Tommy DeSimone Wasn’t Killed For Billy Batts — It Was Karen Hill. Goodfellas Got It Wrong – ht
January 14th, 1979. Somewhere in New York, Tommy Desimone arrived for his induction ceremony. He wore his best suit, carried himself with pride. He’d been told he was finally going to be made. Paul Vario’s son, Peter, and Bruno Fatiolo drove him. Desimone never returned. Shot multiple times. His body was never found.
Good Fellas presents a clear narrative. Tommy killed Billy Bats, a maid Gambino member. The Gambinos wanted revenge. They waited 9 years, then they killed Tommy. It was revenge for Billy Bats and a lot of other things. Here’s what the film never showed. The Gambinos suspected Desimone killed Bats for years, but they had no proof, no witnesses willing to testify, no way to definitively connect Dimone to the murder. Then Paul Vario gave him up.
Not because of Billy Bats, because D Simone tried to rape Karen Hill and Karen was Vario’s mistress. Good Fellas shows Tommy Devito’s death as revenge for Billy Bats. The film establishes this clearly. June 1970, Bats insults Tommy about being a shoe shine boy. Tommy and Jimmy beat him nearly to death.
They put him in a car trunk, drive to Connecticut. Tommy stabs him. Jimmy shoots him. They bury him. 6 months later, they dig up the body. When the burial site is sold for development, they move Bats to a mobcrolled junkyard, crush him in a car compactor, destroy the evidence. The film shows Paul Cicero questioning Henry.
Did you hear anything about this bats guy? The Gambinos are asking questions. They suspect the Lucasy crew, but they can’t prove anything. 9 years pass. Then Tommy gets called to his induction ceremony. He’s excited. He’s finally going to be made. He arrives. The Gambinos are waiting. They shoot him. Henry narrates. It was revenge for Billy Bats and a lot of other things.
And there was nothing we could do about it. The film presents this as inevitable. Tommy killed a maid man. The Gambinos eventually found out. They took revenge. Clean cause and effect. Mob justice delayed but delivered. But this narrative misses critical information. The Gambinos suspected Dysone for years. They’ve been asking questions since 1970.
They’ve been investigating, but they had no proof, no way to act. What changed in late 1978? What gave the Gambinos the confirmation they needed? What made Paul Vario suddenly cooperate with Gambino requests for information about Bat’s murder, Karen Hill? and what D Simone tried to do to her. In 1972, Henry Hill was convicted of extortion.
Sentenced to four years at Lewisburg Federal Prison in Pennsylvania, he served from 1972 to 1978. 6 years away from Karen and their two daughters, Greg and Gina. Karen was suddenly alone, 26 years old, two young children to raise, limited legitimate income. Her husband was in federal prison.
She lived in a house financed by criminal proceeds. She was surrounded by violent criminals who’d known her only as Henry’s wife. Her position was precarious. Mob wives had value only through their husbands. If the husband was in prison, the wife lost protection, lost status, became vulnerable to advances from other associates, became a target for men who saw her as available.
Karen needed protection. She needed financial support for herself and her daughters. She needed someone powerful enough to shield her from threats while Henry served his sentence. During this period, Karen began an affair with Paul Vario, Henry’s boss, the Lucasi Kappo, who’d controlled Henry’s career since the 1950s.
The man whose approval determined whether Henry lived or died, the man who could protect Karen or abandon her. This wasn’t romance in any conventional sense. This was survival strategy, transactional relationship. Karen trading intimacy for protection. Vario trading protection for access. Karen needed Vario’s power. Vario wanted Karen.
The affair gave both what they needed. Karen got financial support. Got status as Vario’s woman rather than just Henry’s absent wife. Got protection from other associates who might have viewed her as vulnerable. Vario got a younger mistress. Got someone who understood the life. Got discretion. Karen couldn’t expose the affair without destroying her own protection.
The affair functioned smoothly for years. Henry was in prison. Vario was visiting Karen, supporting her financially, protecting her socially. The arrangement worked. But Tommy to Simone knew about it. He’d seen them together. He’d heard rumors. He understood the relationship. And Des Simone saw an opportunity at some point during Henry’s imprisonment.
Exact date unknown. probably mid 1970s. Des Simone approached Karen. According to Henry Hill’s 1994 memoir, Gangsters and Good Fellas, D. Simone made advances. He wanted to join the affair. Wanted access to what Vario was getting. Wanted Karen for himself. Karen refused. She wasn’t interested in Desimone.
