hill's life) and the popular film adaptation Goodfellas
will be forced to dramatically re-evaluate him after reading this gripping memoir by his children—who were only a passing blip in those earlier versions. Their warts-and-all portrayal of the immense disruption to their lives caused by their father's criminal recidivism is often heartbreaking. At a young age, they were exposed to family friends like Jimmy "the Gent" Burke, whom they knew as Uncle Jimmy, unaware he was a brutal truck hijacker. When investigators on the 1980 multimillion-dollar Lufthansa heist obtained Hill's cooperation as a witness, the children were given an hour to pick through their possessions to select what they could take with them into their new life in the witness protection program. Gregg and Gina often give overlapping perspectives of the same events, as they struggle to adjust, without the benefit of any guidance, and to craft plausible backstories for their new classmates and neighbors. Gregg's story is especially moving as he traces his personal evolution from model student to an adolescent forced to protect his mother from his father. The grimness is leavened with humor, and the many readers who will be rooting for these innocent victims will be heartened by their capacity to transcend a truly awful upbringing. B&w photos. Agent, Joel Gotler at AMG Renaissance.