If you huddle into a ball you get kicked.'Īgainst his father’s wishes Hill got in with the mafia crowd aged 11 when he started hanging around with the infamous Lucchese family. I remember my mom saying, "Why don't you just stop fighting?" I was like, 'Are you serious? You can't just stop. 'I could always take a punch, that was my problem. 'I'm pleased to say I've never been hospitalized, but we certainly made a few trips to my doctor and pediatrician to make sure my nose wasn't broke or to make sure I didn't have a broken cheek bone or whatever.
He was a lot bigger than me and he plays semi-professional football now. 'Reggie to this day is one of my oldest and best friends. 'I credit Reggie with saving my life on many occasions,' he said. Serrone says he can't say he won every fight but added: 'I took my share and gave my share.' 'Or it would be a one-on-one and then each one would take a turn.' 'Sometimes they would all join in at once, we'd get jumped, and you have to fight your way out. 'They wouldn't even necessarily be from my school, they could be from one of the other schools and but they knew I was the kid from Goodfellas. 'So it would not be uncommon on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday to be walking home with my best friend, Reggie, and we would be confronted by three or four big guys. 'Kids didn't run their mouth off without it ultimately coming to something. Where I come from, if you open your mouth, you had to back it up.
Serrone revealed: 'I wouldn't say I grew up always scared, but after filming Goodfellas every guy at high school, junior high, in my neighborhood and in other neighborhoods wanted to be the ones to beat me up. His own life became one long uphill struggle, losing out on career defining roles to the likes of upcoming young actors like Christian Bale and Chris O'Donnell, and taking on the even greater challenge of being the Goodfellas kid that every guy wanted the glory of throwing a punch at. Serrone learned lots from working alongside legends like Robert de Niro and of course Joe Pesci, who, Serrone recalls was the polar opposite of his dangerously unhinged character Tommy DeVito.īut Serrone failed to capitalize on his big break. Serrone turned 13 during filming but portrayed Hill at a range of ages, until Ray Liotta took over as the 21-year-old Henry. He'd never auditioned for an acting role of any kind when he got hand picked out of thousands to play the infamous New York mobster-turned-FBI-informant, Hill. Serrone was just 12 when he won the role of Little Henry in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-nominated mobster movie. Classic: Chris Serrone as he is now, inserted into publicity material for the original release of Goodfellas wtih (far left) Ray Liotta, (second right) Robert De Niro and (right) Joe Pesci