She was with Vario because Vario could protect her. Desimone had nothing to offer. He wasn’t a cappo. He wasn’t maid. He was just Jimmy Burke’s enforcer, an associate with no institutional power. Desimone didn’t accept the refusal gracefully. He became aggressive, insistent. When Karen continued refusing, he became violent.
Desimone beat her. According to Henry’s memoir, he assaulted her physically. Then he attempted to rape her, forced himself on her, attacked her in her own home while her children were present or nearby. Karen fought him off. The details of exactly how she escaped aren’t documented, but she survived the assault.
She was injured, bruised, traumatized, terrified, furious, and she told Paul Vario immediately. This was the critical moment. Karen reporting the assault to Vario. Vario learning that his associate had attacked his mistress. Vario understanding that Desimone had violated fundamental rules about respect and territory.
Karen wasn’t just reporting an assault. She was demanding that Vario respond, that he protect her as he’d promised, that he demonstrate his power extended to punishing people who hurt her. Vario had to respond. His relationship with Karen depended on his ability to protect her. His authority in the crew depended on associates respecting his women.
If Desimone could assault Karen without consequences, Vario looked weak, powerless, unable to control his own people. But Vario also faced constraints. D Simone was Jimmy Burke’s primary enforcer. Burke valued him, relied on him, used him for the violent work that generated revenue. Killing Dimone outright would anger Burke, would create crew problems, would require explanations.
Vario needed a solution that eliminated D Simone while maintaining institutional cover while avoiding Burke’s wrath while demonstrating to Karen that he protected his women while showing other associates what happened when you violated APO’s territory. The Gambino family provided that solution. When Paul Vario learned that Tommy Dimone had beaten and attempted to rape Karen Hill, he was enraged.
This wasn’t abstract institutional anger about protocol violations. This was personal fury directed at a specific betrayal. Karen was Vario’s mistress. Under his explicit protection, his woman in the mob’s transactional understanding of relationships and territory. Desimone assaulting her was disrespecting Vario directly, challenging his authority, demonstrating that associates didn’t fear his response.
This couldn’t stand if Vario allowed Desimone to assault Karen without consequences. Other associates would view him as weak, unable to protect his own women. Unable to control his crew, his authority would erode. But Vario faced serious constraints. He couldn’t just kill Desimone himself. Desimone was a Lucasad thus associate.
More importantly, Desimone was Jimmy Burke’s primary enforcer, Burke’s trigger man, Burke’s problem solver. Burke valued Desimone, relied on him for violent work that other associates wouldn’t or couldn’t perform. Desimone had killed multiple people on Burke’s orders. Had participated in the Air France robbery in 1967. Had helped plan the Luanza heist in December 1978, just weeks before his death.
Burke wouldn’t accept losing Desimone without substantial justification, without reasons that satisfied mob protocol, without explanations that made institutional sense. If Vario just killed Desimone and told Burke it was about Karen, Burke might retaliate, might view it as Vario eliminating Burke’s best enforcer over a woman, might create crew problems that escalated into violence.
Vario needed a method that eliminated Desimone while maintaining institutional cover while avoiding Burke’s retaliation while demonstrating to Karen that he protected her while showing other associates what happened when you violated Appo’s territory. The Gambino family provided that perfect method. The Gambinos had been asking questions about Billy Bats since June 1970.
9 years of investigation, 9 years of suspicion, 9 years without proof. Bats had been a maid Gambino member. His murder required authorization from the commission. Unauthorized killing of a maid man was one of the most serious violations in organized crime. Automatic death penalty. No exceptions. The Gambinos knew bats had been killed by someone in the Leacy family’s Brooklyn crew.
They suspected Burke. They suspected Dimone. They’d asked Vario directly, “Did you hear anything about this Bats guy?” Vario had stonewalled for years, protected his crew, maintained loyalty, told the Gambinos nothing. This was standard mob protocol. You don’t give up your own people. You protect your earners. You maintain crew solidarity.
But after Desimon assaulted Karen, Vario’s loyalty ended. Vario contacted the Gambino family. Through intermediaries, through proper channels, he confirmed what they’d suspected for 9 years, but couldn’t prove. Tommy Desimone killed Billy Bats. June 1970, Bats had insulted Desimone about his past as a shoe shine boy.
Desimone and Burke beat him nearly to death, put [snorts] him in a trunk, drove to Connecticut, Desimone stabbed him, Burke shot him, they buried him, later moved the body when the burial site was sold. Vario provided details only the killers would know, specific information that confirmed his account, evidence the Gambinos could verify through their own investigation.
