The Butcher: Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath

By Philip Carlo

'He was like a vampire. We believe he killed over sixty people.' -- James J. Hunt, Assistant Special Agent , New York DEA
9 July 1990: the DEA makes the gruesome discovery of nine bodies, dismembered, stuffed into cheap suitcases and buried in a secluded bird sanctuary near Gravesend, Brooklyn. It was tommy Pitera's personal cemetery. When John Gotti put out a contract on informer Willie Boy Johnson, Pitera took it - he shot him fourteen times in broad daylight outside his home. Pitera not only murdered for the mob, he took pleasure in killing and did so at whim - the slightest insult could provoke him and he killed friends, associates, anyone who got in his way. A cold-blooded, homicidal maniac with a fascination for the macabre, he had an autopsy table in his basement and regularly dismembered his victims, expertly cutting them into six pieces: the arms, legs, torso and head. Convicted for six murders, he is believed to be responsible for over sixty. Philip Carlo, author of the bestseller the Iceman, reveals the horrendous crimes of drug kingpin and merciless mob killer thomas Pitera, and the New York DEA's three-year battle to bring him to justice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: May 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781460703410

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.