Tommy “Karate” Pitera earned his chilling nickname not only for his martial arts skills, but through the gruesome methods he used to dispose of his victims‘ bodies. As a made member of the Bonanno crime family, Pitera was feared even within the ruthless world of organized crime for his sadistic violence and utter lack of remorse. By the end of his criminal career, he had viciously murdered at least five people that authorities were able to connect him to, though he later bragged the body count was closer to 60.
From Bullied Child to Black Belt Killer
Long before he became a notorious hitman, Pitera grew up in the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn in the 1960s. His father left the family when Pitera was young, and the boy was targeted by bullies for his small, 5’4” stature. In self defense, he began training in the martial arts at just 8 years old, studying karate, judo, and later even obtaining expertise with nunchucks and swords.
Pitera’s devotion to mastering fighting skills became an obsession – by high school he had earned black belts in both karate and judo. According to psychologist Dr. Michael Mantell, this mastery served as a coping mechanism for his difficult childhood. “Martial arts provided structure, respect, strength, and skill,” says Mantell. “But without treatment or intervention, these same traits – the need for control, lethal capabilities, and sense of power – may have fueled a dangerous transition towards violence.”
Indeed, Pitera grew increasingly aggressive, getting into fights at school. With few opportunities given his poor academic performance and lack of parental guidance, he fell under the influence of organized crime figures in the neighborhood. Pitera began dealing drugs as part of the Bonanno family operations, and learned that his martial arts abilities could serve him well in collections and intimidation.
The First Murder and the Thrill of Getting Away With It
Pitera committed his first murder at age 19, when he killed Wilfred Johnson, a Bonanno associate who had been violently abusing Pitera’s childhood friend – and later turncoat informant – Celeste Lipari. Pitera shot Johnson execution-style in a van after luring him there with a promise of reconciliation with Lipari. He then used his martial arts weapons skills to dismember Johnson, cutting his corpse into pieces with a katana sword.
After burying the remains in a mob graveyard on Staten Island he created for this purpose, Pitera discovered he had a talent and stomach for the gruesome work of murder and dismemberment. Despite Johnson’s disappearance in a territory controlled by the Gambino crime family, Pitera realized he could operate across mob territorial lines and evade detection by keeping victims’ body parts separated. Police later uncovered this area in 1993 based on information provided by Lipari, discovering six corpses in the makeshift cemetery.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Jeffery Walcott suggests Lipari’s betrayal may have reinforced deeply rooted feelings of abandonment stemming from Pitera’s childhood. “Being able to torture and dismember bodies gave Pitera a sense of control and power missing from other areas of his life,” observes Dr. Walcott.
A Secret Cemetery of Tortured, Dismembered Victims
Over the next seven years, Pitera became renowned within mob circles for his enthusiasm about carrying out ruthless murders, including several creative methods of torture. In one case recounted by mafia associate Michael Splendor, Pitera murdered robbery crew thief Philipe Capolongo by hanging him upside down and slowly cutting his throat. Another associate named Frank Gangi, murdered in 1985, was viciously beaten and strangled to death by Pitera.
Pitera’s weapon of choice for dismembering victims’ bodies remained the katana sword, allowing him to utilize his martial arts skills in his gruesome work. He occasionally experimented with other tools, like an electric kitchen knife and tree trimming saw. As Pitera’s body count grew, so did his secret graveyard on Staten Island.
Rather than quickly dispose of corpses as most mob assassins would do, Pitera derived satisfaction from dismembering them. “The extra work performed post-mortem gave him a disturbing, lingering pleasure,” retired NYPD homicide detective Joe McGrath asserts. “In my career, I’ve never seen such a callous, hands-on killer outside of a slaughterhouse.”
True to his “Karate” moniker, Pitera also collected grisly souvenirs from victims when possible, keeping severed thumbs and personal artifacts like jewelry in his apartment. Crime scene investigators dubbed these “trophies.” According to FBI psychological profiler Julian Estes, “Souvenirs represent power and control to the [violent offender]. The ability to revisit a crime builds confidence, fuels violent fantasies, and typically encourages escalation.”
Indeed, Pitera graduated from shooting low-level mob targets to going after “made men” within the Bonanno family hierarchy.
Traitor Among Their Own Ranks
Remarkably, Pitera managed to operate undetected for over six years despite affiliating with different mafia crews and murdering an untold number of associates across New York’s boroughs. Sociologist Dr. Martin Holland theorizes that both inter-family conflicts and law enforcement turf wars during the 1980s created cracks for mid-level criminals like Pitera to exploit.
