Inside Jimmy's Mind: How Karen Nearly Got Whacked 

Karen went into witness protection, got a degree in psychiatry, assumed a new identity as jennifer melfi, and became Tony sopranos shrink.

It's kinda sad knowing that Paul and Ray passed within days of each other this year.

Jimmy said earlier in the film that Karen gets over emotional and excited. She was unpredictable. Karen was a loose end.

Jimmy was so sinister with his friendly and good-humoured demeanor as he tried to direct Karen to her death.

There is one thing not mentioned in the movie but in the book and several other books. While Henry was away in jail, Karen had affairs with Jimmy, Big Paulie and a few others. Henry left that out of the movie out of respect for his wife and kids. One reason Big Paulie reported okaying the hit on Tommy was because had roughed up Karen because he felt left out

Karen was smart to not go in that warehouse.

"We're not going to get a divorce. We're not animale."

Jimmy didn't want to share the money. Like he said in Casino it's all about the dollars.

I’m glad that she escaped the mob life and became a therapist for Tony Soprano 😂

I've seen Goodfellas literally countless times but even when I first saw the film as a little kid, I always assumed Jimmy was 100% looking to either murder or kidnap Karen as a hostage. There were obviously no Dior dresses and a couple of sketchy ass guys who pause in silence upon seeing her peering at them so it was definitely not Karen imagining things. Plus Jimmy's expressions, yelling at her to go inside the building, and frustrated look after she drove away should cement that. It would make sense for Jimmy to intend to kill her right then and there due to his profound paranoia and murder-happy attitude about potential witnesses, but I had it more in my head he was looking to kidnap her as leverage against Henry to lure him over and murder him. Then he would have most definitely whacked Karen too.

I wanna see a movie about Jimmy two times, jimmy two times.

KAREN was having an affair with Paulie, not talked about in the movie.

I read somewhere that Jimmy had told Henry to meet up with Roy Demeo to get something from him. But Henry was smart; he knew of Roy Demeo's reputation, so he carefully approached the situation. Henry sent Karen ahead to scout for him (pretty dumb move to risk your wife, but very slimy coming from Henry); Karen did enter the famous murder room by herself. But Roy made no move on her, Karen said Roy looked surprised to see her and was expecting Henry and only Henry. Roy had taken out women before, so the reason he hesitated to take out Karen has probably not to spook Henry even more and make it harder to get Henry. She quickly left the place, and meet up with henry a few blocks away and told him that the place looked like a trap. That's when Henry decided to give up Jimmy. There's a documentary on youtube, and Henry Hill was standing outside the Gemini Club, and he said on camera this is where Jimmy told him to meet.

In an scene that was edited out, we do see that when Karen goes into the place, an alarm goes off and confetti starts dropping everywhere, then a sign rolls down from the ceiling that says, "ONE MILLIONTH CUSTOMER!" She was given all kinds of prizes and people were cheering. Wisely, Scorsese decided it wasn't needed.

There were obviously no dresses in the warehouse, but I’ve always wondered what Jimmy’s plan here was. I’ve always felt that it was too late in the game to be killing people who were close to the heist, and Karen wasn’t even involved with that. My guess is that he was gonna either kidnap or kill her in order to lure Henry out of his mouse hole. But seeing how the mob doesn’t take prisoners, it seems more like the latter.

In real life they never found Johnny Roast beef and his wife, they just "disappeared".

Karen is at a risk of being killed because of the drug dealing (which she was actively involved in) not Lufthansa. The issue with the drug dealing is that Paulie was going to have everyone involved whacked as the penalties for dealing are so high that it risks people snitching (which was true since that’s what Henry did). Jimmy was trying to kill any link between him and the dealing at that point to save his own life.

Karen was smokin hot!

In the mid seventies I worked loading and unloading cargo at Kennedy Airport. Every day there was a flight coming in from Iceland that carried a load of caviar which was kept in ice in boxes. One day in particular I remember that while I was busy unloading the plane a unmarked van came up right on the ramp and two guys got out and briefly spoke to the ramp supervisor, my boss, whereupon he told me to load about a dozen boxes of caviar into the van. I did what my supervisor told me to do but later on when I asked him what all that was about he told me that La Costra Nostra had a strong presence at the airport and to never question them. Years before the Lufthansa heist the Mafia was entrenched at Kennedy and was very much aware whenever any valuable cargo was being brought in. They always took a cut of anything valuable and nobody dared question them.

i wish goodfellaa was 4 hours long!

