Goodfellas is a sweeping, thirty year true story based on Nicolas Pileggi's best-selling book "Wiseguy," the most intimate account ever printed of life inside what people call the mafia. The movie is told in a semi-documentary style through the eyes of Henry Hill, a average Italian-American boy whose dream it was to become a gangster and to acquire all the perks that come with that particular lifestyle.
As the film begins, Henry (played by Christopher Serrone) is a youngster. His family lives across the street from a taxi stand that doubles as the local mob headquarters. Admiring the criminals' wealth and clout in the community, Henry begins hustling odd jobs from them, parking their Cadillacs during card games and running numbers. Selling untaxed cigarettes out of the trunk of a car results in Henry's first arrest, during which he maintains the mob code of silence. He is rewarded by being put on a Mafia "career track" under the direction of Jimmy, who like Henry, is part Irish and therefore barred from ever becoming a member of the Mafia inner circle. A full Sicilian, Tommy begins working with Henry while both are still in their teens. But, owing to Tommy's homicidal temper, it emerges that his career outlook is also limited. All three work for local mob overlord Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino), a cold, manipulative bully who has little of the redemptive grace of THE GODFATHER'S Don Corleone. As the movie progresses Henry begins to make his living "outside" the mafioso family through the production,sale and use of drugs.The remainder of the movie focuses on the famous Lufthansa heist and the subsequent downfall of all the characters involved. Eventually the drugs begin to take a substantial toll on Henry and his judgement and discretion become negligible. Ultimately, Tommy is "whacked" for killing a "made" member of another crime family, Henry puts himself in the witness protection program (in fear of his life) and Pauly & Jimmy do hard time at Henry's expense. The movie concludes in a scene in a strange locale where a displaced Henry clearly misses the lifestyle that he was able to lead all those years while a wiseguy.