THE SUITE

Contents

The Suite Layout

Henry Hill and the nightclub business

The Beating of James Breslin

The Billy Batts Murder

Shady clientele and patronage at The Suite

The kidnapping of Frank Manzo

The murder of Emmanuel "Manny" Gambino

The closure of The Suite

In reality

External sources

The Suite Layout

'The Suite' was nightclub located at 111-20 Queens Boulevard, in the borough of of Jamaica, Queens owned by Henry Hill from 1966 to 1972. It had a reputation as a somewhat rough nightclub and when it was owned by mobster Henry Hill it was a hangout for the Vario Crew, Lucchese crime family and Gambino crime family members. The walls of the nightclub were decorated with cherubs and had naugahyde banquettes. It had half a terazzo floor in the basement and a huge open grill charcoal barbecue in an enclosed backyard. The nightclub also came with a small elevated stage where Parnell Edwards would entertain the customers with rock and roll or blues music on his acoustic guitar. The way the nightclub's floor plan was set up, it was perfect for conducting mob executions by having the atmosphere dimly lit with sconces on the wall and a back door leading out to an enclosed parking lot where they were able to load corpses without arousing any suspicion.

Henry Hill and the nightclub business

Little is known about the history of the bar prior to Henry Hill purchasing it in 1966, other than the previous owner was a Colombo crime family mob associate and horse jockey named Joseph Rossano who was a pathological gambler and had fallen deep into debt from gambling at the horse races. Rossano was being threatened to have his lease revoked after a murder occurred on the premises, earlier that year. Joseph Rossano would later move to Las Vegas, Nevada and become a Stardust casino executive and a important mobster associate of Chicago Outfit mobster Anthony Spilotro. Henry Hill, with the backing of Paul Vario, muscled in and took over leaving the wiseguys high and dry with the owner's gambling debts and the jockey's name on the lease. Paul Vario wanted the place to be a semi-straight joint and told the crew, Tommy DeSimone, Angelo John Sepe and Jimmy Burke not to socialize at or enter the night club. The order did not last long and they started to use the nightclub as headquarters for hijackings and other scams. In the long run it did not replace Jimmy Burke's notorious Robert's Lounge. His wife, Karen, helped write up three different books; one for the SLA, one for the IRS and the real books for Paul Vario. Henry Hill had six bartenders employed at the restaurant in three-man shifts, but soon fired them all after they were caught skimming from the cash register. Henry Hill set up his mistress Linda in an apartment directly across the street from The Suite. He hired a Chinese chef who hardly spoke any English to work in the kitchen and deliver meals specially to his mistress Linda's apartment. Jimmy Burke would rig up pails of water and when someone walked in the door he would dump the buckets on their heads. Paul Vario would sometimes cook in the kitchen and stink the place up with heavy doses of garlic. The bar also served bootleg Crown Royal, which was illegal in New York at the time during the 1970s. Henry made sure it was in stock for Tommy DeSimone who constantly drank it. Henry Hill moved from Island Park to Queens, away from The Suite, shortly before his arrest for extortion in 1972 after the Nassau District Attorney raided Paul Vario's "Presto Pizzeria" in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn and arrested Hill's associate, Raymond Montemurro, in the union-official sting operation. Soon after Montemurro's arrest, Karen spotted FBI agents taking surveillance photographs of her and their daughters outside The Suite.

The Beating of James Breslin

In 1969 or 1970 after the New York City investigative columnist Jimmy Breslin published articles about Jimmy Burke, he called a meeting with Breslin at The Suite. After a few drinks and a heated arguement Burke beat the columnist horribly. He grabbed him by his necktie and smashed his head into the top of the table and attacked him. Breslin was fortunate to survive the attack.

The Billy Batts Murder

Gambino crime family mobster William Devino was drinking at Henry Hill's bar, The Suite, in Queens New York. Henry thought Batts might leave, because it was getting late, when Tommy walked in. However, Henry didn't want a murder in his own bar, but he knew he couldn't control a sociopath like Tommy DeSimone. Tommy saw Batts, who was so drunk that Hill said he couldn't have fended off an old lady. Burke placed his hand loosely around Batts' neck, suddenly Batts saw Tommy and Burke proceeded to put Batts in a headlock. Tommy then began beating Billy with a .38 revolver. Hill ushered out Alex Corcione, a member of Burke's crew, and his girlfriend so that he was not mixed up in the murder. Hill was scared that Corcione might tell Paul Vario or the Gambinos, however a more pressing fear he had was that Burke and DeSimone, the latter of whom had lost all self- control, may kill Corcione and his girlfriend, due to the delicate nature of this killing. They then laid him onto a mattress cover Tommy had brought in and pulled around Hill's car. They loaded Batts into the mattress cover, which in turn they loaded into the trunk and Tommy drove off.

