Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

At the age of eleven, Henry Hill wanders into a cabstand in the Brownsville-East New York section of Brooklyn. One of seven children, Henry seeks a part-time job to supplement his family's income, and he has always been fascinated with the mysterious cabstand. Growing up across the street, Henry has often watched visitors pull up in Cadillacs and Lincolns, wearing silk suits and dripping with jewels. Those who man the cabstand are fastidious with their clothing but careless in their parking habits, routinely double-parking yet never getting tickets for it. Henry knows the city snowplows always clear the cabstand before doing the rest of the neighborhood, and no one on the block dares complain about the noisy all-night card games. Henry has seen the thick wads of bills sported by the cabstand men and he knows there is money to be...