Robert De Niro as Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas (1990)
Vitals
Robert De Niro as Jimmy Conway, feared mob associate
Queens, New York, December 1978
Film: Goodfellas
Release Date: September 19, 1990
Director: Martin Scorsese
Costume Designer: Richard Bruno
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Nobody knows for sure just how much was taken in a daring pre-dawn raid at the Lufthansa cargo terminal at Kennedy airport. The FBI says two million dollars, Port Authority Police say four million dollars… it looks like a big one, maybe the biggest this town has ever seen!
Forty-five years ago today on Monday, December 11, 1978, more than $5.8 million in cash and jewelry was stolen from a cargo building at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Considered the most lucrative cash robbery on American soil to date, the heist was orchestrated by James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke, a ruthless associate of the Lucchese crime family, one of the New York City Mafia’s infamous “Five Families”.
The Lufthansa heist and its violent aftermath drive much of the final act of Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese’s chronicle of street-level mob life across three decades from the perspective of Burke’s associate, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), who relayed much of the background information essential to the heist’s execution. The robbery itself isn’t depicted on screen, but a radio announcement assures a showering Henry—and the audience—that the job was a success for the mobsters, celebrated that evening with a Christmas party where Jimmy (Robert De Niro)—renamed “Jimmy Conway” for the movie—welcomes Henry with open arms.
Despite the festive sounds of The Ronettes and Darlene Love singing holiday classics from A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, the celebratory mood is soon dampened as Jimmy’s criminal cohorts arrive. The mooks clearly ignored Jimmy’s advice to lay low as they show off the opulent gifts they purchased for their wives and goomars, from Johnny Roastbeef’s flashy pink Cadillac to the expensive mink coat that Frankie Carbone’s date wears to the party.
If such insubordination wasn’t already grounds for Jimmy’s murderous ire, the incorrigible Morrie Kessler (Chuck Low) continues pressuring Jimmy to pay him his share for brokering the heist and the popular “Stacks” Edwards (Samuel L. Jackson) accidentally tipped the police to the Burke gang’s involvement by failing to dispose of their getaway van. Given Jimmy’s hair-trigger temper, it’s no surprise that “months after the robbery, they were finding bodies all over.”
What’d He Wear?
Jimmy Conway presents a sartorial testament to his philosophy of avoiding flashiness that might attract the attention of law enforcement. Despite the scene being set in 1978, right in the midst of disco-era excess, “Jimmy the Gent” opts for the most tasteful restraint among the men celebrating with him at the party. This serves as a smart contrast to Henry’s red velvet jacket and Tommy’s signature spearpoint collar.
The sheen of Jimmy’s tobacco-brown suiting suggests silk, incorporating a degree of festive elegance without overtly resembling a gangster. The suit was tastefully tailored, adhering to classic proportions and details.
The single-breasted jacket features notch lapels of moderate width that roll down to a two-button stance, cleverly positioned at Robert De Niro’s natural waistline to meet the top of his flat-front trousers. The straight shoulders are sufficiently padded to ensure Jimmy maintains an imposing silhouette. The sleeves are roped at the heads and finished with four-button cuffs. The jacket also boasts straight flapped hip pockets and a welted breast pocket that he wears undecorated.
“Come here, you!”
Maintaining his subdued profile, Jimmy wears a plain white cotton twill shirt designed with a spread collar, front placket, and squared double (French) cuffs that he fastens with a set of circular gold-toned links that each have a large raised black stone in the center. This may have been among the shirts made for Goodfellas by New York-based shirtmaker Geneva Custom Shirts.
Jimmy’s Sulka tie features a pattern of multi-striped ovals against a navy-and-charcoal geometric zig-zag woven silk tie, with the ovals striped in shades of brown that coordinate with his suit.
Fashionable ties and shirt collars were at their most excessive in 1978, but Jimmy’s restrained shirt and tie keep his look more timeless than trendy.
Jimmy wears a gold pinky ring and gold wristwatch, both on his left hand. The rectangular-cased watch is likely the Hamilton watch described among De Niro’s screen-worn inventory at the Harry Ransom Center as an “eighteen carat yellow-gold vintage watch [with] a black tonneau-style face, gold Arabic numerals, and a fourteen carat yellow gold band with a panther link and a fold over clasp.” Shining from his left pinky, his 14-carat yellow gold ring has three full-cut diamonds set against a black-filled center.
Gold jewelry flashes from Henry and Jimmy’s hands as they greet each other after the Lufthansa heist.
