'Goodfellas' mobster gets suspended sentence

A Mafia informant whose life became the basis for the movie Goodfellas has been sentenced for striking his wife with a telephone receiver.

Henry Hill, who pleaded guilty to assault, received a year in jail with credit for 10 days served and the remaining 355 days suspended at a court in Wenatchee, Washington, USA.

Hill, 60, was also told to obey a no-contact order. His wife now lives in Nebraska.

Defence lawyer Jeffrey Barker said his client is seeking help for a serious alcohol problem. Hill was arrested for driving under the influence in May and was sentenced to two years probation.

Following his arrest for the assault, Hill was arrested for violating the no-contact order with his wife.

He also pleaded guilty to that charge and was sentenced to two years of supervised probation.

Hill, an associate of the Lucchese crime family in New York, became a devastating witness, and the best-known informant since Joe Valachi first broke the mob’s vow of silence back in the 1960s.

Hill’s criminal exploits, detailed in the best-selling book, Wiseguy, by Nicholas Pileggi, were later turned into Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film.