Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - Mafia Madman: Thomas Pitera

Episode Date: May 18, 2023

During his twenties, he spent his free time reading books about how to kill a human being. Naturally, a job as a mafia hitman was perfect for Thomas Pitera. But when he went from a cold, calculated killer to slowly torturing his targets, it became harder for him to evade authorities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, drug use, gun violence, and gore. Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen. If I asked you what it takes to succeed, qualities like hard work, perseverance, and determination might come to mind. Typically, we admire a person who puts in the time to advance their careers. But the sad truth is not everyone deserves success. Violent, dangerous people also work hard.

They also persevere to move up the ladder, and they're also determined. Perhaps no one more so than Thomas Patera. From the outside looking in, Patera had a lot going for him, a fancy apartment, a fleet of impressive cars, and a beautiful girlfriend. But he got it all by working as a hitman. His dreams came at the cost of countless lives, which begs the question, what is success really when a career is built on blood?

Hi listeners, it's Greg. You're listening to Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parcast. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa. Hey, everyone. This episode is another in our series on Hit Men. We'll explore the twisted world of contract homicide, both the people who kill and those who hire them. Today, we're hitting the streets of Brooklyn to follow the rise of Thomas Patera.

one of the most ruthless mafia hit men in history. Patera began his life of violence by training in martial arts before going on to a successful career in organized crime. That is, until it all fell apart. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the lonely hearts killers,

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On a warm summer night in 1987, 32-year-old Thomas Patera sped through the Brooklyn neighborhood of Gravesend. He was with a friend, Frank Ganshee. Actually, friend might be too strong a word. Let's call them co-workers. They'd been working together for about a year, and tonight they had some business to take care of. A rat problem. They parked outside a Brooklyn apartment building, grabbed their equipment, and climbed the stairs to a second-story unit.

Once they got inside, they found their problem. Talal Sikik, an alleged Israeli mobster, sat on a chair in the middle of the living room, with his arms and legs bound, his mouth gagged. Bruises covered his face. According to Philip Carlo, author of The Butcher, Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath, he'd clearly been beaten by the two other men

who stood beside him, and Patera wasn't happy. He berated the men in his trademark high-pitched voice, furious that they'd tortured Sik-Sik. We'll get into this more later on, but Patera didn't have patience for things like torture. To him, time was precious. The idea that his men had wasted minutes beating Sikik, rather than simply killing him, well, that didn't sit right. So he showed them how it was done. Without missing a beat, Patera strode forward, pulled out a side of his.

silenced pistol, raised it to 6-6-6 head, and fired two shots. Blood exploded onto the wall behind him. Then, Patera turned to the other men without a word. Of course, Patera wasn't always a ruthless killer. There was a time when he was just an ordinary kid growing up in Gravesend, the son of a candy salesman and a homemaker. His life changed course around 1973 during his senior year in high school. He earned a free ticket to Japan to train under a bona fide martial arts expert. He spent the next two years of his life overseas, but while his fellow students worked to become honorable fighters, focusing on diligence, patience, and control, Patera saw something else. His body could be a weapon. So he made violence an educational pursuit, in and out of the dojo. He spent

his free time reading things like fighting manuals and books about how to kill a human being. He returned to the United States around 1976, and just imagine his mindset. He was in his early 20s, well-trained, curious about violence. He'd grown up since the last time he was home. Now he felt like a warrior. He was probably looking for something new, something that would utilize his unique talents. And he found it in the mafia. The mafia's power structure in New York City gets a little messy, but here's what you need to know.

Historically, there have been five prominent families there, sometimes collectively called La Cosa Nostra. Most areas of the city and its boroughs were broken into territories run by one of these groups, and the Bonano Crime family had a large presence in Gravesend, where Paterra lived. Back then, getting involved with organized crime was easier than you might think. Patera was a local, so he knew the right haunts. He started running errands for Bonano family members and completing minor jobs, whatever they needed. The family quickly took a shine to him. He was loyal, eager, and intimidating.

But from many prospective Mafiosi, in order to become a full member or a, quote, made man, there was a condition. They needed to kill someone. This may well have been the case for Patera, too. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa's not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg.

