Did Henry Hill get set up when he got pinched for cigarettes?

I was watching Goodfellas for the 8 billionth time the other night and started thinking about the scene where Henry got pinched selling cigarettes. Paul had all the cops on the take, and the cops never went after Tommy even though they had to have seen him helping out.

So, was Henry pinched on purpose to see how he'd react and whether he could be trusted?

plot-explanation goodfellas

Best Answer

There's no indication of it.

Certainly some of the police were on the take but a distinction is made in the script that the arresting officers were City Detetctives and not regular uniformed patrol officers.

           WE SEE HENRY busily selling cartons to WORKERS. TOMMY is 
           getting cartons out. of the trunk of a car parked nearby. 
           HENRY is so busy he can hardly keep the money and cash 
           straight. Instead of the neat roll we saw on JIMMY, HENRY's 
           cash is a wrinkled mess. Some of it is rolled, some folded, 
           some in different pockets. WE SEE HENRY approached by TWO 
           CITY DETECTIVES.

There is additional dialogue in the movie, not in the script, when De Niro says ...

Everybody gets pinched but you did it right...

As it happens, this scene is created for the movie as Hill's first arrest is quite different.

Hill was first arrested when he was 16; his arrest record is one of the few official documents that prove his existence. Hill and Lenny, Vario's equally underage son, attempted to use a stolen credit card to buy snow tires for Tuddy's wife's car. When Hill and Lenny returned to Tuddy's, two police detectives apprehended Hill.

During a rough interrogation, Hill gave his name and nothing else; Vario's attorney later facilitated his release on bail. While a suspended sentence resulted, Hill's refusal to talk earned him the respect of both Vario and Burke. Burke, in particular, saw great potential in Hill.

^Wikipedia

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What happened to Henry Hill?

Hill died on June 12, 2012, at the age of 69, after battling an undisclosed illness. He had been living in Los Angeles at the time. Hill is survived by his two children, Gregg and Gina; and his girlfriend, Caserta.

Was Henry Hill a real person?

Henry Hill was a real person The movie Goodfellas is based on the biographical book Wiseguy, written by Nicholas Pileggi. The book is based on the account of Henry Hill, an associate of the Luchese crime family before he became an FBI informant. The main characters were all based around real people in Hill's life.

Why did Tommy get whacked in Goodfellas?

In Martin Scorsese's classic gangster film Goodfellas, Tommy DeVito, played by Joe Pesci, gets whacked by John Gotti's family in retribution for killing made man Billy Batts, played by Frank Vincent. Robert De Niro's character \u201cJimmy the Gent\u201d Conway gets the news in a phone booth which he pummels in a fit of rage.

Was the helicopter following Henry?

Watch 'Goodfellas'' Helicopter Scene But as Henry leaves the house, he spots a helicopter, which he believes is following him. That forces him to change his plans, roping in his wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco) to make it look like they're an ordinary couple visiting her family and doing some shopping.

henry gets pinched

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