History Headscratchers / Goodfellas

*** The movie hints at this by stating Tommy's murder "was revenge for Batts…and a lot of other things".

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*** The movie hints at this by stating Tommy’s murder “was revenge for Batts…and a lot of other things.”

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** More than likely they were killed somewhere else and the bodies were placed inside the cadillac as a warning/message.
** The pink Cadillac hit in general is a case of ArtisticLicenseHistory. In reality, Louis Cafora and his wife (the people on whom Johnny and his wife are based on) simply disappeared, and the car itself apparently wasn't involved in their murder. The pink Caddy was just too good not to include for the purposes of drama, so presumably the lack of bullet damage can be read as just a little nod to the fact that this particular part is a bit of mythologising over reality to begin with.

** The movie hints at this by stating Tommy’s murder “was revenge for Batts…and a lot of other things.”

* The Powers-That-Be knew Tommy was half-crazy. OTOH Jimmy and Henry were steady guys and good earners, so they figured Tommy was enough.
* Possibly because Tommy's higher-ups knew that Tommy committed the murder but not that he had also involved Henry and Jimmy.
* They knew Tommy had done it because Batts insulted the legendarily violent and short-tempered Tommy and then disappeared the same night, but they probably figured that Jimmy and Henry were too smart to do something so stupid and obvious, and assumed Tommy had acted alone.
* In real life -- so not necessarily true in the fictionalized movie -- revenge for Batts wasn't why Tommy was killed. Or at least, not the sole reason for his death. Rather, Paul Vario decided to kill him because Tommy had tried to rape Karen -- Henry's wife and unknown to Henry also having an affair with Vario-- so he approached the Gambino crime family (whom Batts was a made member of) and told them about everything Tommy had done. Batts' status as a made guy made it easy to whack Tommy without causing any revenge from Tommy's friends or associates in turn, and without causing more trouble with the reveal that Vario was sleeping with Karen.

** The pink Cadillac hit in general is a case of ArtisticLicenseHistory -- in reality, Louis Cafora and his wife (the people on whom Johnny and his wife are based on) simply disappeared. The pink Caddy was just too good not to include for the purposes of drama, so presumably the lack of bullet damage can be read as just a little nod to the fact that this particular part is a bit of mythologising over reality to begin with.

* They knew Tommy had done it because he insulted the legendarily violent and short-tempered Tommy and the disappeared the same night, but they probably figured that Jimmy and Henry were too smart to do something so stupid and obvious and Tommy had acted alone.
* In real life -- so not necessarily true in the fictionalized movie -- revenge for Batts wasn't why Tommy was killed. Or at least, not the sole reason for his death. Rather, Paul Vario decided to kill him because Tommy had tried to rape Karen -- Henry's wife and unknown to Henry also having an affair with Vario-- so he approached the Gambino crime family (whom Batts was a made member of) and told them about everything Tommy had done. Batts status as a made guy made it easy to whack Tommy without causing any revenge from Tommy's friends or associates in turn, and without causing more trouble with the reveal that Vario was sleeping with Karen.

* In real life -- so not necessarily true in the fictionalized movie -- revenge for Batts wasn't ''why'' Tommy was killed. Rather, Paulie decided to kill him because Tommy had tried to rape Karen -- Henry's wife and unknown to Henry also having an affair with Paulie -- and used Batts as an excuse. Batts status as a made guy made it easy to whack Tommy without causing any revenge from Tommy's friends or associates in turn, and without causing more trouble with the reveal that Paulie was sleeping with Karen.

** Also, at the very least, maybe some food and drink, a nice comfy chair to sit in, some music. Not just a card table with nothing on it.

** Also, at the very least, maybe some food and drink, a nice comfy chair to sit in. Not just a card table.

** The fact that the room was empty. If he'd actually been there to be made, there'd have been a group of guys there to welcome and congratulate him before the ceremony began.

* When Tommy and the two made men enter the "initiation room", what clued Tommy at the very last moment that he wasn't going to be made at all?