Vario also told them about a second unauthorized murder. Ronald Foxy Gerroi. December 18th, 1974. Gerroi was an associate of John Gotti, Gotti’s friend. His protetéé, Dimone had killed Gerroi after Gerroi threatened to kill Dimone for assaulting Gerro’s sister, who was also Dysone’s girlfriend at the time.
Another woman, another assault, another unauthorized murder. Two killings, both unauthorized, both victims connected to the Gambino family, both committed by the same person, Tommy Dimone. The Gambinos now had what they’d needed for years, confirmation from a credible source, a Lucasi Capo, someone with direct knowledge, someone whose information could be trusted.
They authorized Dimone’s execution, likely with Vario’s explicit knowledge and approval, possibly with Vario’s encouragement about timing and method. This solution solved multiple problems for Vario. It eliminated Desimone permanently. What all. It avoided direct responsibility. The Gambinos were executing their own justice for unauthorized murders.
It maintained Burke’s cooperation. Burke couldn’t retaliate against the Gambinos for enforcing mob rules about maid members. And it demonstrated to Karen that Vario protected her, that assaulting her had fatal consequences, that Vario’s power extended to arranging deaths of people who violated his territory.
Late December 1978 or early January 1979, Desimone was told he was going to be made. Finally, after years of service, after proving himself through violence and crime, after the Lufanza heist, after everything he’d done for the family, he was getting his button, being inducted as a formal member of the Lucasy family. He was told to dress well, wear his best suit, look respectable.
This was a formal ceremony, an important moment in any wise guy’s career, the culmination of years working as an associate, the reward for loyalty and violence. Peter Vario, Paul Vario’s son, and Bruno Fatiolo picked him up. These were trusted people. Vario’s own son, someone Desimony had known for years. This reinforced that the induction was real, was legitimate, was actually happening.
They drove him to the location somewhere in New York, possibly the Bronx, according to some accounts. Possibly Queens, possibly Brooklyn. The exact location was never confirmed because Desimon’s body was never found. Desimone thought he was going to his induction ceremony. He was excited, proud, ready to become a maid member, ready to gain institutional protection, ready to be untouchable under mob law.
He was actually going to his execution. The Gambinos were waiting. possibly John Gotti personally according to Henry Hill’s later claims made in various interviews and books. Possibly Thomas Agro, a feared Gambino enforcer. Accounts vary significantly on who exactly pulled the trigger, who was present, who participated in the killing.
What’s certain across all accounts is that Damon was killed, shot multiple times, murdered on what he thought was the best day of his life, killed while dressed for celebration, executed while believing he was being honored. His body was never found, likely buried in the hole, a section of swampland near JFK airport that the mob used as an unofficial graveyard.
Multiple bodies were reportedly disposed of there over the years. The area was eventually developed. any remains would have been destroyed or buried under construction. Other theories suggest he was crushed in a car compactor or dissolved in acid or buried at sea. Mob murder disposal methods vary. The important fact is that no remains were ever recovered.
No evidence was ever found. The murder was never officially solved despite everyone in the mob knowing exactly what happened and why. His wife, Angela Desimone, reported him missing on January 14th, 1979. This is the date most commonly cited as his date of death, though it’s actually the date his wife filed the missing person report.
She told police she’d last seen Tommy weeks earlier when he’d stopped by to borrow $60 from her. That was their last contact. Angela waited weeks to report him missing because absences weren’t unusual. Tommy would disappear for days, sometimes on jobs, hiding from law enforcement, staying with girlfriends. She only filed the report when he’d been gone longer than normal patterns suggested.
But the mob knew Desimone was killed for unauthorized murders of Gambino connected victims, for Billy Bats, for Ronald Groth, for violating the rules that protected made members and respected associates. The question is why did the information surface when it did? Why did Paul Vario suddenly cooperate with Gambino requests after stonewalling for years? Because Tommy Desimone tried to rape Karen Hill and Karen Hill was Paul Vario’s mistress.
Tommy Desimone died in January 1979. Exact date uncertain. Possibly late December 1978 or early January 1979. He was killed by the Gambino family for murdering Billy Bats in June 1970 and Ronald Gerroy in December 1974. Both murders were unauthorized. Both violated fundamental mob protocols about maid members and respected associates.
Good fellas shows this as inevitable revenge. Tommy killed a maid man. Eventually the Gambinos found out. Eventually they took revenge. According to Mob Justice, clean narrative, clear cause and effect, satisfying conclusion to Tommy’s arc of violence. But the timing wasn’t inevitable. The Gambinos suspected Desimone for 9 years.
