The Butcher: Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath

By Philip Carlo

The New York Times bestselling author of Gaspipe and The Ice Man, Phillip Carlo returns with a hair-raising portrait of arguably the most depraved psychopath in the history of the Mafia, mob enforcer Tommy “Karate” Pitera. The Butcher tells the riveting true story of a hit man who loved his work too much—a maniac believed responsible for more than sixty remarkably brutal murders—whom even organized crime’s most cold-blooded assassins feared. Another riveting journey into the darkest corners of the underworld, Carlo’s The Butcher is destined to be a true crime classic alongside Wiseguys by Nicholas Pileggi and Underboss by Peter Maas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Sep 29, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061943836

Philip Carlo

Philip Carlo was the author of The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, his New York Times bestselling book about Richard “Ice Man” Kuklinski, murderer of 200 people and a favorite among all seven of the East Coast crime families. He was also the author of Gaspipe, The Butcher, and The Night Stalker, which chronicles the brutal career of serial killer Richard Ramirez. Carlo grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, amidst the world’s highest concentration of Mafia members. When he was 16, Carlo was shot in the head in a gang war, and while recuperating, he read voraciously, discovering the magic of books for the first time. His intimate knowledge of Mafia culture—their walk and their talk—helped Carlo become a successful crime writer. He died in 2010 from ALS.

Reviews for The Butcher

[omar jofre · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Incredibly good. Evil cant even describe the kind of monster this capo in the bonnano family was

[Sagittarius Brown · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Couldn't put it down. Got like two hours before heading to work! Shit.

[meggo_2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of Tommy 'Karate' Pitera, a made man in the Bonanno mafia family and brutal killer. As far as it goes, this is a fascinating story about the criminal underworld, and one that I wish had been written by a skilled author. What was so disappointing was the writing - Carlo has a style that is all choppy sentences breathless with excitement: "They were moving at 200 miles an hour", "This was a fire-breathing dragon..." and the like, which becomes irritating to read after a couple of pages. Amaturishly written, but seemingly well researched with information from DEA files, this book can be skipped without any regret.