1. Thomas James DeSimone was an American criminal associated with New York City's Lucchese crime family who is alleged to have participated in both the Air France robbery and the Lufthansa heist.
20 Facts About Thomas DeSimone
1. 2.
Thomas DeSimone committed numerous murders, including killing William "Billy Batts" Bentvena in 1970.
3.
Thomas DeSimone was born in New York City, in the South Ozone Park area in the borough of Queens, on June 6,1946.
4.
Thomas DeSimone had four elder sisters and three elder brothers.
5.
Thomas DeSimone was the brother-in-law of mobster Joseph "The Barber" Spione, who was slain for refusing to help kill Thomas DeSimone in the late 1970s.
6.
In 1965, when he was aged 19, Thomas DeSimone was introduced to Paul Vario, a caporegime in the Lucchese crime family.
7.
Thomas DeSimone lost his temper and fatally shot Gianco three times in the chest, angrily demanding of Burke if that was "good enough for [him]".
8.
Burke, furious with Thomas DeSimone, made him bury Gianco's body in the cellar by himself.
9.
Hill stated after he witnessed this incident that he was convinced that Thomas DeSimone was a psychopath.
10.
On December 18,1974, Thomas DeSimone killed Ronald Jerothe, a protege of then-Gambino associate John Gotti.
11.
Thomas DeSimone had dated Jerothe's sister and had beaten her up, prompting Jerothe to threaten to kill him.
12.
When Thomas DeSimone heard about the threat, he went to Jerothe's apartment and killed him.
13.
Thomas DeSimone said she had last seen DeSimone a few weeks earlier when he borrowed $60 from her.
14.
When Hill became an FBI informant in 1980, he told authorities that Thomas DeSimone had been murdered by the Gambino family.
15.
Thomas DeSimone had remained behind in New York, having been told in late December 1978 or early January 1979 that he was going to be made.
16.
Hill indicated in both the book Wiseguy and the DVD commentary to Goodfellas that Thomas DeSimone had already been killed when Martin Krugman disappeared on January 6,1979.
17.
Two theories about Thomas DeSimone's alleged murder and murderer exist from mob "insiders".
18.
Thomas DeSimone added that the death "took a long time", as Bentvena had been a personal friend of Gotti's, and he wanted DeSimone to suffer before he died.
19.
Gotti's role as the assassin was repeated in the 2015 book The Lufthansa Heist, co-written by Hill and journalist Daniel Simone, although this account claims that Thomas DeSimone's death was instantaneous from three gunshots to the head.
20.
Thomas DeSimone was portrayed by Joe Pesci in the 1990 movie Goodfellas, renamed Tommy DeVito.