Jimmy Conway

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Jimmy Conway was a fictional character in the film GoodFellas. The character was based directly on the real-life gangster Jimmy Burke.

Kathy Burke, Jimmy Burke's daughter, allegedly attempted to force the GoodFellas production company to pay $100,000 for permission to use the name 'Burke', so they used 'Conway' instead.^{[citation needed]}

• Gangsters and GoodFellas, Henry Hill & Gus Russo, 2004

Main Synopsis

Jimmy Conway, who was played by Robert De Niro, plays a violent, impulsive and greedy Irish-American gangster in the classic American gangster film Goodfellas. Some of the most famous scenes in the film feauture Conway as the wild murderer and chief operator in the infamous 'Lufthansa Heist',and he features prominently in the film as Henry Hill's close friend and business parter, aswell as partner to equally psychotic 'Tommy DeVito' portrayed by Joe Pesci. The film opens up with the three after a hard day 'scheming' only to find a dead body struggling in the trunk which sets the violent tone of the movie very early on. (This murder is later explained to be the gangster 'Billy Batts' portrayed by Frank Vincent in the movie, who is practically beaten and kicked together by Jimmmy and Pesci following a heated argument between the latter and Batts.) After this, there is a flashback sequence where we see the rise of the young Henry Hill and how he first meets Jimmy in a Mob endorsed card game. Soon, Conway becomes a best friend to the film's protaginist Hill played by Ray Liotta and the drug fuelled mayhem which is the beginning of the end for the trio marks the point in the film where Jimmy in particular becomes paranoid and overly suspicious to his former friends. In the aftermath of the Lufthansa heist, Jimmy Conway kills 'Johnny Roastbeef' and his wife by butchering them and leaving them in their car, 'Frankie Carbone' by hanging him in a freezer cart where he consequentially was frozen to death, and 'Frenchy', another likeable figure in the cast who is found riddled with bullets in a trash van. Eventually, Henry Hill 'rats' out Jimmy in a federal court and enters the Witness Protection Program in fear of his own life in the aftermath of a huge undercover narcotics conspiracy.

Responses

Jimmy Conway is remembered by all movie fans as modern cinema's enduring American gangster. He is depicted by director Martin Scorsese as the suave, rich, brutal, and greedy psychotic who had an edge over others in his criminal ring. Although heavily based on the life of 'Jimmy Burke', actor De Niro certainly brought the character to life in his role and will forever be remembered for his magnificent role.