From 1970 when Bats disappeared until 1979 when Desimone was killed. 9 years of suspicion without proof. 9 years of questions without answers. 9 years of investigation without confirmation. They couldn’t act without proof. Mob rules required evidence before revenge for a maid member’s death. You couldn’t just kill a suspect.
You needed confirmation, witnesses, details only the killers would know. Paul Vario provided that confirmation. Not because he suddenly developed conscience about protecting murderers. Not because he decided after 9 years that the right thing was cooperating with Gambino requests. Because Tommy Desimone tried to rape Karen Hill and Karen Hill was Paul Vario’s mistress and Vario wanted revenge that he couldn’t take directly without creating problems with Jimmy Burke.
Vario used the Gambinos as executioners. He gave them information they’d been seeking since 1970. He confirmed their suspicions about both murders, Bats and Gerro. He provided details that proved Desimon’s guilt. He authorized Desimon’s death through disclosure. This demonstrates how mob justice actually functions. Not through abstract principles, through personal grievances that align with institutional rules, through relationships that create opportunities for revenge, through information disclosed when it serves the discloser’s interests. The film never
mentions any of this. Never mentions Karen’s affair with Vario during Henry’s imprisonment. Never mentions Dimone’s assault on Karen. never explains why Vario suddenly cooperated with Gambino questions about Bats after years of stonewalling. The film simplifies everything. Billy Bat’s murder led directly to Tommy’s death.
The Gambinos wanted revenge. They eventually got it. Mob justice delivered. End of story. Reality was far more complex. Tommy De Simone’s death resulted from multiple interlocking factors. Billy Bats unauthorized murder in 1970. This created the initial grievance. This made Desimone a target Ronald Grothy’s unauthorized murder in 1974.
This added a second grievance. This made Desimone a target of John Gotti personally. Gotti and Gerroi were friends. Desimone’s increasingly erratic behavior through the 1970s. Cocaine use, violence, unpredictability. He was becoming a liability to his own crew. Lufanza. In December 1978, the heist created federal attention, created exposure, created pressure to eliminate people who knew too much.
Desimone knew everything. He’d participated directly. Desimone’s assault on Karen. This triggered Vario’s rage. This motivated Vario to give up information he’d protected for years. All of these factors combined. Remove any single factor and Desimone might have survived. If he hadn’t assaulted Karen, Vario might have continued protecting him.
If Karen wasn’t Vario’s mistress, the assault might not have provoked the same response. If Bats and Gerothy hadn’t been killed, the Gambinos would have had no grounds for revenge. even with Vario’s confirmation. But all the factors aligned. Desimone’s violence, Karen’s vulnerability, Vario’s rage, the Gambino’s long investigation, mob rules about made members, the timing just weeks after Lufanza when everyone was nervous about exposure, the convergence created Desimon’s death, not just Billy Bats, the whole interconnected web of
relationships, violations, and opportunities for revenge. Good Fellas reduces this to simple revenge. Tommy killed Billy. Eventually, they got Tommy. Clean, simple, dramatically satisfying. But the real trigger was Karen Hill and what Tommy tried to do to her and Paul Vario’s decision to use the Gambinos to take revenge for an assault on his mistress while maintaining institutional cover by framing it as justice for unauthorized murders.
Henry Hill didn’t learn this immediately. He was in prison when Desimone disappeared. He only learned the full story later, years later, after he’d entered witness protection, after he’d written multiple books. After enough time had passed that he could reveal his wife’s affair with Vario without it seeming like immediate betrayal. The story emerged gradually.
First just that Tommy was killed for Billy Bats, then that there was more to it. Then finally, in the 1994 book, Gangsters and Good Fellas, Henry revealed what happened to Karen. What does Simoon tried to do? What that meant for how and why Tommy died. By then, it was too late for the movie. Good fellas came out in 1990, based on Nicholas Pelgi’s 1985 book, Wise Guy.
Neither book included the Karen assault story. Neither book explained Vario’s real motivation for giving up to Simon. The film presents mob justice as inevitable. What it actually shows is mob revenge is personal, triggered by individual grievances, executed through institutional channels, dressed up as principal when really it’s about protecting territory and punishing disrespect. That’s the truth.
Good fellas never told. Tommy Dimone wasn’t killed just for Billy Bats. He was killed because he tried to rape Karen Hill. And Karen Hill was Paul Vario’s woman. And Vario had the power to arrange death disguised as justice.