Brooklyn in the late 1960’s. Having it all, and having it for free. Schemes, swag, bust-outs and loan sharks. To own the judges, truck drivers, the unions and anyone in between. To drink cocktails on a stolen credit card or ‘Muldoon’. Not because you couldn’t afford to otherwise, but because anything tastes better if it’s stolen. Guys named Frankie Manzo or Bruno Facciolo, working for the Lucchese or Colombo crime families. Scaring some very scary fellows. That was the world of Henry Hill. Until he got busted on a drug deal, hence becoming worth more dead than alive to his bosses. He enters the witness protection programme, and tells his story to Mafia journalist Nicolas Pileggi, who records it in ‘Wiseguy’.
By all means, this is a terrific book. It has all the great stories and cracking dialogue that went straight into Scorsese’s great movie adaptation, Goodfellas. “To me being a wiseguy was better than being president of the United States. It meant power among people who had no power. It meant perks in a working-class neighborhood that had no privileges”. Reading about Billie Batts or the Lufthansa Heist is just as thrilling as seeing them on the screen.
On top of this, there are some great stories that never made it in the film. Example: With business thriving and two small kids, Henry and his wife could use a little help around the house. As a wiseguy, however, hiring a maid is a bit unorthodox. You can’t have just anybody cleaning the kitchen, listening in on conversations. So in comes a business partner with the perfect solution: Why not get a domestic servant, straight from the Haitian hills? A real bargain, just 600 dollars. Henry and Karen take the bait, but all does not turn out as planned “When the slave opened the door, she turned out to be over six feet tall and weighed two fifty minimum. My knees went. She was bigger than Paul Vario. We couldn’t keep her. She made the kids cry. She only stayed a day or two, until I could get Eddy to take her back”.
There is more to 'Wiseguy' than war time stories and bragging. Hill is a clever guy. He often takes a few steps back to reveal the hard wiring of crime syndicate, backdrops that few people know about. “There were hundreds of guys depending on Paulie for their living, but he never paid out a dime. The guys working for Paulie had to make their own dollar. All they got from Paulie was protection from other guys trying to rip them off. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what the FBI can never understand – that what Paulie and the organization offer is protection for the kind of guys who can’t go to the cops.”
In one word, 'Wiseguy' is priceless. But then, as I found out a few months ago, things get even better. You see, when Tony Soprano sees his shrink, or Vito Corleone strokes his cat, Henry Hill is making a sauce. Long before Jamie Oliver or any other TV chef, these wiseguys made Italian cooking look like men’s business. Just remember the famous prison cooking scene from Goodfellas, slicing garlic with a razor.
After Henry spent all the money he made from Wiseguy and Goodfellas, he decides to cash in on cooking. Result “The Wiseguy Cookbook. My Favourite Recipes from My Life as a Goodfella to Cooking on the Run” by Henry Hill and Priscilla Davis. So, is it a cook book or a tale of crime? Well, both. Most of the recipes come with a wiseguy title and background story. Example, the Fugazy cutlets. “It was from Fat Larry that I learnt my first scam. When he couldn’t get the veal he wanted or it cost too much, he substituted it with pork. He had the whole neighbourhood fooled!”
Now, before anyone thinks I'm writing this with Hill's gun to my head: I wasn’t too overwhelmed by the recipes. Knowing his lifestyle, you could expect the guy to serve up a spicy dish. No-one likes bland Italian cooking. But going by the proportions he recommends, it’s just a matter of days before you OD on garlic. And if you wonder how ‘Tomato Mint Sauce’ could ever taste any different from toothpaste: it doesn’t. If you’re just looking for good Italian recipes, you might want to go with the 'Silver Spoon' instead.
The book has other merits, though. There is some very sound intelligence in there, both practical hints (don't flour eggplants beforehand) and general advice. I can only agree with his rules of Italian cooking: “On a budget, use little of the good stuff” or “Cook either very fast or very slowly”. You can tell the guy is passionate about cooking, and it gets very contagious. More than any other cooking book, it makes me want to rush to the kitchen and start slicing some tomatoes. And what more could you ask for, ya schnook?
More next week!
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