The Butcher
Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath
Philip Carlo
This book is dedicated to ASAC Jim Hunt and the members of the Pitera task force out of Group 33 in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York office—Ken Feldman, Tom Geisel, Bruce Travers, Mike Agrifolio, John McKenna, John Welch, Eric Stangeby, Rob Barber, Mike Grabowski, John Wilson, Tim McDonald, Dave Toracinta, and Violet Szelecky. Every day, these brave men and women put their lives on the line fighting the scourge that drugs are, warring with extremely wealthy, diabolical, highly motivated drug lords from all over the world.
“Right now, the federal government is fighting a war on drug abuse under a distinct handicap, for its efforts are those of a loosely confederated alliance facing a resourceful, elusive, worldwide enemy.”
—Richard Nixon, July 1973, upon creation of the Drug Enforcement Administration
“There’s never been anyone like him. He was like a vampire. We believe he killed over sixty people. We followed him for three years. He always wore black. His face was very white. One night we saw him doing chins on a fire escape in a dark alley at four o’clock in the morning. It was an unsettling sight.”
—Agent David Toracinta
“If anyone deserved the death penalty, it was Tommy Pitera.”
—Federal Prosecutor David Shapiro
“Greed was the engine that fueled his criminal enterprise.”
—Assistant U.S. Attorney Elisa Liang
“After what he did to Phyllis, I hated the fucker.”
—Frank Gangi
“When he talked, he sounded just like a girl.”
—Lenny the pizza guy
“Three men could keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”
—Santo Trafficante, Tampa, Florida, Mafia boss
“Just say no.”
—Nancy Reagan
Contents
Epigraph
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Cast of Characters
Map of Gravesend and Bensonhurst
Prologue
Part I Seeds
1 Sanctuary
2 Dark Secrets
3 It’s Good to Know Karate
4 The Making of a Dragon Slayer
5 The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree
6 Cherry Blossoms and Samurai
7 The Bonannos
Part II Killers Fear Him
8 The Green Hornet and the Bonannos
9 The Bonanno Vampire
10 The Perfect Storm
11 Armed, Dangerous, and Aggressive
12 Gravesend: The Cemetery
13 Buy and Bust
14 Pizza Two
15 Street Monkey
16 The Vampire of Avenue S
17 Surveillance
18 Phyllis
19 Three-Time Loser
20 Group 33
21 The Guvenaros
22 The Gravedigger
23 The Art of Walk-and-Talks
24 Happenstance
25Party Girl
26 Speedballs
27 Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda
28 No Remorse, No Conscience, No Scruples
29 Fire-Breathing Dragon
31 The Body in the Alley
32 The Cleaner
33 “You’re Not My Boss”
34 Dynamic Duo
35 Stick Shift
36 Willie Boy
37 The Garage
38 B & E
39 Rats
Part III The Beat Goes On
40 The Cop Killer
41 Spider’s Web
42 1–900-Fuck-Me
Photographic Insert
43 He’s a Real Bad Dude
44 Day Trip
45 The Rock of Gibraltar
46 The Meatwagon
47 Lion’s Share
48 DUI
49 Revelations
Part IV Traumas and Trials
50 The William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge
51 Cheap Suitcases
52 The Execution of Tommy Karate Pitera
53 Tight-Lipped Pitera
54 The United States of America Versus Pitera
55 Yea or Nay
Epilogue
About the Author
Other Books by Philip Carlo
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
In respectful memory of the DEA agents brought down in the war on drugs:
Everett Hatcher
Frank Tummillo
Thomas Devine
Enrique Camarena
Charles A. Wood
Stafford Beckett
Joseph Floyd
James T. Williams
James E. Brown
James R. Kerrigan
Spencer Stafford
Anker M. Bangs
Wilson M. Shee
Mansel R. Burrell
Hector Jordan
Gene A. Clifton
Richard Heath Jr.
