Nicholas Pileggi (, ; born February 22, 1933) is an American author, producer and screenwriter. He wrote the non-fiction book ''
Wiseguy'' and co-wrote the screenplay for ''
Goodfellas
''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...
'', its 1990 film adaptation, for which he received a nomination for the
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay Film adaptation, adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include st ...
.
Early life
Pileggi was born and raised in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
the elder son of an Italian immigrant father, Nicola ("Nick") Pileggi from
Calabria and an American-born mother, Susie. Nicola "Nick" Pileggi was a musician who played slide trombone in a cinema orchestra for silent films; he subsequently also owned shoe stores.
In the 1950s, he worked as a journalist for
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
and ''
New York'' magazine, specializing in crime reporting for more than three decades.
Career
Pileggi began his career as a journalist and had a profound interest in
the Mafia
"Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
.
He is best known for writing ''
Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family'' (1985), which he adapted into the movie ''
Goodfellas
''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...
'' (1990), and for writing ''
Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas'' and the subsequent screenplay for ''
Casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
'' (1995). The movie versions of both were directed and co-written by
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
. Pileggi also wrote the screenplay for the film ''
City Hall'' (1996), starring
Al Pacino. He served as an Executive Producer of ''
American Gangster'' (2007), a biographical
crime film based on the criminal career of
Frank Lucas
Frank Lucas (September 9, 1930 – May 30, 2019) was an American drug trafficker who operated in Harlem, New York City, during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was known for cutting out middlemen in the drug trade and buying heroin directly ...
. He also authored ''Blye, Private Eye'' (1987).
Pileggi co-wrote the pilot of the CBS television series ''
Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
'', which first aired in September 2012.
Personal life
Pileggi was married to fellow author, journalist, and filmmaker
Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron ( ; May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for her romantic comedy films and was nominated three times for the Writers Guild of America Award and the Academy Award for ...
from 1987 until her death in 2012.
Partial filmography
Books
*
*
*
References
External links
*
Biography at Film Reference.com* Fleeman, Mike
, ''People'' magazine, Tuesday June 26, 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pileggi, Nicolas
1933 births
Best Adapted Screenplay BAFTA Award winners
Living people
American male screenwriters
American writers of Italian descent
Organized crime novelists
Organized crime memoirists
Non-fiction writers about organized crime in the United States
Film producers from New York (state)
People from Brooklyn
Male novelists
American male non-fiction writers
Screenwriters from New York (state)