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Thomas "Tommy Karate" Pitera (b. December 2, 1954) was a New York mobster who served as a hitman and drug trafficker for the Bonanno crime family.

Biography

Early years

Born in New York City, Pitera grew up in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn. During the 1980's Pitera became a made man, or full member, of the Bonanno family. Pitera belonged to a family faction headed by captains Alphonse Indelicato, Dominick Trinchera, and Philip Giaccone. This group opposed the current leadership under boss Philip Rastelli and his leading captains Joseph Massino and Dominick Napolitano. In 1981, Massino and Napolitano set up the murders of the three rival captains in a Brooklyn club. After their deaths, Massino quickly made peace with the rest of the leaderless faction, including Pitera.

Criminal career

Pitera soon earned a reputation as a vicious killer who enjoyed murdering people for the family. On August 29, 1988, Pitera ambushed Wilfred "Willie Boy" Johnson as he walked to car and shot him to death. Johnson had been a close associate of Gambino crime family boss John Gotti since the two of them were petty burglars and thieves. He had also had served as a driver to Gotti after Gotti became a made man and captain with the Gambinos. In 1985, Gotti discovered that Johnson had been a government informant since 1966. Pitera murdered Johnson as a favor to Gotti. Pitera was close to Bonanno consigliere Anthony Spero, who headed the violent Bath Beach crew. This group was involved in extortion, loan sharking, drug dealing, and dozens of murders.

Pitera's crew was notorious for robbing drug dealers and then reselling their drugs. Pitera murdered two Colombian drug kingpins and then resold their 40 pounds of cocaine. Pitera also killed Tala Siksik, an Arab drug supplier in his Brooklyn apartment. Pitera dismembered Siksik's body in the bathtub and disposed of it. Six of Pitera's victim's turned up at a mafia graveyard in the borough of Staten Island near a bird sanctuary. Pitera chopped off the victims' heads and buried them elsewhere to avoid identification through dental records.

On June 4, 1990, Pitera was indicted for heading a drug dealing crew and for his involvement in seven murders, including that of Johnson. Investigators alleged that Pitera had been involved in as many as 30 murders. Pitera's crew sold about 220 pounds of cocaine per year, multiple kilos of heroin, and hundreds of pounds of marijuana. FBI Agents discovered more than 60 automatic weapons, knives and swords, and literature on torturing and dismembering cadavers in Pitera's apartment in the Gravesend, Brooklyn.

One of Pitera's crew members, Frank Gangi, the nephew of Genovese crime family captain Rosario Gangi, decided to testify against Pitera to avoid the death penalty. Gangi described how Pitera murdered Gangi's girlfriend Pyhllis Burdi after couple went on a drug binge. Pitera and an unidentified shooter showed up at their Manhattan apartment, took Burdi into the bathroom, shot her in the bathtub, and then cut her head off. Gangi also testified that during a fight with a drug dealer named Marek Kucharsky, Pitera pulled a knife and repeatedly stabbed Kucharsky and cut his throat.

Sentence

On June 25, 1992, Pitera was convicted of murdering six people and supervising a massive drug dealing operation in Brooklyn. After the verdict was read, Pitera smiled and gave a thumbs up to reporters sitting in the Brooklyn courtroom. Pitera would avoid the death penalty, and be sentenced to life in prison. As of October 2007, Pitera was still serving a life sentence at the United States Penitentiary (for high risk inmates) at the Federal Correctional Institute, Allenwood in Pennsylvania.

External links

Wilfred “Willie Boy” Johnson: Part Two - Source Wahoo – Out Sourced
[http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator Website}

