I forget what the book said, but in the film, Jimmy and Tommy both beat Batts down in Henry's bar while Henry shut the door
But later, Paulie's asking Henry about Batts, so it's clear no one beyond the three of them (Tommy, Jimmy and Henry) know the full truth
When Batts stayed gone, I just assumed the mob drew the logical conclusion and guessed Tommy was somehow responsible because of the whole "shine box" incident. And since Tommy had done "a bunch of other things" as well, they got Paulie's OK to whack Tommy.
No proof beyond reasonable doubt needed.
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BourbonKing (5612)
3 years ago
Paulie made more money with Jimmy running his shy which was what Batt's was pissed about losing after he went away for a while. Now that he was out he wanted it back but couldn't because Jimmy was running it.
Tommy probably fit as the perfect fall guy in this scenario because of all of the other misdeeds he commited so in a way whacking Tommy kept Paulie's income stream intact and one less headache to worry about at the same time.
What's more interesting lately is that Michael Franceze has made a lot of public statements about who Henry Hill really was and he gives some insight into Henry's real relationship with the Vario crew and Michael says that Henry was a much smaller player than he is portrayed as in the movie. He also mentions Henry's real life struggle with drug and alcohol abuse which in the movie is only played up when he gets in over his head with moving cocaine, but Michael states that Henry was a heavy drinking/abuser since his teenage years.
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daveyh (581)
3 years ago
what I don't get is why it took so long for it to happen. The Batts incident happened in 1970, they had to dig the body up and move it several months later, then Henry goes to jail for over 4 years, then there's another year or so for Luftansa and the aftermath of that, so you're looking at at least 6 years between murdering Batts and Tommy's murder. It's not exactly setting an example about not touching made guys!
I can only assume Tommy had done something in the months leading up to his death that Henry didn't even know about, and that was the final straw for the bosses, hence the "bunch of other things".
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