Emir Benitez
Gerald Sawyer
Leslie S. Grosso
Larry D. Wallace
Octavio Gonzalez
Thomas J. Devine
Marcellus Ward
William Ramos
Raymond J. Statsny
Terry W. McNett
George M. Montoya
Paul S. Seema
AUTHOR’S NOTE
* * *
Contained in this book are particularly unsettling crime-scene photos of Tommy Karate Pitera’s victims. We realize the photos are horrible and shocking, but we feel the hardcore reality of exactly what Pitera did, the Mafia culture that begot him, is important for the reader to see and know and experience. Exclusively, the DEA provided author Philip Carlo with these photographs; they have never been given to any journalist before.
Here, now, we enter the macabre, bloody netherworld of Tommy Karate Pitera.
* * *
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Butcher: Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath would not have been possible without the kind help and never-ending cooperation of ASAC Jim Hunt of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Thanks to his steel bear-trap memory and his willingness to sit down with me and my assistant, Kelsey Osgood, for endless hours, we were able to understand and portray this very complex, epic tale involving the war on drugs—the Bonanno crime family on one side, and the DEA on the other, mortal enemies both. I came to believe that Jim Hunt is a real live hero—a man like him is one in a million. The agents who work under Jim, out on the streets with Jim, like him and respect him and told me they’d rather have Jim Hunt watching their backs than anyone else.
I wish to also express my heartfelt gratitude to Kelsey Osgood for her quick wit, sharp intelligence, her ready willingness to do whatever she was asked. Without Kelsey, this book would not have been possible. I also wish to thank Matt Bialer at Sanford Greenburger for his enthusiasm and encouragement, dedication and loyalty. Matt comes from the old school of literary agents—he truly cares for his clients, their work, and artistic sensibilities. My thanks to Matt Harper at HarperCollins for his constant good cheer and excellent editorial input. Many thanks also to my family, my parents, Dante and Nina Carlo, for understanding why I missed so many family functions. Also many thanks to my Los Angeles agent, Jerry Kalajian, for always being there, for promptly returning phone calls, and for his guidance, experience, and friendship. My heartfelt gratitude to my wife, Laura Carlo, for her help and support, input and understanding, for her sitting down with me and line reading, out loud, this whole book. Also, my heartfelt thanks to Mike Kostrewa, for always being there, day and night. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the kind people at the Savoy Hotel, where much of this book was w
ritten: Carlos Mendes, Fernao Carvalho, Sergio Coniglio. Also, many thanks to Raf Pasquet and the wonderful, amazingly hospitable Boucher brothers, Michael and Perry. I would also like to thank the mean streets of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, where I received most of my education, where I learned about the culture of La Cosa Nostra—its walk and talk, mind-set, bloody rhyme and rhythm.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
THE GOOD GUYS
Agent Jim Hunt Pitera investigation case agent
Agent Tommy Geisel Jim Hunt’s partner
Joe Hunt Jim’s grandfather
James Hunt Sr. Jim’s father, DEA agent
Bruce Travers Group 33 agent
Mike Agrifolio Group 33 agent
John Welch Group 33 agent
Dave Toracinta Group 33 agent
Jack Macready DEA ASAC
Ken Feldman Group 33 supervisor
