IN: Henry Hill, Jr. was born on June 11, 1943 in Manhattan, New York, to Henry Hill, Sr., an Irish immigrant and electrician, and Carmela Costa Hill, a Sicilian. The working-class family consisted of Henry and his eight siblings who grew up in Brownsville, a poorer area of the East New York section of Brooklyn. From an early age, Hill admired the local mobsters who socialized across the street from his home, including Paul Vario, a capo in the Lucchese crime family. In 1955, when Hill was 11 years old, he wandered into the cabstand across the street looking for a part-time after-school job.

On April 27, 1980, Hill was arrested on a narcotics-trafficking charge. He became convinced that his former associates planned to have him killed: Vario, for dealing drugs; and Burke, to prevent Hill from implicating him in the Lufthansa Heist. Hill heard on a wiretap that his associates Angelo Sepe and Anthony Stabile were anxious to have him killed, and that they were telling Burke that Hill "is no good", and that he "is a junkie". Burke told them "not to worry about it". Hill was more convinced by a surveillance tape played to him by federal investigators, in which Burke tells Vario of their need to have Hill "whacked." But Hill still wouldn't talk to the investigators. While in his cell, the officers would tell Hill that the prosecutor, Ed McDonald, wanted to speak with him, and Hill would yell: "Fuck you and McDonald". Hill became even more paranoid because he thought Burke had officers on the inside and would have him killed.  While Karen was worried, she kept getting calls from Jimmy Burke's wife, Mickey, asking when Hill was coming home, or if Karen needed anything. Hill knew the calls were prompted by Jimmy.  When Hill was finally released on bail, he met Burke at a restaurant they always went to. Burke told Hill that they should meet at a bar Hill had never heard of or seen before, owned by "Charlie the Jap". However, Hill never met Burke there; instead they met at Burke's sweatshop with Karen and asked for the address in Florida where Hill was to kill Bobby Germaine's son with Anthony Stabile. Hill knew he was going to get killed in Florida, but he needed to stay on the streets to make money.  McDonald didn't want to take any chances and arrested Hill as a material witness in the Lufthansa robbery. Hill then agreed to become an informant and signed an agreement with the United States Department of Justice Organized Crime Strike Force on May 27, 1980. In 2011, former junior mob associate Greg Bucceroni alleged that, after Hill's 1980 arrest, Jimmy Burke offered him money to arrange a meeting between Bucceroni and Hill at a Brooklyn grocery store so that Burke could have Hill murdered gangland fashion, but Bucceroni decided quietly against having any involvement with the hit on Hill. Shortly afterwards, Burke and several other Lucchese crime family members were arrested by federal authorities.

Was he found guilty of anything?

OUT: Hill then agreed to become an informant and signed an agreement


IN: Gilliam was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Beatrice (nee Vance) and James Hall Gilliam. His father was a travelling salesman for Folgers before becoming a carpenter. Soon after, they moved to nearby Medicine Lake, Minnesota. The family moved to the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Panorama City in 1952.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, directed and co-written by Gilliam, was released in 2009. In January 2007, Gilliam announced that he had been working on a new project with his writing partner Charles McKeown. One day later, the fansite Dreams reported that the new project was titled The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. In October 2007, Dreams confirmed that this would be Gilliam's next project and was slated to star Christopher Plummer and Tom Waits. Production began in December 2007 in London.  On 22 January 2008, production of the film was disrupted following the death of Heath Ledger in New York City. Variety reported that Ledger's involvement had been a "key factor" in the film's financing. Production was suspended indefinitely by 24 January, but in February the actors Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell signed on to continue Ledger's role, transforming into multiple incarnations of his character in the "magical" world of the film. Thanks to this arrangement the principal photography was completed on 15 April 2008, on schedule. Editing was completed in November 2008. According to the official ParnassusFilm Twitter channel launched on 30 March 2009, the film's post-production FX work finished on 31 March. During the filming, Gilliam was accidentally hit by a bus and suffered a broken back.  The film had successful screenings including a premiere at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. The UK release for the film was scheduled for 6 June 2009 but was pushed back to 16 October 2009. The USA release was on 25 December 2009. Eventually, this $30 million-budgeted film had grossed more than $60 million in worldwide theatrical release and received two Academy Award nominations.  The film's end credit states that the film is dedicated to the memories of Ledger and William Vince. Depp, Farrell, and Law donated their proceeds from the film to Ledger's daughter.

What was the response to the film?

OUT: $30 million-budgeted film had grossed more than $60 million in worldwide theatrical release and received two Academy Award nominations.


IN: Piyush "Bobby" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is an American politician who was the 55th Governor of Louisiana between 2008 and 2016, and previously served as a U.S. Congressman and as the vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association. In 1996, Jindal was appointed secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and in 1999, at age 28, he was appointed as the youngest president in the history of the University of Louisiana System. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Jindal as principal adviser to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. He first ran for governor of Louisiana in 2003, but lost in the run-off election to Democratic candidate, Kathleen Blanco.

Jindal had been mentioned as a potential candidate for the 2012 presidential election. On December 10, 2008, Jindal indicated that he would likely not run for president in 2012, saying he will focus on his re-election in 2011 and that this would make transitioning to a national campaign difficult, though he did not rule out a possible 2012 presidential bid. Speculation increased when Republicans chose Jindal to deliver the response to President Obama's first address to a joint session of Congress.  The Jindal for President Draft Council Inc. PAC was formed in 2009 to raise funds for a future presidential run. Jindal has stated that he has no involvement with the PAC.  In April 2010, while speaking at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Jindal ruled out running for the Republican nomination for President in 2012.  In 2012, Jindal traveled across the country in support of the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan ticket. Because Louisiana and other Deep South states voted heavily for the GOP, Jindal could hence devote his campaign time elsewhere. In August 2012, Politico reported that "Bobby Jindal would be considered [for] and would likely take" appointment as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in a potential Romney cabinet.  After the defeat of Romney-Ryan, Jindal called for his party to return to "the basics... If we want people to like us, we have to like them first," he said on the interview program Fox News Sunday. As the incoming president of the Republican Governors Association, which had thirty members in 2013, Jindal questioned Romney for having criticized President Obama as having provided "extraordinary financial gifts from the government". In reply to Romney, Jindal said, "You don't start to like people by insulting them and saying their votes were bought." Jindal said that his party must convince a majority of voters that it supports the middle class and the principle of upward mobility. He also criticized what he termed "stupid" remarks regarding rape and conception made in 2012 by defeated Republican U.S. Senate nominees Todd Akin in Missouri and Richard Mourdock in Indiana.

did he run?

OUT:
On December 10, 2008, Jindal indicated that he would likely not run for president in 2012, saying he will focus on his re-election in 2011