Shady clientele and patronage at The Suite

It was a popular hangout for the Gambino crime family, the Lucchese crime family, their soldiers and associates. Mobsters such as Jimmy Burke, Frank James Burke, (who first drank at the club with his father underage), Joe Gallo and his brother Albert Gallo, Frank Illiano, Angelo McConnach, Paul Principe, Salvatore Polisi, Ronald Pearlman, Frank Carrone, Dominick Cataldo, Dominic Montemarano, Salvatore Reale, Joseph Armone Thomas Agro, Louis Esposito, Victor Amuso, Joseph Ianuzzi, Nicholas Forlano, Gerald Aliciano, Paul Vario, Tommy DeSimone and his mobster brothers Robert DeSimone and Anthony DeSimone, Karen Hill (the wife of Henry), Martin Krugman, Fredrick DeLucia, Rich Perry Michael Franzese, Joseph Allegro, Robert Scola, John Gotti, Stanley Diamond, Anthony Stabile and Thomas Stabile, Francesco Manzo, Edward Finelli, Peter "The Killer" Abbandante, Michael Frazese, Nicholas Blanda, Robert Amelia (mobster), Raymond Montemurro and Monte Montemurro, John Mazzolla, Peter Gruenwald, Bobby "The Dentist", Lawrence "Larry" Bilello, ex-NYPD officer James Santos Clyde Brooks, Daniel Rizzo, Casey Rosado, Alex Corcione and Michael Corcione, Bruno Facciolo, Frank Abbandando Jr., Milton Wikler, Ralph Atlas, Parnell Edwards, Aniello Dellacroce, Anthony Corallo, Salvatore Polisi, Ronald Jerothe, John Gotti, Joe Manri, Robert McMahon, Richard Eaton, Vincenzo Aloi, Theresa Ferrara and Emanuel Gambino. Henry Hill's long-time mistress, "Linda", would also come by and have lunch on her lunch break while working at "Bridal Land", a mob-owned operation managed by Vincenzo Aloi. Vincenzo would also stop by. It was also a frequent hangout for prostitutes.

The kidnapping of Frank Manzo

In 1972 Francesco Manzo was drinking at Henry Hill's night club, The Suite. He was grabbed by Thomas Genovese, Irish-American mob associate James McBratney, Edward Maloney, Warren Schurman and Richard Chaisson. The gang contacted the Lucchese crime family don Carmine Tramunti directly and demande $100,000 for Frank's safe return. The ransom was paid and Frank was returned unscathed.

The murder of Emmanuel "Manny" Gambino

Carlo Gambino's nephew Emanuel Gambino was kidnapped by Thomas Genovese, a distant relative of Genovese crime family founder Vito Genovese, James McBratney, Edward Maloney, Warren Schurman and Richard Chaisson on December 28, 1972 as he drank at The Suite. The gang believed they could get $100,000 for each kidnapping.
They had previously kidnapped a Gambino crime family capo Francesco Manzo.
James McBratney asked for $200,000 for Emanuel, but Carlo Gambino claimed he could only come up with $50,000. Manny's car was later found at the Newark Airport. His corpse was found to be stiff from rigor mortis before buried in a sitting position in the Naval Weapons Station Earle Ammunition Depot in Sandy Hook Bay, Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Kidnap accomplice Robert Senter (of no relation to Gemini Lounge crew hitman, Anthony Senter) was arrested and charged for his murder. Robert was a gambler and had fallen in debt with Manny Gambino. On June 1, 1973, he pled guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Jim McBratney, who played a large role in the killing of Manny Gambino, was shot three times at close range by Galione after overpowering John Gotti and Angelo Ruggiero on the night of May 22, 1973, at Snoope's Bar & Grill.

The closure of The Suite

As Henry Hill's ten year prison sentence in 1972 for extortion neared an end, he "busted" out of the joint, as mobsters refer to it. He ran up excessive bills with tax creditors and sold off all the liquor and fixtures to other bar owners, even after the IRS had padlocked the front doors. On the night before the dinner club was to be put up for public auction, IRS agents found that all the silverware, glassware, furniture, electrical appliances and even ashtrays had disappeared. Karen Hill sold some of the sconces from The Suite's walls, Henry stole from the forclosed night club to Bonanno crime family mobster Jerome Asaro, the son of Vincent Asaro Karen was left, still waiting for the money after Henry Hill was sent away to prison. Jerome took the fixtures and never paid a cent. Many of Henry's mobster friends, Angelo Sepe, Thomas DeSimone, Anthony Stabile and Stanley Diamond also renagged on paying their overdue bar tabs for drinking at The Suite. After The Suite closed Henry bought into a restaurant called "Roger's Place" on Queens Boulevard so Karen and their two daughters could have some means of income when Henry was sent away.
Karen and her two daughters, unable to afford their house with the closure of The Suite and the incarceration of Henry, had to move to a Valley Stream, New York apartment and survive off her mother Ruth.

In reality

In the 1990 film ''GoodFellas'' The Suite is featured in various scenes and renamed "The ''Suite Lounge''", but most famously in the vicious murder of Billy Batts. In the ‘Suite Lounge’, where William Devino portrayed as the character "Billy Bats" by Frank Vincent gets beaten by Tommy DeSimone and Jimmy Burke. "The Suite Lounge" is currently called the "''Sogdiana Restaurant''" (formerly named "''The Spartan''"). It is located at 7320 Grand Avenue at 73rd Place in Maspeth, Queens. The restaurant is still recognizable by its exterior as shown in the film but the streamlined 1950's exterior, as featured in Goodfellas had been remodelled since the filming of the movie. The building now currently houses The Quest Pool & Spa as of 2007.

External sources

★ ''GoodFellas''

★ Hill, Henry, as told by Gus Russo. ''Gangsters and GoodFellas''.