The Butcher: Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath

Tommy “Karate” Pitera was not like other mafiosi. A capo in the notorious Bonanno family—a deadly martial artist highly skilled with knives and other lethal weapons—Pitera murdered his way to becoming one of the premier assassins in the New York mafia during the 1980s. He didn’t just whack people; he diabolically made them disappear forever. In hushed whispers people spoke of Pitera’s secret burial grounds and the grotesque things he did to his victim’s bodies. If the Mafia had a Jeffrey Dahmer, it was surely Tommy Pitera.

Offering the first-ever look at the life and crimes of Tommy Pitera, New York Times bestselling author Philip Carlo exposes the man behind some of the most horrific murders in Mafia history—and tells the story of the heroic investigator who brought him down. Cloaked in the bloody history of La Cosa Nostra, The Butcher is Carlo’s most frightening portrayal yet of the depraved depths within a psychopath’s mind.