Jon Wilson Group 33 agent
Eric Stangeby Group 33 agent
Violet Szeleczky Group 33 agent
Billy Fredricks ATF agent
William Tomasulo NYPD detective
George Terra NYPD detective
Matt O’Brian NYPD detective
Timmy MacDonald DEA agent
John McKenna DEA agent
Sergeant Martin Head of Canadian Mounties in Montreal
Sergeant MacDonald Head of Canadian Mounties in Toronto
David Shapiro Federal prosecutor
Fred Sandler Hunt’s first DEA supervisor
Elisa Liang Federal prosecutor
Andrew Maloney U.S. attorney
Reena Raggi Judge
Mark Cohen Federal prosecutor
THE BAD GUYS
Tommy Pitera Bonanno family capo
Frank Gangi Pitera associate
Billy Bright Pitera associate, Gangi’s partner in drug dealing
Shlomo Mendelsohn Israeli drug dealer, Pitera associate
Anthony “Bruno” Indelicato Bonanno family capo
Joseph Bonanno Former head of the Bonanno family
Anthony Spero Bonanno family underboss
Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato Bonanno family capo, father of Bruno
John Gotti Gambino boss
Eddie Lino Gambino war captain
Frank Lino Bonanno capo, Pitera boss, Eddie’s cousin
Angelo Favara Pitera associate
Judy Haimowitz Pitera associate
Arthur “Bopp” Guvenaro Gangi and Bright’s drug-dealing associate
Louie “Bopp” Guvenaro Arthur’s brother
Emmanuel Adamita Sicilian drug dealer
Talal Siksik Israeli drug dealer, Pitera associate
Moussa Aliyan Israeli drug dealer, Pitera associate
Joe “Dish” Senatore DEA informant
Richie David Pitera associate
Joey “Pizza” Tekulve Pitera associate
Vincent “Kojak” Giattino Pitera associate
Manny Maya Pitera associate
Frank Rubino Eddie Lino business associate
Lloyd Modell, aka Lorenzo Modica Pitera associate
Frank Martini Pitera associate
Carlos Acosta Colombian drug dealer
Fernando Aguilera Colombian drug dealer
Paul Castellano Former head of the Gambino family
Joe Butch Corrao Gambino underboss
Ross Gangi Genovese captain, Frank Gangi’s cousin
Richard Leone Pitera associate
Solomon Stern Richard Leone associate
Hector Estrada Queens-based drug dealer
Vincenzo Lore Gambino and Bonanno associate, drug dealer, fugitive
Yves LeSalle, aka Gilles Canadian drug dealer, fugitive
John Gotti Jr. Son of John Gotti
Greg Reiter Gotti Jr. associate
Michael Harrigan Former Gotti Jr. associate
Mark Reiter Greg Reiter’s father
Thomas Carbone Pitera associate
Michael Cassesse Pitera associate
Andrew Miciotta Pitera associate
Barbara Lambrose Tommy Pitera’s girlfriend
Wilfred “Willie Johnson Boy Government informer
OTHERS
Phyllis Burdi Frank Gangi’s girlfriend
Carol Boguski Tommy Pitera’s wife
Celeste LiPari Tommy Pitera’s common-law wife
Sophia Gangi Frank Gangi’s wife
Patty Girl Scifo Pitera associate
Marek Kucharsky Polish boxer
Andy Jakakis Friend of Frank Gangi’s
Joey Balzano Good looking drug user
Renee Lombardozzi Joey Balzano’s girlfriend
Vinnie DeMarco DEA informer
Maria Polkowski DEA informer
Matthew Mari Criminal defense attorney
David Ruhnke Criminal defense attorney
Cheryl Mackell Criminal defense attorney
Map of Gravesend and Bensonhurst
PROLOGUE
Gravesend, Brooklyn, is a seven-thousand-acre swath of land sandwiched between Bensonhurst and Coney Island. The area initially drew its name from a small graveyard located at McDonald Avenue and Neck Road. Beaten and battered and worn down now, the graveyard is still there today. Gravesend was settled by the Dutch in 1640. Between the years 1641 and 1645, before the area was an English settlement, the Dutch had a campaign to rid the area of its indigenous peoples. The Dutch remorselessly murdered them, beheaded them, dismembered them, and gleefully burned them alive at the stake.