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Thomas "Tommy Karate" Pitera''' (b. December 2, 1954) was a New York mobster and, as his nickname suggests, was known as a martial arts expert.
+'''Thomas "Tommy Karate" Pitera''' (b. December 2, 1954) was a New York mobster who served as a [[hitman]] and drug trafficker for the [[Bonanno crime family]].
 ==Biography==
 ===Early years===
-Pitera grew up in the [[Sheepshead Bay]] section of [[Brooklyn]]. Pitera became a made member of the [[Bonanno crime family]] sometime in the 1980s, and was originally a member of the faction loyal to captains [[Alphonse Indelicato]], [[Dominick Trinchera]], and [[Philip Giaccone]], who opposed the leadership of [[Philip Rastelli]] and his leading captains [[Joseph Massino]] and [[Dominick Napolitano]].
+Born in New York City, Pitera grew up in the [[Sheepshead Bay]] section of [[Brooklyn]]. During the 1980's Pitera became a [[made man]], or full member, of the Bonanno family.  Pitera belonged to a family faction headed by captains [[Alphonse Indelicato]], [[Dominick Trinchera]], and [[Philip Giaccone]].  This group opposed the current leadership under boss [[Philip Rastelli]] and his leading captains [[Joseph Massino]] and [[Dominick Napolitano]].  In 1981, Massino and Napolitano set up the murders of the three rival captains in a Brooklyn club.  After their deaths, Massino quickly made peace with the rest of the leaderless faction, including Pitera.
 ===Criminal career===
+Pitera soon earned a reputation as a vicious killer who enjoyed murdering people for the family. On August 29, 1988, Pitera   ambushed [[Wilfred "Willie Boy" Johnson]] as he walked to car and shot him to death.   Johnson had been a close associate of [[Gambino crime family]] boss [[John Gotti]] since the two of them were petty burglars and thieves.  He had also had served as a driver to Gotti after Gotti became a made man and captain with the Gambinos.  In 1985, Gotti discovered that Johnson had been a government informant since 1966.  Pitera murdered Johnson as a favor to Gotti.  Pitera was close to Bonanno [[consigliere]] [[Anthony Spero]], who headed the violent Bath Beach crew. This group was involved in [[extortion]], [[loan sharking]], drug dealing, and dozens of murders.
-In 1981, Massino and Napolitano set up the murders of the three captains, and one of their supporters, [[Frank Lino]], managed to escape from the execution site (a Brooklyn club).  Massino quickly sent word to Lino that he was safe so long as he wished to remain a member of the Bonannos, and with that Massino made peace with such other Bonannos as Tommy Pitera.
+Pitera's crew was notorious for robbing drug dealers and then reselling their drugs.  Pitera murdered two Colombian drug kingpins and then resold their 40 pounds of cocaine.  Pitera also killed [[Tala Siksik]], an Arab drug supplier in his Brooklyn apartment.  Pitera dismembered Siksik's body in the bathtub and disposed of it.  Six of Pitera's victim's turned up at a mafia graveyard in the borough of [[Staten Island]] near a bird sanctuary.  Pitera chopped off the victims' heads and buried them elsewhere to avoid identification through dental records.
-Pitera earned a reputation for extreme violence and was delighted to perform hits.  On August 29, 1988, Pitera furthered his reputation as a stone-cold killer when, as a favor to [[Gambino crime family]] boss [[John Gotti]], he shot [[Wilfred "Willie Boy" Johnson]] to death as he walked to his car.  Johnson had been a close associate of Gotti since the two of them were petty burglars and thieves, and Johnson had served as a driver to Gotti after Gotti became a made man and captain with the Gambinos.  In 1985, it was revealed that Johnson had been a government informant since 1966, a sin that was unforgivable in La Cosa Nostra.
+On June 4, 1990, Pitera was indicted for heading a drug dealing crew and for his involvement in seven murders, including that of Johnson.  Investigators alleged that Pitera had been involved in as many as 30 murders.  Pitera's crew sold about 220 pounds of [[cocaine]] per year, multiple kilos of [[heroin]], and hundreds of pounds of [[marijuana]].  FBI Agents discovered more than 60 automatic weapons, knives and swords, and literature on torturing and dismembering cadavers in Pitera's apartment in the [[Gravesend, Brooklyn]].
-Pitera was close to Bonanno consigliere [[Anthony Spero]], who headed the violent Bath Beach Crew, which was involved in extortion, loan sharking, drug dealing, and dozens of murders.
+One of Pitera's crew members, [[Frank Gangi]], the nephew of [[Genovese crime family]] captain [[Rosario Gangi]], decided to testify against Pitera to avoid the death penalty.  Gangi described how Pitera murdered Gangi's girlfriend Pyhllis Burdi after couple went on a drug binge.  Pitera and an unidentified shooter showed up at their [[Manhattan]] apartment, took Burdi into the bathroom, shot her in the bathtub, and then cut her head off.  Gangi also testified that during a fight with a drug dealer named Marek Kucharsky, Pitera pulled a knife and repeatedly stabbed Kucharsky and cut his throat.
-On June 4, 1990, Pitera was indicted in the Eastern District of New York for heading a drug dealing crew and for his involvement in 7 murders, including that of Johnson.  Investigators alleged, based on information revealed by federal informants, that Pitera had been involved in as many as 30 murders.  Pitera's crew sold about 220 pounds of cocaine per year, multi-kils of heroin, and hundreds of pounds of marijuana.  FBI Agents discovered more than 60 automatic weapons, including assault rifles and pistols, as well as knives and swords, and a large collection of literature on torturing and dismembering cadavers in Pitera's Gravesend apartment located at East 12th Street.
-Pitera's crew was notorious for robbing drug dealers and then selling the drugs, thereby bypassing the typical process of purchasing drugs for re-sale.  Pitera murdered two Colombian drug kingpins, who Pitera stole 40 pounds of cocaine from.  Pitera also killed [[Tala Siksik]], an Arab drug supplier in his Brooklyn apartment.  Pitera dismembered Siksik's body in the victim's bathtub.
-Six of Pitera's victims bodies turned up at a mafia graveyard on Staten Island, located a bird sanctuary.  Pitera chopped off the heads of the victims and buried them elsewhere to avoid identification through dental records.
-One of Pitera's crew members, [[Frank Gangi]], who was the nephew of [[Genovese crime family]] captain [[Rosario Gangi]], decided to cooperate against his boss to avoid the death penalty.  Gangi testified as to Pitera's role in 7 murders, including Gangi's girlfriend Pyhllis Burdi, who had gone on a drug binge with Gangi.  Pitera and an unidentified shooter showed up at the Manhattan apartment the two were doing drugs in, and took Burdi into the bathroom where Gangi heard two gun shots come from.  Afterward, Pitera called Gangi into the bathroom where he saw Burdi's body sitting in the bathtub with her head chopped off.  Gangi also testified that during a fight with a drug dealer named Marek Kucharsky, Pitera pulled a knife and repeatedly stabbed Kucharsky, and eventually cut the man's throat.
 ===Sentence===
 On June 25, 1992, Pitera was convicted of murdering six people and supervising a massive drug dealing operation in Brooklyn.  After the verdict was read, Pitera smiled and gave a thumbs up to reporters sitting in the Brooklyn courtroom.  Pitera would avoid the death penalty, and be sentenced to life in prison.  As of October 2007, Pitera was still serving a life sentence at the United States Penitentiary (for high risk inmates) at the [[Federal Correctional Institute, Allenwood]] in [[Pennsylvania]].