Jimmy Conway

**Jimmy "The Gent" Conway** is one of the two titular deuteragonists (along with Tommy DeVito) turned main antagonist of Martin Scorsese's 1990 epic crime film, *Goodfellas*. He is the cruel Irish associate of the Lucchese Crime Family, who is close friends with fellow associates, Henry Hill and Tommy DeVito. He was inspired by real life mobster, Jimmy Burke.

He was portrayed by Robert De Niro, who also played Johnny Civello in *Mean Streets*, Travis Bickle in *Taxi Driver*, Jimmy Doyle in *New York, New York*, Jake LaMotta in *Raging Bull*, Rupert Pupkin in *The King of Comedy*, Max Cady in *Cape Fear*, Ace Rothstein in *Casino*, Frank Sheeran in *The Irishman* and William Hale in *Killers of the Flower Moon*.

## Biography

### 1950's

During the early 1950's, Jimmy became an associate of the Lucchese Crime Family in New York City. Due to Jimmy not having any Italian blood in him, Jimmy couldn't be apart of the American Mafia, but instead worked as an associate under Lucchese capo, Paul Cicero, doing jobs involving robberies, trafficking and hits. In 1955, Jimmy gave advice and showed the routes to youngsters, Tommy DeVito and Henry Hill, who wished to also become associates of the Lucchese Family.

### 1970

In 1970, instead of making them do jobs, Jimmy starts working alongside Tommy and Henry, growing a close friendship with both parties. One night while hanging out with Tommy and Henry at a restaurant, the trio are encountered by Billy Batts, a made man for the Gambino Crime Family. After Billy repeatedly provokes Tommy about how he used to shine shoes for other gangsters, Tommy and Jimmy murder Batts after everyone had left the restaurant and put his body in a trunk to be buried. This act was extremely dangerous as all three of them would be killed if anyone found out about the murder.

Later, the same year, Jimmy and some of the men from the Lucchese Family are playing cards when, after an argument between Tommy and a young bartender, nicknamed, Spider get's intense, Tommy shoots Spider in the foot, to which Jimmy yells at Tommy for his overreacting. Soon after, Spider's wound is healed, Spider tells Tommy to "go fuck himself". After Spider is complimented for his actions, Tommy murders Spider by shooting him multiple times in the chest, which causes Jimmy to call Tommy a "sick maniac".

Afterwards, Jimmy is sent to Miami along with Henry in order to beat a man who owed Paulie money, who Jimmy nearly fed to lions, until the man promised to pay Paulie back. Unfortunately, the man's sister was a FBI typist, which causes Jimmy and Henry to be arrested and held in prison for 10 years. Jimmy was not placed in the same prison as Henry, and was instead released some time around 1978 instead of 1980.

### 1978

After being released from prison, Jimmy sets up a heist of the Lufthansa vault at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, where they stole $5.8 million dollars. In order to make sure no one who was apart of the heist gets caught, Jimmy made sure to tell the men involved not to buy any expensive stuff, which a majority of the men fail to do. In order to steal the money for himself, Jimmy kills every person involved, excluding Henry and Tommy.

### 1979

In 1979, Jimmy hears the news of Tommy having the opportunity to become a made man, with Jimmy and Henry being extremely happy about the news. But as it turns out, Tommy was killed by Gambino goons for retaliation of Tommy killing Billy Batts. The news leads Jimmy to cry.

### 1980

By 1980, Jimmy gets tired of Henry's irresponsibility while working in the drug business. At that time, drugs were a dangerous and unappreciated business in the Mafia. Eventually, Jimmy has had enough and tries to kill Henry and his wife, Karen. But mostly because of luck, the two survive. Henry eventually enters the witness protection program and testifies against Jimmy in court. Jimmy is sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of 20 years, where he would be eligible for parole in 2004. Although the actual Jimmy Conway, Jimmy Burke passed away in 1996.

## Personality

Similarly to Tommy, Jimmy can be seen as nothing but an absolute psychopath. Combine this with the fact that Jimmy also acts affable to his friends just as Tommy does, he can be also seen as an extremely manipulative and sociopathic man. This can also be seen when Jimmy tries to murder Henry, his best friend and protégé for over 20 years, as well as when he murders every crew member of the Lufthansa heist, excluding Henry and Tommy due to their honest mistakes and his paranoia. Not to mention how ruthless and unforgiving Jimmy is, which is seen when he goes out of his way to torture and murder Billy Batts, even though this act could've led to Jimmy being murdered by the Gambino Family. Despite these factors, Jimmy has some redeeming qualities, such as when he yells at Tommy for when he murders Spider over an insult. While this can be hypocritical for Jimmy as he murdered Billy over an insult as well, him being mad at Tommy for killing Spider could've been because he felt Spider didn't deserve to die. He also decided not to kill Morrie as he knew Morrie meant no wrong asking for his share from the Lufthansa heist, until he got too fed up with Morrie and ultimately killed him. However, Jimmy's most redeeming quality is how he cries when Tommy dies, showing how much he cared for Tommy. All together, Jimmy is a greedy, ruthless and paranoid psychopath, with some redeeming qualities.

## Deaths

### Murders Committed by Jimmy

* **William "Billy Batts" Bentvena:** Beaten, stabbed and shot to death by Jimmy and Tommy DeVito.
	+ Total: 1

### Murders Connected to Jimmy

* **Parnell "Stacks" Edwards:** Shot in the back of the head by Tommy DeVito on Jimmy's orders.
* **Morrie Kessler:** Stabbed in the neck with an ice pick by Tommy DeVito on Jimmy's orders.
* **Johnny Roastbeef:** Shot to death by either hitmen or Tommy DeVito on Jimmy's orders.
* **Johnny Roastbeef's Wife:** Shot to death by either hitmen or Tommy DeVito on Jimmy's orders.
* **Robert "Frenchy" McMahon:** Shot to death by either Jimmy or Tommy DeVito on Jimmy's orders.
* **Joe Buddha:** Shot to death by either Jimmy or Tommy DeVito on Jimmy's orders.
* **Frankie Carbone:** Killed in an unknown manner by either Jimmy or Tommy DeVito on Jimmy's orders.
	+ Total: 7
		- Total Murders: 8

## Gallery

Jimmy with a young Henry.Jimmy threatening Morrie.Jimmy kicking Billy Batts' body.Jimmy plotting to murder Morrie.Jimmy trying to have Karen murdered.Jimmy in court.
## Trivia

* In the scene where Jimmy, Henry and Tommy are having dinner at Tommy's mother's house, Jimmy is seen rotating the ketchup bottle to get out the ketchup and put it on his food. While the scene was being filmed, Robert De Niro asked real-life mobster, Henry Hill, how Jimmy Burke put ketchup on his food, as he was known to put ketchup on Italian food. When Hill answered that Burke rotated the bottle, De Niro improvised this motion in the scene.