Billy Batts Questions 2...

In Goodfellas # 1.... why was Tommy whacked and not Jimmy for the murder of Billy Batts? Jimmy took part in the stomping of Batts head. 2nd...what happdend to the gun Tommy was holding to Batts mouth...it sounds like it went off but obviously didnt if Batts was still alive in the trunk. 3rd...how did Jimmy get Billy alone in the club without Billy's crew around. If Batts was a Capo for the Gambinos wouldnt he have been a little more guarded with security or somethin'?

1. I would say that it made more sense just to take Tommy out. Why get rid of another good earner in Jimmy? Though Jimmy was heavily involved, Tommy had the long standing beef with
Batts and caused that situation. Tommy being whacked should have served as a warning to Jimmy that he musn't screw up again or he would be whacked too(like doing something dumb and getting involved in Henry's drug deals). Also, Tommy being a pure Italian was going to be looking to get made eventually and could have later ended up
as a capo with real responsibility. Better to take the crazy guy out now while he is unimportant and before he has too many friends in high places. Jimmy could never be made and have that kind of influence, but he was in his own capacity an excellent earner, better not to loose him. Hell, he organised the Lufthansa Heist. With regard to Tommy as Henry points "it was for Batts and a whole lot of other things."

2. Don't know the answer.

3. Batts wasn't expecting to get clipped. As a made guy he was considered untouchable - no punk
associate would be expected to dare take him on.
He seemed relatively comfortable in Jimmy's company in the movie and was probably unconcerned about other members of his crew not being there.

Thanks for the info pal

Thanks yet again

Question 2- in the dvd version it shows jimmy knocking the gun outta tommys hands and the bullets spilling on the ground and the gun hitting the floor probally made it sound like the gun firing you know for a surprise i guess

Just to add a bit to the above:
1. Jimmy wasn't even part Italian, but Tommy was on the verge of being made. Therefore, the Mafia edict--you can't f**k with a made guy--applied more to Tommy than to Jimmy. Of course, there'd be no reason not to whack Jimmy, too--except, as Wiseguy pointed out, he was a good earner.
2. I thought I saw the gun break apart after being used as a bludgeon.
3. I don't know that the other guys with Batts were his crew. They may have been local guys that Batts knew and invited to his party, or who just turned up. (Incidentally, the tall guy with the beard and the turtleneck whom Batts greets effusively as "Vito!!" is Vito Piccone, lead singer of the Elegants, a '50's Doo Wop group that had a hit with "Little Star" in `1958.)

Hi,
It all had to do with $$$$. Jimmy was an earner and so was Henry. I read that they gave Tommy a beating before killing him and he probably implicated the other two. However these guys made money as I just said. I also read in Wiseguy that they never found Tommy. The funeral part is bogus in Goodfellas.

Paul

no, no, no. In the movie, after the line "Lemmee shoot 'im in his big ****ing mouth" when tommy puts the gun in Billy's mouth, Jimmy's hand is shown going towards the gun and Batts, and then the gun is shown being strewn everywhere on the floor. My guess is that JImmy hit it.

Hi,
It was either Jimmy accidentally hit it and it flew out of Tommy's hand or Tommy broke it himself when smashing Billy in the head again.

Paul