We've all had moments of fantasy, intrusive thoughts that suddenly jump into our heads, things we don't say aloud or act on. In Petera's case, he'd thought about killing someone ever since his days in Japan. Now he was finally getting an excuse to make it a reality. According to Professor Eric Hickey, for some killers, violent fantasies are a coping strategy. The murderer starts by rehearsing the fantasy in their mind's eye again and again. But eventually, thoughts alone aren't enough. Only by acting on the fantasies can they satisfy their needs.

In Patera's case, becoming a made man likely marked his transition to murder. It's theorized that Patera made his first hit or hits in 1979, when a slew of upper-level Bonanno members were murdered in an inter-family feud. If that was Patera, he didn't stop there. By the early 1980s, he was allegedly involved in dozens of murders. He seemed to treat murder like a skill to hone. He kept up with the studies he discovered in Japan, eventually amassing a library of morbid reading material about killing.

This was coupled with an armory of weapons that included everything from samurai swords to brass knuckles. And his dedication paid off. Eventually, the Bonanno family allowed Patera to run his own drug operation, with a crew of about 30 men. A large chunk of the income went to the family, but it still netted Patera a neat sum. could afford to open the Just Us Lounge, a bar that became his de facto headquarters. He also got to operate with a fair amount of autonomy, meaning Patera could often use

his own judgment when making decisions about who to kill. The people he targeted for hits were usually, A, part of a rival drug operation, or B, those he suspected of being rats. Mostly, they were simply roadblocks to Patera's success, so he took them out. Which brings us back to the summer of 1987, when Talal Sikik met his end. Sikik was a B problem. He was an alleged drug dealer, someone Patera believed had ratted him out. After shooting Sikik, Patera reportedly turned to his associate, Frank Ganges, and asked him to help move the body to the bathtub. Patera then stripped down, turned on the water, and stepped into the tub with the body.

Exuding a quiet confidence, Patera grabbed a bone saw. He brought the blade to 6-6 neck and started lopping his head off. As water flushed the blood down the drain, Patera cut 6-6 body into six neat segments. He moved mechanically, taking no pleasure in the process. It was just part of the job. According to author Philip Carlo, Frank watched all this happen, not knowing whether to be terrified or sick. Like we mentioned earlier, he'd been working with Patera for about a year at this point,

but it seems to have been his first time tagging along on a job like this. Seeing the brutality in person was shocking. Patera was more butcher than hitman. Frank kept it together, though. He didn't want to show weakness lest he get on Patera's bad side. That was the last place he wanted to be, especially now. When Patera was done, he wrapped the body parts in thick plastic before placing them in a large travel suitcase.

Then he returned to the bathroom to take a warm shower. Once everything was cleaned, the men drove to the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge on Staten Island, an 814-acre sanctuary. It was far from the hustle and bustle of the city. On a lonely stretch of road, they pulled over and proceeded into the woods, shovels in hand. At some point, they started digging. Each pile of dirt was an insurance policy. Once the hole was big enough, they pushed the suitcase, filled with the remains of Talal-Sixik, into the earth. They filled the hole, raked the dirt, and placed foliage on top.

When they were done, the ground looked completely undisturbed. For Frank, the memory would last forever. For Patera, it was just another day, part of the ruthless routine that was building his empire brick by brick. But soon, something would shatter that dream and send Patera spiraling. Coming up, Patera falls in love. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptitide may be able to help. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with obesity. Or some adults with overweight who also have weight related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off.

