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The Butcher: Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath took Philip Carlo some ten years to research and write. It is a bone-chilling study of the war on drugs played out on the mean streets of New York. On one side we have a stone cold killer, a war captain in the Bonanno crime family who is a major drug lord. His name is Tommy Pitera and before his reign of terror ended, according to the DEA, he killed over fifty people. What made Pitera particularly diabolical was the fact that he cut his victims into six pieces and buried them in bird sanctuaries in the New York tri-state area in the dead of night, believing they would never be found. Often, with a medieval fervor, victims were tortured before being killed. On the other side of this amazing tale is the Drug Enforcement Administration. Carlo, with the full cooperation of the DEA, was able to get a fly-on-the-wall perspective of just how they brought Pitera down after an arduous, dangerous, three and a half year investigation. Carlo came to know and respect the men and women of the DEA in a large way. "They are the real heroes of the war on drugs. Every day they battle with the most diabolical, well-heeled, highly motivated drug kingpins from all over the world. What's different about this story, what's different about The Butcher, is that it takes place here in New York, not some far flung, dusty tobacco road in Mexico or South America. The DEA was kind enough to provide me with the video on this page. Beware...the footage is particularly disconcerting and brutally honest. However, I felt that it was a mirror reflection of the truth, and that's what this is all about ÐÐ the telling of the truth, as it really is, not as it's bended and twisted for public consumption. I can guarantee you when you read The Butcher, it will stay with you for the rest of your life."