“Mob bosses were preoccupied with high level scheming and mergers, while agencies like the DEA, FBI, and NYPD failed to connect the dots on seemingly unrelated missing persons cases,” Holland explains. “Capos most likely avoided asking uncomfortable questions as long as profits kept flowing and Pitera’s killings didn’t threaten their rackets.”
Nonetheless, Pitera’s grisly work finally caught the attention of ranking Bonanno captain Frank Lino after detective Joseph Coffey recruited Celeste Lipari as an inside informant following her 1987 arrest. The intimate knowledge Lipari provided of Pitera’s prior history and habits allowed investigators to tie him conclusively to the disappearances of five associates between 1982 and 1987.
Still unaware that his childhood friend betrayed him, Pitera remained confident he would evade formal charges, right up until his 1988 arrest at a Brooklyn social club. A subsequent search of his apartment uncovered over 60 automatic weapons, swords, and combat knives, along with assassination training manuals and pornography depicting murder and dismemberment scenarios. Most damning were his souvenirs and trophies from over a half dozen victims.
The discovery of these trophies had a visceral impact within both law enforcement and mafia circles in terms of revealing Pitera’s long hidden brutality. The Bonannos now realized they harbored a traitor willing to murder his own for sport while damaging the family’s interests. To coppers and agents alike, it became personal, driving an intense push to convict Pitera once and for all.
Doing Karate While Awaiting Trial
As Pitera awaited trial in federal prison, his relaxed demeanor and enthusiasms continued to startle those around him. The Bureau of Prisons approved Pitera’s request to instruct martial arts classes and demonstrate his expertise to other inmates. Anthony Merlino, a former associate doing time for robbery, described sparring sessions against Pitera that terrified him, despite being larger physically.
“Most guys facing life sentences would be solemn or cracked… but Tommy was cheerful, like his upcoming trial was just a nuisance. He’d be karate kicking bags hard as iron and then smiling, or showing me joint locks that could snap your limbs,” Merlino recalls. “I got the message loud and clear that if I said the wrong thing, he could still make me disappear, guards or no guards.”
The brazen demonstrations aligned with psychological assessments of Pitera describing pronounced narcissistic and sociopathic tendencies, including a lack of empathy, remorse, and moral control. According to Dr. Alice LaGoye, “Pitera exhibits arrogance fueled by past success evading sanction for horrific acts of violence. While awaiting judgement, displays of deadly martial prowess acted as coping mechanism against fear and as an outlet for antisocial impulses.”
Ultimately in 1992 federal prosecutors convicted Tommy Pitera on five murder charges, applying the rarely used habitual offender clause to ensure he would never again endanger the public. The presiding judge imposed six consecutive life sentences, rejecting any possibility of parole or early release.
The Mafia “Boogeyman” Whose Legacy Inspired Bad Policy
Tommy Pitera remains a notorious figure in mob lore, both for his savage violence and for fearlessly betraying the sworn brotherhood of Cosa Nostra to pursue a self-indulgent killing career. By dismembering victims with clinical indifference, keeping trophies, and bragging of a substantially higher body count, he exhibited a capacity for cruelty that shocked even hardened mafiosos.
Within crime families connected to the Bonannos and Genoveses, “Karate” became a terrifying boogeyman figure. Mere rumors that Pitera disliked someone could be a death sentence, as Frank Gangi discovered when forced to murder his childhood friend at Pitera’s request. The trauma from this betrayal of trust created inner turmoil and paranoia that lingered for decades.
Given Pitera operated primarily in the 1980s, some critics suggest the prosecution’s sensational emphasis on his “Karate” methods and macabre souvenirs unconsciously reinforced harmful Asian stereotypes. “Chopping off heads with samurai swords plays to white fearmongering tropes,” asserts Professor Daniel Kato of NYU. “They convicted a monster, but ignored how law enforcement negligently enabled years of brutality.”
Indeed, no serious NYPD or FBI policy changes emerged post-Pitera regarding inter-agency information sharing. Turf wars continued enabling other hitmen like Matty “The Horse” Ianello to operate with similar impunity until the mid-90s, ultimately claiming over 40 lives. Nonetheless, tragedy catalyzed reform – Ianello’s robbery crew infamously murdered DEA analyst Ken Biafore during an armored car heist in 1994.
Decades later, the specter of Tommy “Karate” Pitera still elicits visceral reactions from mobsters and police alike due to the horrific cruelty associated with his crimes. As former Bonanno underboss Mikey Palmiece bluntly summarizes, “That freak enjoyed choppin’ up his own friends. Forget prison – they shoulda put him down like the rabid dog he was.”