Gravesend was strategically close to estuaries fed by the nearby Atlantic Ocean. It was well located for importing and exporting various goods and commodities. The forests of Gravesend were abundant in all manner of game, moose, deer and beaver, wild pig, and huge numbers of rabbits. (Nearby Coney Island is Dutch for “Rabbit Island.”) The waters of the Atlantic were teeming with many varieties of fish. During the summer months, the pristine, unpolluted Atlantic literally boiled with huge schools of anchovy, cod, mackerel, bluefish, bass, fluke, and flounder. Tons of succulent lobster and blue claw crabs were there for the taking. Mountains of oysters, mussels, and clams were easily accessible. The vast, blue skies of seventeenth-century Brooklyn were filled with edible fowl—quail, duck, and geese. The dark, fertile soil was ideal for bountiful crops. With the exception of the brutal and unforgiving winters, Gravesend was a place of sweet abundance.
As Brooklyn grew to be a large, bustling metropolis, so did Gravesend. In the early twentieth century, the New York Mafia began using the more desolate areas of Gravesend as a convenient dumping ground for bodies. Joe “The Boss” Masseria, Salvatore Maranzano, Lucky Luciano, Murder Incorporated, the five New York crime families—Genovese, Profaci, Bonanno, Lucchese, and Anastasia—all gladly used Gravesend as a convenient place to leave their victims—stabbed, ice-picked, butchered, beaten, battered, and shot to death.
Up to the day of his arrest, Sammy “The Bull” Gravano had his office smack in the heart of Gravesend, at Highland and Stillwell avenues. The Lucchese, Genovese, Gambino, Colombo, and Bonanno crime families all had secretive black-windowed social clubs in Gravesend and Bensonhurst. Here, mafiosi played cards, drank strong espresso, planned new crimes, murders and hijacks, settled disputes. Thus, Gravesend, Brooklyn, took on a more sinister, morbid connotation to its inhabitants and to the people in nearby Bensonhurst and Coney Island. Here, people minded their own business. Here, no one saw anything. The citizenry could readily be likened to the three wise monkeys…they saw no evil, spoke no evil, heard no evil.
Because Gravesend and its neighbor Bensonhurst had larger populations of “made men” than anywhere else in the world, including Sicily, one of the by-products of their work—bodies—was always a concern. Where to hide them; how to get rid of them permanently; whether or not to blatantly leave them out in the open. These were decisions that either had to be made quickly, on the spot, or planned in advance. As vacant lots all across Brooklyn were filled with two- and three-story red-brick homes, the impromptu burial grounds of the area systematica
lly disappeared. The mob, as a collective whole, had to look for new places to hide their victims.
Thus, it was logical that nearby Staten Island came into play. On Staten Island, there were still huge tracts of uninhabited land, blackened swamps, fields covered with tall green grass in the summer that turned a golden, wheatlike hue in the winter. Here, too, were thousands of acres of thick forests of oak, hickory, maple, and beech trees. More important, though, were the state wildlife sanctuaries, which were protected by the government from any kind of development. No construction was allowed; no utility lines would be laid. Surrounded by hundreds of acres of empty land, there was little threat someone idling by would stumble across a body or members of the mob burying one. Inadvertently, the government had invented the perfect place to get rid of bodies for the Mafia, and it didn’t take long for particularly cunning members of La Cosa Nostra to take advantage of this convenience.
Always wily, always quick to exploit a situation, the Mafia turned Staten Island’s wildlife sanctuaries into its private burial grounds. Interestingly, all five New York crime families used the sanctuaries. One would think members of the mob would keep secret cemeteries private, not tell anyone about them, but just the opposite proved true. They actually shared the sanctuaries with one another. Members of all the five families came to Staten Island with bodies in the trunks of their cars. They drove Cadillacs and Lincolns, Mercedeses and Jaguars, and arrogantly made their way to private burial grounds scattered all over Staten Island, in the south, the north, the east, and the west. They were so sure and confident that they often came across the Verrazano Bridge in broad daylight with bodies and long-handled shovels in the trunks of their cars, as Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, and golden oldies came from their radios. Never speeding, always carefully abiding by traffic rules and regulations, signs and lights, they made their way to these prearranged burial sites, sometimes singing along with Sinatra. Occasionally, there were graves already prepared; most often, however, shallow graves would be quickly dug in the secret-holding sanctuaries.