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On any given day in the late 1980s, you could see Thomas Patera at the Just Us lounge or cruising around Brooklyn making drug deals. He usually wore all black clothing with sunglasses. His skin had turned pale because his work so often stretched late into the night. He seemed more vampire than mafioso. Not exactly what you'd probably picture. But all things considered, in 1987, Patera, was thriving. We don't have his financials, but we know he did well. He owned a bar, had a fleet of vehicles, and could afford a sizable fourth-floor apartment in Brooklyn. Some of this might have been paid for using jewelry he allegedly took from his victims. Patera also had someone special

in his life. Her name was Celeste. When he met Celeste back in the mid-80s, there was an instant connection, and over the last several years, their relationship had blossomed. He was happy, and so was she. She wasn't Patera's first love, mind you. He'd been married once before and even had a son, but that had fallen apart. He'd been too invested in his job to make time for a family. And it seems the same thing ended up happening with Celeste. Perhaps Patera was too preoccupied with his work. And when he was free, Celeste used drugs. Patera loved everything about Celeste, but her cocaine and heroin use. He worked in the drug trade and knew firsthand what the stuff could do to people. He'd begged her to stop using, but she was addicted. So he focused on someone else, a neighbor,

Phyllis Burden, who he thought was Celeste supplier. Patera told all this to his associate, Frank Ganges. We've met Frank already, but it's time to get a little background on him. Before meeting Patera, he ran his own drug operation that got busted in 1985. After a short stint in prison, he sought out Patera, someone who was respected in the mafia community. During the year they'd been working together, Frank had done whatever he could to prove his loyalty. He wanted to climb the family ranks, and Patera seemed to trust Frank, especially after Frank helped him kill T'all Cicic. That was probably why Frank received a personal directive from Patera, tell Phyllis to stay away from Celeste. Frank did his request it and met with Phyllis, but apparently she didn't take his warnings seriously.

She wasn't about to stop seeing her friend just because Patera didn't like her. Celeste was an adult. She could make her own decisions. On a September night in 1987, Celeste and Phyllis hit the town. They ended up at Phyllis's apartment with a few friends. Hours later, Celeste died from an overdose. It wasn't until the next morning that anyone noticed and called the police. When Patera found out, he was devastated.

He'd lost the love of his life. And you can bet he went after Phyllis. He blamed her and he wanted revenge. As Philip Carlo explains in his book, Patera openly discussed his desire to have her killed. And the person he assigned to the task was Frank. But he ended up being the wrong choice. You see, Frank had actually begun seeing Phyllis in a more casual, intimate capacity.

They weren't dating per se, but they'd slept together. And when Patera told him what he wanted him to do, Frank panicked. Behind Patera's back, he tracked Phyllis down and told her to leave town as soon as possible. She balked at the idea. Where would she go? Her entire life was in Brooklyn. And she was sure things would blow over once Batera calmed down. Maybe Frank was hoping she'd change her mind,

but before he could find out, he brought her back to his place to spend the night. As the hours passed, Frank may have realized Phyllis couldn't escape her fate. Eventually, Patera would find out where she was, And when that happened, he might also figure out Frank was withholding information. So the following morning, Frank did the only thing he could think of to save himself. He talked to Patera. Within the hour, Patera arrived at Frank's apartment. While Phyllis lay there, still passed out from the night before,

Patera fired three shots into her body. She died without waking up. Just as he did with sick-sick, Patera butchered her in the bathtub. This might have been difficult for Frank. She wasn't just anybody. Phyllis had been important to him. Now she was dead, butchered, and he'd set it all in motion. And for Patera, well, the whole ordeal seemed out of character, he'd built a career by making ruthless but smart moves before murder was part of his business. With Phyllis, he'd gotten personal. We discussed this in our Hitman episode on

the Killer Brothers. What usually separates Hitman from other killers, at least according to a study out of Birmingham City University is their lack of emotional attachment. To them, murder is clinical, a chore to be completed. And that's how Patera seemed to approach his victims in the past. But this was different. This was emotional. And it wasn't going to stop anytime soon. We have no idea how many people Patera killed during the next few months and years, but here are a few victims we do know about. Patera thought Bolzano was talking to the cops about his burial site in Staten Island. He had Frank pick Balzano up in a car under the pretense of grabbing dinner together.

At some point in the ride, Patera jumped in the car. Frank flung an ice pick into Bolzano's chest, and Patera finished him off with two shots to the head before he slid his throat. The whole thing seemed messy. They didn't even take Balzano to the preserve, but left him in an alley instead. Not Patera's usual efficient hit. Another time, Patera got into an argument with a Polish boxer named Mark Kucharski. Frank was there too.

