Outside of the fact that he was a buddy of John Gotti, does anyone know anything about the real life Billy Batts? I've never even seen a pic of the real guy. Was he really a wannabe who "bought his button" as Goodfellas portrayed him?

Where from the movie did yiu get the idea he bought his button..??

His picture is urban legend, doesn't exsist unless a family member decides to post one, people have looked for years...

When Pesci leaves the bar and tells DeNiro to keep him there. He calls him a fake tough guy

Who paid for his button

"William Bentvena" shows up in a lot of federal court dockets in the early 60's over a large narcotics trial involving Galante, Anthony Mirra, and other such upstanding gentlemen. The charges in question seem to date back to 1959. If he was made then (he would have been in his late 30s or so; it would have been hard, but not impossible, for him to have been made after 1957), he could have been one of the ones Scalise sold a button to.

I belive hairy knuckles who used to post here (and was very much in the know) stated in a thread that Bentvena at the time of his murder was an associate of the Bergin crew with the likes of John Gotti etc.

His picture is like Maranzanos, doesnt seem to exist