Guys like Jimmy don’t have friends, they have symbiotic relationships. Once he no longer can use someone, they are gone. Also, if Jimmy had wacked Karen, there would have been no reason for Henry to keep quiet.

Morrie's wigs don't come off until Jimmy wrapped a telephone cord around his neck not realizing the cord was actually made in Philadelphia circa the 1960s However, if that cord was made in China then the "Morrie's wigs don't come off" line just might have proved true. Thanks, ~Spider Yaprickya

The reason Jimmy is afraid Paulie might have him wacked is because Karen and Paulie we're having an affair while Henry was in prison

I think he was really giving her some clothes but when she showed fear he realized then that Henry and Karen were afraid of him and would flip.

That scene is insanely eerie.

No. According to Henry Hill (watch Goodfellas with the director's commentary w/ former USAtty Ed McDonald) Jimmy planned to kidnap Karen and hold her as leverage so Henry wouldn't cooperate with the FBI. Jimmy wasn't going to have her killed in that scene with the dresses, which takes place after Henry is busted but before he goes into Witsec. Jimmy still needed Karen alive at that point in the timeline--at least until he could eliminate Henry before he gave the FBI any incriminating information.

Nitpick: It's not normal for mobsters to take care of their crews' families. That was the case in The Godfather (fictional, of course), but you see in Goodfellas that nobody much cared about anyone else's family when Henry went to prison and told Karen that they were on their own.

Funny how I watched this yesterday and was wondering what Jimmy had planned, I'm thinking he wanted to scare her into telling them what she knows.

The "don't walk" sign and "one way" sign are significantly overshadowed by Smith Street and West 9 Street, a play on the name Smith and Wesson. Brilliant.

Funny how lifw gets so real after all the good times

Henry said, "We paid off judges. We paid off cops. We paid off lawyers. Everyone had their hand out." Wouldn't that knowledge complicate things when it comes time to prosecute and sentence them?

I'm glad someone pointed this out. I was wondering what that scene was about

The biggest misconception is that Jimmy was calling the shots on who got whacked. In reality, Jimmy killing anyone without permission from Paulie would mean BIG trouble for Jimmy. If he had decided to kill Karen spur of the moment - and actually succeeded - Jimmy would have to answer to Paulie for the murder. In the mob, killing without permission from a boss is punishable by death.

How did he just come up with that plan in the spur of the moment when he already had 2 men in there waiting for her, how would they have known what to do then 😂

Lufthansa was Morrie's baby . He was also the guy - along with Henry who came up with shaving Points in College B-BALL and the reason that they got in to the Terminal is because Henry devised a plan to snatch the key from the security guard . Hence at the scene at the bar Jimmy kisses Henry and says ,' this man's a genius ' . Didnt you read the book ?

Legend has it karens dad has still not digested a decent meal

I love your video analysis of our favorite gangster movies we as fans appreciate your dedication and great work

I’m not sure Jimmy ordered Morrie to be killed. He called it off during poker and seemed irritated that it happened while he was in the car. Either way, the lesson is to not sit in the front seat when Tommy is in the back seat.

Morrie didn’t deserved to get whacked.

You're in the life if your boss tells you not to do something you don't do it you follow directions like a soldier and they did not listen

Jimmy gave the Kiss of Death in view of his henchmen at the dress warehouse

As much as Karen was supposed to be off limits, Jimmy, who could not be an associate, did not play by the same rules, which is what made him so dangerous.

Karen was also sleeping with Paulie at around that time its unlikely she could be killed with no repercussions

Jimmy told Henry to tell Belle(Morrie's wife) that Morrie ran off with some broad after Morrie got whacked.

An associate can kill who he wants as long as it isn't a made man..

1) Karen had absolutely no connection to Tommy getting whacked. 2) Hostages? Nah

Karen got scared so bad that she changed her name to Jennifer Melfi and went into the psychiatric field, ending up in New Jersey.

“Morrie’s wigs don’t come off”

I still argue with people about this scene. Of course, he wanted to get rid of her. Anyone connected with the crime was a liability.

In addition to the don't walk sign and the one-way sign, there was also a dead-end sign. The perfect place to committ a murder is in a place with cleaners or painters because all the plastic sheets on the ground make the execution site easy to sanitize.

“You know what we’ll do? We’ll hang ‘em in the freezer wit da meat.” Frankie Carbone should not of bought his wife that mink coat!

She was REALLY hot in that movie. Shit, she was still that way in the Sopranos. Good looking woman

...How the hell did I not realize that Stacks Edwards was Sam L Jackson? feelin' pretty dumb right now haha

Before the I'll fated Florida trip Jimmy complains to Henry about Karen commisserating with his wife and he "couldn't have it". He was worried about her for a long time, even before things went bad.