The final scene only focuses on Jimmy from the waist up, but the suit’s matching trousers likely follow the same design at his other pants at this point in the narrative: darted-front trousers with buckle-tab side adjusters (rather than a belt), curved “frogmouth”-style front pockets, and plain-hemmed bottoms. His shoes may be the same dark brown leather cap-toe oxfords that we see him wearing around the same time with his brown windowpane sports coat.
What to Imbibe
This drink here is better than sex, babe.
Stacks Edwards (Samuel L. Jackson) is briefly shown pouring shots of green liqueur into glasses full of white wine to impress his date. This is almost definitely a reference to the drink that Nicholas Pileggi mentions Henry’s crew enjoying before Henry was sent off to prison six years earlier: “At eleven o’clock, Henry and his pals were at the bar at Maxwell’s drinking Screaming Eagles—shot glasses of white Chartreuse dropped into large goblets of chilled champagne.”
I have yet to take Stacks up on his dubiously bold claim about this drink, but I’d say it’s at least worth a try.
Other than the context, the only major difference from page-to-screen is Stacks’ choice of using the stronger (110 proof) and more colorful green Chartreuse rather than yellow, which is milder and sweeter at 80 proof. (Pileggi refers to “white” Chartreuse when he likely means the yellow version; production of White Chartreuse ended in 1900, more than seven decades before any of these scenes are set.)
The Car
Jimmy’s temper flares during the Christmas party when Johnny Roastbeef (Johnny Williams) makes the fatal mistake of insisting upon showing Jimmy the bright-pink 1979 Cadillac Coupe de Ville he purchased for Mrs. Roastbeef (Fran McGee). Nothing for Jimmy to get excited about—it’s a wedding gift. It’s in his mother’s name!
“Isn’t she gorgeous? I bought it for my wife, it’s a coupe. I love that car.”
For all his faults, Jimmy Conway is no hypocrite as he’s currently driving a far more modest gray ’77 Buick. Even Henry drives the exact same model as Johnny bought for his wife, but with a [slightly] more understated saddle-brown exterior.
Cadillac manufactured 121,890 Coupe de Villes for the 1979 model year, powered by either the large 7.0L V8 or a 5.7L diesel V8. Jimmy likely purchased the former, available with either a Rochester 4-barrel carburetor that produced 180 horsepower or electronic fuel injection (EFI), producing 195 horsepower. Regardless of the engine or model, all 1979 Cadillacs were mated to a three-speed automatic transmission.
As Jimmy takes drastic measures to avoid paying out after Lufthansa—and also remove any ties between himself and the robbery—Johnny and his wife meet their gruesome fate in the front seats of their Cadillac, her blood spattered on the dealership sticker still stuck to the passenger-side window…
…and cue the “Layla” piano exit.
The real-life “Johnny Roastbeef” was Louis Cafora, who bought a brand-new white Cadillac Fleetwood—not a pink de Ville—for his wife, Joanne. As Jimmy Burke grew angrily concerned with Cafora’s high-profile lifestyle and decision to involve his wife in Mafia matters, he ordered both of them murdered in March 1979, though their bodies were never found. In real life, it was Lufthansa suspects Joe Manri and “Frenchy” McMahon who were found shot to death in a car, but Goodfellas relegated those two men into the back of a garbage truck while finding a more symbolic representation of the mobbed-up newlyweds’ demise.
How to Get the Look
Robert De Niro as Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas (1990)
In his smartly tailored brown silk suit, white shirt, and coordinated tie, Jimmy Conway’s style would fit in beyond just a mobbed-up Christmas party deep in the disco era… only the shine of his diamond-laden gold pinky ring suggests something more sinister.
- Tobacco-brown silk suit:
- Single-breasted 2-button jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and double vents
- Darted-front trousers with curved “frogmouth”-style front pockets, buckle-tab side adjusters, and plain-hemmed bottoms
- White cotton twill shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
- Navy zig-zag silk tie with repeating pattern of brown multi-striped ovals
- Dark brown leather cap-toe oxford shoes
- Triple diamond-set gold pinky ring
- Hamilton vintage wristwatch with 18-carat yellow-gold rectangular case, black rectangular dial, and 14-carat yellow-gold panther-link bracelet
Footnote
The locale is almost certainly meant to be Robert’s Lounge, a real-life mob hangout in South Ozone Park, though the sequence was filmed at Neir’s Tavern, which opened in 1829 as “The Blue Pump Room” and remains the oldest operating bar in New York City.
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie. And, if you’re throwing your own Goodfellas style holiday bash, make sure to spin the festive A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector.
The Quote
Are you bein’ a fuckin’ wiseguy with me?
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