American · b. 1933
Nicholas Pileggi is an American journalist, author and screenwriter born in New York City in 1933. He worked for the Associated Press and later wrote for New York magazine, The New York Times and other publications, reporting on organized crime, police work and the courts. His 1985 book Wiseguy, built from interviews with the mobster Henry Hill, became a bestseller and was the basis for Martin Scorsese's 1990 film Goodfellas, which Pileggi co-wrote and which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He also wrote Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas, which he adapted with Scorsese into the 1995 film Casino. Earlier books include Blye, Private Eye. He is married to the screenwriter and author Nora Ephron, who died in 2012. Pileggi's work is known for its plain style and its close access to criminals, investigators and prosecutors, and it shaped how American crime stories are told in print and on screen.