Tommy DeVito

**Thomas "Tommy" DeVito** is one of the two titular deuteragonists (along with Jimmy Conway) of Martin Scorsese's 1990 epic crime film, *Goodfellas*. He is the affable yet psychotic associate of the Lucchese Crime Family, who was close friends with fellow associates, Henry Hill and Jimmy Conway. He was based on real life mobster, Thomas DeSimone.

He was portrayed by Joe Pesci, who also played Joey LaMotta in *Raging Bull*, Nicky Santoro in *Casino* and Russell Bufalino in *The Irishman*.

## Biography

### Early life

Thomas DeVito was born on May 05, 1943. At a young age, Tommy was employed as a shoe shiner by mobsters, and was given the nickname, "Spitshine Tommy", although as he got older, Tommy despised the memory of being a shoe shiner.

### 1955

In 1955, Tommy is taken under Jimmy Conway's wing, an associate of the Lucchese Crime Family, and close friend of capo, Paul Cicero. Soon after, he does some jobs for Conway, he meets fellow youngster, Henry Hill, who he forms a close bond with.

### 1970

By 1970, Tommy is now doing jobs alongside Jimmy and Henry. One night, while hanging out with the two, they come across a welcome-home party for Gambino made man, Billy Batts, who had been released from prison. Soon after, Billy starts provoking Tommy and "busting his balls" for his past of being a shoe shiner for mobsters. After, Tommy has had enough, the trio wait for everyone to leave and beat Billy to death before burying him. The hit on Billy was extremely dangerous, due to them getting no permission to kill Billy and all three of them could have been murdered for the hit.

Later, Tommy and some Lucchese men are playing cards, when a bartender starts to give Tommy a hard time. Tommy eventually shoots the bartender, nicknamed Spider, in the foot, which all of the men look down on. After Spider recovers, he tells Tommy to "go fuck yourself". The other men have a lot of respect for Spider afterwards, due to Tommy being known to be an extremely dangerous mobster with mood swings. This prompts Tommy to murder Spider, to which Jimmy calls Tommy, a "sick maniac".

### 1978

After Jimmy and Henry are released from prison, Tommy, Jimmy and Henry set up a heist of the Lufthansa vault at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, where they stole $5.8 million dollars. After the majority of the men ignore Jimmy's warnings, every crew member is murdered, excluding Tommy and Henry.

### 1979

In 1979, Tommy is given the news that he has a chance of becoming a made man for the Lucchese Crime Family. Tommy, along with Henry and Jimmy are all extremely happy about the news, due to Tommy being the only member of Jimmy's crew to be 100% Italian. On March 14, 1979, Tommy is led to a deserted garage to be made, until he is shot in the head by the Gambino goons who brought him there. It was revenge for the murder of Billy Batts. The hit on Tommy is extremely devastating to Henry, Jimmy and Tommy's mother.

## Personality

One the outside, Tommy is seen to be an affable, charismatic mobster. He is constantly making jokes and acting as the life of the party. Despite this, Tommy is, in reality, a cruel, psychopathic man, with an easily hurt ego. This is mostly seen when he murders Billy. During the scene previous the hit, Tommy gets extremely angry at Billy just "busting Tommy's balls", despite no one taking it seriously. This is due to Tommy's easily hurt ego, as during the scene, Billy comments on Tommy's past of shining mobster's shoes, something that Tommy had resented for the rest of his life. Another scene where Tommy's cruel side comes out is when he murders Spider. At first, Tommy says that when he shot Spider in the foot, it was by accident, as Tommy was trying to make Spider "dance". But when Tommy murders Spider, it's due to Tommy's feeling of being looked down on by Spider's comment and praise for telling Tommy to "go fuck himself". Despite this, Tommy has some redeeming qualities, such as his love for his mother and his friendship with Jimmy and Henry.

## Deaths

### Confirmed Murders

* **William "Billy Batts" Bentvena:** Beaten, stabbed and shot to death by Tommy and Jimmy Conway.
* **Michael "Spider" Gianco:** Shot to death.
* **Parnell "Stacks" Edwards:** Shot in the back of the head on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Morrie Kessler:** Stabbed in the neck with an ice pick on Jimmy Conway's orders.
	+ Total: 4

### Unconfirmed Murders

* **Johnny Roastbeef:** Shot to death by either hitmen or Tommy on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Johnny Roastbeef's Wife:** Shot to death by either hitmen or Tommy on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Robert "Frenchy" McMahon:** Shot to death by either Jimmy Conway or Tommy on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Joe Buddha:** Shot to death by either Jimmy Conway or Tommy on Jimmy Conway's orders.
* **Frankie Carbone:** Killed by Tommy on Jimmy Conway's orders.
	+ Total: 5
		- Total Murders: 9

## Gallery

Tommy (right), Jimmy (middle) and Henry (left) in 1955."I'm Funny How?"Tommy just before murdering Billy Batts.Tommy murdering Spider.Tommy murdering Stacks Edwards.Tommy's death.
## Trivia

* The famous "Funny How?" scene is based on a real life occurrence that happened to actor, Joe Pesci, where Pesci had called a real-life mobster, "Funny", which the mobster started to take personally.
* Tommy DeVito has various similarities to Nicky Santoro, another character played by Joe Pesci, featured in *Casino*.
	+ Both are based on real life mobsters (Thomas DeSimone and Anthony Spilotro).
	+ Both are short-tempered and somewhat psychopaths.
	+ Both real life counterparts where reported missing, with Nicky's body being discovered while Tommy's body was never discovered.