[3] Born in Manhattan as the second child out of four to a first generation Sicilian American father and an Irish immigrant mother on February 22, 1933,[4] little is known about Bentvena's early life other than that he grew up in the same area in Brooklyn as DeSimone and Hill.
On February 14, 1959, Bentvena went to Bridgeport, Connecticut, to complete a drug deal for Joseph "Joe The Crow" DelVecchio and Oreste "Ernie Boy" Abbamonte.
Bentvena was later convicted of heroin smuggling in June 1962 alongside co-defendant Galante and sentenced to 15 years in the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut.
[8][9] After his release in 1970, according to the mafia memoir Wiseguy, Henry Hill describes the "welcome home" party for Bentvena at Robert's Lounge, a nightclub owned by James Burke.
On the commentary for the film Goodfellas, he additionally states that Bentvena's body was first buried in the basement of Robert's Lounge, a bar and restaurant owned by Burke, and was at a later time indeed crushed in the compactor.
[10] In 1980, facing a lengthy sentence for cocaine trafficking, Hill turned state's evidence and testified at the trials of both James Burke and Paul Vario.
Charges were also being prepared against Burke for the murder of Bentvena, however, they did not stand legal scrutiny, as Hill claimed to be both the sole living witness as well as an accomplice.