Goodfellas featured many real-life gangsters, including Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro). But what happened to him after the events of the movie?

Goodfellas introduced viewers to a group of gangsters from the 1970s and 1980s, among those Jimmy Conway, played by Robert De Niro. The story is told through the eyes of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), which allows viewers to get acquainted with all those close to him, especially Jimmy. So, what happened to him in real life after the events of the movie? Director Martin Scorsese is best known for his gangster movies, which explore themes such as guilt, redemption, and the Italian-American identity, among those Mean Streets and Goodfellas.

Based on the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, Goodfellas narrates the rise and fall of mob associate Henry Hill, from his days as a teenager in a working class Italian-American neighborhood in Brooklyn, to his involvement in the Lufthansa heist and his decision to work as an informant for the FBI. Henry met a lot of powerful and dangerous gangsters through the years, among them Jimmy Conway, with whom he worked since he was a teenager.

Though Henry Hill was a real person, the names of several other real-life gangsters were changed for the film. Jimmy Conway, for example, was actually James Burke a.k.a. Jimmy the Gent. The film showed some of the most important moments in Burke’s criminal life, and here’s what happened to him after the events of Goodfellas.

Goodfellas: Jimmy Conway’s Life After The Events Of The Movie

At the end of Goodfellas, Henry becomes an informant and enters (along with his family) the witness protection program. In order to avoid going to jail or being killed by Jimmy and others, Henry tells the FBI everything they need to know about Jimmy and Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino). His testimonies are enough to have both men arrested and convicted. The movie ends with title cards explaining that Paulie died in the late 1980s in Forth Worth Federal Prison and that Jimmy was serving a 20 years to life sentence in New York, and would be paroled in 2004.

In real life, Hill did say enough for Jimmy and Paul (whose real name was Paul Vario) to go to jail. Though Jimmy was actively involved in the Lufthansa heist, the murder of made man William “Billy Batts” Bentvena, and many more murders and crimes, Jimmy was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1982 for his involvement with the 1978-79 Boston College basketball point shaving scandal (two years prior, he was arrested for a parole violation). While in prison, Henry also testified that Jimmy killed a drug dealer in 1979, and for that he was sentenced to 20 more years in prison in 1985. Jimmy would have been eligible for parole in March, 2004, but that never got to happen. While serving time at Wende Correctional Facility in New York, Jimmy developed cancer, and died in April 1996 at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

Goodfellas is not the only portrayal there has been of Jimmy “the Gent” Burke in pop culture, as he was also played by John Mahoney in the TV movie The 10 Million Dollar Getaway, Donald Sutherland in the TV movie The Big Heist, and has been featured in many documentaries and books. Jimmy Conway/Jimmy Burke was a dangerous man with a complicated life, and Goodfellas did a good job in telling some of his peak moments, all through the eyes of one of the people closest to him.

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