The fight was over Oriental rugs of all things. And when the spat escalated, Patera stabbed Kucharski. Of course, Kucharski fought back. He was a professional boxer, so he wasn't about to go down easy. And he managed to cut into Patera's hand. That's when Patera yelled for his trusty right-hand man, Frank, to kill Kucharski. And he did. Frank rushed forward with a knife of his own and cut Kucharski's throat.

Kucharski ended up butchered and buried in the nature preserve. The last of Patera's confirmed hits happened in March 1989 at one of his nightclubs. It was well past closing time, but there were still a few important people inside, because Patera had some activities planned. He'd become convinced that two associates with ties to the Bonanno Crime Family, Solomon Stern and Richard Leone, were rats. It didn't matter that he didn't have any proof. His suspicion was enough, and he sent out orders to haul them in.

Now both men were in his bar, handcuffed and chained to some pipes on the ceiling. Patera approached Leonie first, uncuffed him, and shot his leg. Leone screamed in pain. Then, in his signature high-pitched tenor, Patera allegedly ordered Leone to dance. When he didn't, Paterra fired several shots at the floor. Leone moved as best he could, wincing as blood poured from his leg. To inflict some extra suffering, Patera shot him several more times. It's unclear where these shots landed, but they weren't lethal.

They were painful, though, and Leone collapsed to the ground. He begged Patera to kill him. But Patera was done being quick and efficient. Everyone in the room watched as Patera did nothing, simply leaving Lione in agony. Unable to stand the sight, one of Patera's associates supposedly stepped forward and put a bullet in Lione's head. No one else spoke up, even as Patera turned his attention to Stern. He pulled out a knife and carved crosses into Stern's back as he writhed in pain. When he was satisfied with his work, he shot Stern seven times, killing him.

After it was all over, Patera ordered those standing around to clean up the mess. Stern and Leone were chopped up. been buried with the other bodies in the preserve. This double homicide serves as some of the clearest evidence of Patera's barbaric turn. He'd gone from a clinical killer to someone who tortured his victims. Everyone in the family and surrounding burrows knew about it, and it really freaked people out. After all, they knew what he was capable of. Now, he wouldn't just kill you.

He'd torture you, then mutilate your body and make sure you were never found. In some ways, a fearsome reputation like that was good for business. Crime families respected him, and Petera's rivals around the city weren't eager to mess with him. But it also put him on the government's radar. Coming up, The Sting. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime originals have everything you want.

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because Thomas Patera suspected he was being watched. Government monitoring wasn't unheard of, and like any good mafia member, Petera knew to take precautions. Whenever he drove around, his roots were meandering. He made random lefts, frequent U-turns, and ran red lights, all standard measures to avoid pesky tails.

He also assumed the feds installed listening equipment in his vehicles when he wasn't around. So for business conversations, he turned the radio to a static frequency and crank up the volume as loud as he could. It was ear splitting, perfect for talking to your passenger without Uncle Sam hearing. On top of that, Patera didn't have a phone. He only had face-to-face conversations with his associates, usually about taking confusing walks around Graves' End. The DEA had plenty of photos of him on these walks with other known mafiosi, but nothing they could use to arrest him. And that's the way it stayed for years.

Patera was too clever and had too many loyal people around him, or at least people who were too scared of him to go to the cops. So, aside from the DEA's attention, the beginning at the 1990s was looking bright for Patera. His escalating violence had translated into healthy business, both in his bars and on the streets. But there were also new developments in his personal life. Patera was probably still grieving Celeste.

It had likely been a tough few years full of rage and emptiness. Even so, he'd managed to find a new partner. She was a local woman with a teenage son, and the three of them got along well. Patera at one point even tried setting the teen straight by giving him some helpful advice. Yeah, helpful. While driving the kid around, Patera said, As long as you got them, cut his lungs. Body don't float.

Cut his stomach. Cut his stomach out. Cut both lungs. He was telling the young man how to ensure a body wasn't found if you dumped it in water. You heard that right. He was literally coaching a teenager on murder. We're unsure how the boy reacted. But now it's time to check in with Frank Angie.

