Nicholas Pileggi (born February 22, 1933 in New York City, New York) is an Italian-American author and screenwriter, best known for writing the book Wiseguy, which he adapted into the movie Goodfellas, and for writing the book and screenplay Casino. The movie versions of both were directed by Martin Scorsese. Pileggi also wrote the screenplay for the 1996 film City Hall. He began his career as a journalist and had a profound interest in the mafia. This is where he developed his intuition to author books such as Wiseguy and Casino. He is also the author of the book Blye: Private Eye. He married Nora Ephron in 1987. Pileggi is an executive producer of the 2007 film American Gangster, directed by Ridley Scott.
