friend who owned a dog kennel in Upstate New York, and Bentvena was buried there. At the time of his murder in 1970, Bentvena was 49 years old and was a respected and feared soldier in the Gambino crime family. In the 1990 movie Goodfellas, he is portrayed by actor Frank Vincent. Aftermath About three months after Bentvena's murder, Burke's friend sold the dog kennel to housing developers, so Burke ordered Hill and DeSimone to exhume Bentvena's corpse and dispose of it elsewhere. In Wiseguy, Hill said the body was eventually crushed in a mechanical compactor at a New Jersey junkyard, owned by Clyde Brooks. On the commentary for the film Goodfellas, he additionally states that Bentvena's body was first buried in the basement of Robert's Lounge, a bar and restaurant owned by Burke, and was at a later time indeed crushed in the compactor. On January 14, 1979, DeSimone disappeared. It is speculated that the Gambino family ordered the death of DeSimone, a mob associate with the Lucchese crime family, for his role in the unsanctioned murder of Bentvena and Ronald "Foxy" Jerothe. Another theory is that the Gambino family did not know about the Bentvena murder and that Gambino captain John Gotti may have just wanted revenge for DeSimone's murder of Jerothe, another Gambino associate and good friend of Gotti's. In 1980, facing a lengthy sentence for cocaine trafficking, Hill turned state's evidence and testified at the trials of both James Burke and Paul Vario. Charges were also being prepared against Burke for the murder of Bentvena, however, they did not stand legal scrutiny, as Hill claimed to be both the sole living witness as well as an accomplice. In the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas, the character Billy Batts (Bentvena) was portrayed by Frank Vincent. His exchange with the character Tommy DeVito (portrayed by Joe Pesci, based on Tommy DeSimone) at the welcome home party has been described as "iconic." The insult by Batts to DeVito—"Now go home and get your fucking shine box!"—has been considered among the most memorable lines in cinema history. A photo of Philadelphia mobster Pat Spirito is commonly erroneously labelled as being of Bentvena in several media articles, Mafia sites and online forums. No known photo of Bentvena is available online as of January 2023. References Further reading Pileggi, Nicholas. Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985.