Because while Patera's business and personal life around the upswing, Frank was struggling. At one point, he'd been Patera's right-hand man, but a life of violence and murder seemed to be getting to Frank. The pair had grown apart as he spiraled into a haze of guilt-fueled addiction. He, just like Patera, had dedicated himself to the Bonata family, going along with everything they asked him to do. But now, he found it increasingly difficult to sleep. In the middle of the night, he was left with nothing but the memories of those he'd killed. Frank was never diagnosed, but his symptoms sound a lot like. post-traumatic stress disorder. Most of us know PTSD and usually associate its effects with

soldiers returning from war. For Frank, the streets were his war zone, and he would likely never escape them. Those with PTSD often experience episodes brought on by panic or fear associated with their past trauma. People with a disorder are also 14 times more likely to suffer from substance use disorder, something Frank appeared to battle for years. By February 1990, his addiction and his guilt were spiraling out of control. When he got pulled over for a DUI that April, he saw an opportunity to atone for his sins. So he talked. He told the local PD about his affiliation with the mafia, and pretty soon the DEA arrived.

When those agents showed up, Frank ratted out Patera. He even took them to the preserve where the bodies were buried to prove everything. It was the break that DEA needed. That June, 35-year-old Thomas Patera found himself driving around Gravesend, going nowhere in particular. He pulled up behind a bus at a red light and sat there for a moment, watching the cross traffic. Then a sedan hit the back of his car out of nowhere. His front end slammed into the truck in front of him. Prepared for a hit, Patera ducked down in his front seat.

Within seconds, the passenger's side door flew open. Hand seized his shirt and a man dragged Patera out of the car. He hit the ground hard. Then he was shoved into the back of an unmarked car. Patera quickly realized this wasn't the mafia or a rival. If it had been, he'd already be dead. This was much worse. The DEA.

When the authorities arrested him, they already had an airtight case. Of course, Patera could make a deal and flip on those above him, but he'd built his career on killing rats. he wasn't about to become one himself. He'd rather die in prison. So he took his chances in court. There were a lot of charges, especially when it came to his drug operation, so we won't get into the weeds about each one.

Here's what you need to know. The DEA thought the terror had killed more than 50 people, but prosecutors only had enough evidence to charge him with seven murders. The trial started in May 1992, and after nearly two months of testimony from the likes of Frank Ganji and others in Patera's group, a jury took six days to reach a verdict. Patera was very guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison for six murders.

Talal Sik, Phyllis Burdy, Joseph Balzano, Marik Kucharski, Solomon Stern, and Richard Leone. Today, Thomas Patera is in his late 60s and remains behind bars at a high-security federal prison in McCreary County, Kentucky. The true extent of his crimes are still unknown. Following his arrest, Patera lost everything, his cars, his home, his business, and his freedom. Everything he built vanished. The only thing left was his credibility within the mafia,

and they couldn't do anything to save him. Patera dedicated his life to murder, and for a while he thought he'd made it. If success looks like the inside of an 8x8 cell, than, well, maybe he did. But a career built on blood will always have a shaky foundation. It was going to come crashing down

one way or another. It's a good thing for all of us that Patera got trapped in the rubble. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We're here every Monday and Thursday. For more information on Thomas Patera, we found the book, The Butcher, Anatomy of a Mafia Psychopath by Philip Carlo,

and reporting by Philip Messing for Newsday, extremely helpful to our research. You can find all episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Stay safe out there. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Our head of programming is Julian Borrow.

Our supervising sound designer is Russell Nash with Nick Johnson as our head of production and Spencer Howard as our post-production supervisor. Stacey Nemek is our supervising editor. Derek Jennings is our writing lead. This episode of serial killers was written by Robert Tyler Walker, edited by Kate Murdoch and Terrell Wells, fact-checked by Bennett Logan, researched by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood,

produced by Bruce Kitovich, and sound designed by Juan Borda. Our hosts are Greg Paulson and me, Vanessa Richardson. Want to hear something spooky? Some monster, it reminded me of Bigfoot. Monsters Among Us is a weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal. One of the boys started to exhibit demonic possession.

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