EVERY TIME I watch the movie, when DeNiro’s character starts killing everyone involved in the heist, I think the SAME THING. Why didn’t someone take DeNiro OUT? It had to have been obvious what was going on. He just got away with it. No repercussions. Man!!

maybe Karen just missed out on some lovely stolen dresses and he never intended to whack her

Few people recognize that she has the best female role in a mafia movie - Lorraine Bracco is on ! No wonder she played the shrink in the Soprano series - cuz she is not only willing ... she is bloody able ... I like her 🤗👌

When Tommy is about to be "Made", he says to his mother 'Please don't put more religious picture'. Why did he say that to his devoted mother?

Why did Henry look paranoid about the Christmas tree in his own home , like as if jimmy was watching his house 😂

"Think Henry tells his wife everything?"

Exactly why I'm a law bidding citizen

I figured he just wanted her to think she was to be "whacked"... a mind game ...

I thought mob rules family is off limits. But they both are associates and not made men.

Wouldn't killing Karen first simply have Henry go into hiding quicker?🤔

Scorsese is a genius for the one way don’t walk sign

Jimmy was not a made man, neither was Tommy or Henry. Jimmy would've definitely killed Karen. They did what they wanted, you should've knew that when they killed Batts. One mobster Jimmy relates to to me is Roy Demeo.

Actually this is just an artistic technique in film making. Leaving a few loose threads and insinuations in the narrative enhances the sense of paranoia. This is exactly what the director was doing, nothing more.

“Be sure to block the window!” “…’ey! Shshshshshshsh-shhhh!” 🚬🚬 👀

What a great performance by Robert de Niro as Jimmy the gent Burke!!!!

How Jimmy had any stroke,he was irish,Tommy was the only one with any stroke

Overlooking that fact that Karen was married to Henry and knew about a lot of crimes he did. Which in turn made her a loose end.

After the debacle with the "warming up the engine" with a deceased Mory in the front seat Carbone was finished.

So you basically summarize Goodfellas...

Paulie cared about Karen because he was sexing her. Lol 😂

You don't think husbands and wives don't pillow talk. I am sure Henry let Karen know what he was thinking about Jimmy.

A yet unknown Samuel L. Jackson? 😂😂😂. He was in School Daze, Do The Right Thing, Coming to America and the Cosby Show before Goodfellas 😂😂😂😂

When you see the real Henry Hill, you will notice that he's a dead ringer for Joe Pesci. But Scorsese, coward that he is, was unwilling to do what the Sopranos show runners did and show Hill for the weasel like character he is and instead got a good looking ladies man to play him instead.

Im gonna go get the papers...get the papers

Karen was sleeping with Paulie……

What about Tommy Two Times? "I gotta get the papers, get the papers."

Frankie Carbone, is Iced. Literally🥶🥶

She just wanted to talk to the manager.

Although I know everybody liked him which is stated but Stacks was different level stupid. You just pull one of the biggest robberies of all time and instead of getting rid of the vehicle that was used you get high and fall asleep somewhere??

He didn’t kill her because she was Tony Soprano’s shrink

The money he gives her is payment for her own hit.

Karen was almost killed because Henry got busted for Drugs and she was his accomplice not because of the heist

The look on his face when Karen didn’t go in😡

I always thought The money Cash 💵 Jimmy put in Karen's shirt was the Hit money I thought that for awhile

Jimmy is just being pragmatic as usual. Hes a twisted s.o.b. but he knew how to make money off the books.

Wow I have never had the time to study a movie that much.

This scene was the first to be filmed on Day One of Production, May 1989.

Better idea would be to kidnap Karen to force Henry out of hiding, them wack them both.

Wait how is it her fault Tommy got killed?

"THAT WAS ALL THE MONEY WE HAD KAREN!!"

Jimmy was trying to tie up loose ends on the heist and he didn’t want to get whacked by Paulie cause paulie didn’t allow drug dealing and if he found out Jimmy was involved so he would’ve had him whacked along with Henry

Karen had nothing to do with Tommy's death.....what?!

Great video.

I Love ❤ watching this stuff thank you

He specifically told them not to buy expensive stuff they did it anyways none of them wouldn'have died if they would have just listen to him I don't blame Jimmy for what he did

I honestly don't think he would have killed Maury because he did call off the hit but then he kept on bugging for the money if he wouldn't have bugged and asked one more time I think he would have been alive