BUTCHER

Tommy “Karate” Pitera was not likeother mafiosi. A capo in the notoriousBonanno family—a deadlymartial artist highly skilled with knives andother lethal weapons—Pitera murdered hisway to becoming one of the premier assassinsin the New York mafia during the 1980s.He didn’t just whack people; he diabolicallymade them disappear forever. In hushedwhispers people spoke of Pitera’s secret burialgrounds and the grotesque things he did tohis victim’s bodies. If the Mafia had a JeffreyDahmer, it was surely Tommy Pitera.

Offering the first-ever look at the life andcrimes of Tommy Pitera, New York Timesbestselling author Philip Carlo exposes theman behind some of the most horrific murdersin Mafia history—and tells the story ofthe heroic investigator who brought himdown. Cloaked in the bloody history of LaCosa Nostra, The Butcher is Carlo’s mostfrightening portrayal yet of the depraveddepths within a psychopath’s mind.