Nicholas Pileggi (, ; born February 22, 1933) is an American author, screenwriter, film producer and journalist. He is the widower of director and journalist Nora Ephron. He wrote the 1985 non-fiction book Wiseguy and co-wrote the screenplay for Goodfellas, its 1990 film adaptation, for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Early life Pileggi was born and raised in Brooklyn, the elder son of an Italian immigrant father, Nicola ("Nick") Pileggi from Calabria, a musician who played slide trombone in a cinema orchestra for silent films and subsequently also owned shoe stores, and an American-born mother, Susie.
In the 1950s, he worked as a journalist for the Associated Press and New York magazine, specializing in crime reporting for more than three decades.
Career
Pileggi began his career as a journalist and had a profound interest in the Mafia. He is best known for writing Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family (1985), which he adapted into the movie Goodfellas (1990), and for writing Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas and the subsequent screenplay for Casino (1995). The movie versions of both were directed and co-written by Martin Scorsese. Pileggi also co-wrote the screenplay for the film City Hall (1996), starring Al Pacino. He served as an executive producer for American Gangster (2007), a biographical crime film based on the career of drug lord Frank Lucas. He also authored Blye, Private Eye (1987).
He wrote the foreword to Frank Ragano's memoir Mob Lawyer. Pileggi co-wrote the pilot of the CBS television series Vegas, which first aired in September 2012.
Personal life Pileggi's first marriage ended in divorce around 1979. Pileggi was married to fellow author, journalist, and filmmaker Nora Ephron from 1987 until her death in 2012. Journalist Gay Talese is his first cousin.
Partial filmography Year Film Role Notes 1990 Goodfellas Screenwriter BAFTA – Best Screenplay – Adapted (1991)Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay 1993 Father Hood Producer 1994 Loyalty & Betrayal: The Story of the American Mob Screenwriter Television documentary film 1995 Casino Screenwriter 1996 City Hall Screenwriter 2007 Kings of South Beach Screenwriter and producer Television film American Gangster Executive producer 2012 Vegas Co-creator and executive producer Television series 2019 The Irishman Executive producer 2025The Alto KnightsScreenwriter
Books
Introductions
References
External links
Biography at Film Reference.com Fleeman, Mike, "Nora Ephron, Writer-Director of Sleepless in Seattle, Dies at Age 71" , People magazine, Tuesday June 26, 2012 Pileggi appearance on Charlie Rose to discuss Frank Ragano's memoir Mob Lawyer (1994). Pileggi featured in JFK, Hoffa and the Mob, a Frontline documentary (1992).