I find it very curious that Hill left the alleged Karen-Paulie affair out of the first---and much more reputable---book (the original "Wiseguy," by Pileggi). I personally think that the Tommy character became so iconic after the film, that Hill decided to capitalize on it in "Gangsters and Goodfellas."
Now I'm not saying that it couldn't have happened. As far as Paulie goes, those guys fuck each other over every day, so it wouldn't surprise me. As for Karen, she was a drug addled pig, her husband was in jail, and a broad like that is getting some dick somewhere.
It's just that Henry Hill was such a lying, bottom-feeding lowlife, that I take that story, along with everything else he ever said, with a grain of salt.
Agreed,Pizzaboy. Since everyone with firsthand knowledege of the Tommy hit is either dead or not talking,anything that Henry claims is largely uncontested by anybody.When he first made the allegation about Karen,I remember thinking that is might have been a chickens**t way to get back at her.
Having said that,I could see Paulie making a play for pay arrangement with Karen.Her old man is locked up,no money is coming in,etc.
In that world,everyone is living under an ambiguous moral code anyway,plus the fact that no one socializes with anyone outside the circle,so it's not out of the realm of possibility.
After Henry's fame started to fade in the years after Goodfellas,he probably had to come up with fresher stuff to keep him earning on the talk show circuit. As an old REO Speedwagon song says "Talk is cheap when the story's good,and the tales grow taller on down the line".
Just my 2 cents worth.
