15. Hill agreed to tell his story through writer Nicholas Pileggi in 1981.
While in Redmond, Henry Hill informed his family that he had signed a book contract in September 1981, coinciding with the most recent security breach which forced the family to again relocate. According to Gregg in On the Run, “This is the big score”, said Henry. Gina was more tolerant than her brother, who expressed his dissatisfaction with both his parents following the announcement of the book deal. “My dad was redeemed”, she wrote. “He’d left that old life behind, and now he was a professional”. Unlike her brother, Gina was supportive of her father’s new project. Gregg found it a source of resentment. He resented the fact that because of his father he had to live the life of a constant lie, while his father was now going to tell his supposedly true story to the world. Karen also supported the idea, believing her son was being negative.
After a few months in Redmond, both Gregg and Gina found themselves questioned by friends regarding their father’s employment. Until then, in Omaha, Independence, and Redmond, their pat answer had been that he worked for the government in a classified capacity. But as Hill’s drinking and drug use began to spiral out of control, friends, particularly Gregg’s, didn’t accept such an answer. By 1983 both Hill children had let slip some elements of Hill’s past, though they continued to hold back details. The tension in the Hill household, chiefly between Henry and Gregg, grew into physical confrontations, usually when Henry was drunk. That changed when, in 1983, Henry Hill married another woman. He reasoned that his marriage license to Karen had contained the name Hill. His current name was Scott. As Martin Scott he was unmarried. Thus, in his addled mind, he was not a bigamist.