Goodfella Henry Hill In Drug Bust

MARCH 21--Our favorite degenerate Mafia informant, Henry Hill, may live in the middle of nowhere--North Platte, Nebraska, to be exact--but he apparently hasn't shaken some of the nastier habits he picked up while running with other associates of New York's Lucchese organized crime family. Hill, whose tumultuous life as a Mafia associate who turned government snitch was chronicled in Martin Scorsese's 'Goodfellas,' is facing felony charges for allegedly possessing cocaine and methamphetamine, according to County Court records. Last Friday, Hill, 61, waived a preliminary hearing in connection with the drug case, and the matter was bound over for trial. Hill, who didn't last long in the witness protection program following his mid-1980s mob defection, ran into trouble last August when drug paraphernalia was found in bags he brought to the North Platte airport (glass tubes found in Hill's luggage tested positive for coke and meth). In recent years, Hill, pictured below in a Lincoln County Sheriff's Office mug shot, has been best known for his appearances on Howard Stern's radio program. During those broadcasts, Hill--who has appeared inebriated at times--has had to endure a stream of calls from listeners who have branded him a 'rat' and threatened to kill him for testifying against former criminal cohorts. (4 pages)