Pitera attended the David A. Boody Junior High School at 228 Avenue S in Gravesend, where he left little impression with his teachers, daydreamed a lot and was bullied by his peers because of his high-pitched voice.

At the age of 12, Pitera had been a huge fan of the 1966 The Green Hornet television show and actor Bruce Lee starring alongside Van Williams, triggering his lifelong interest in martial arts.

He let his thick, straight, black hair grow down past his ears despite disapproval by his parents for not wanting him to look like a "hippie", started eating sushi as a regular part of his diet and immersed himself in Eastern philosophy.

After winning an arduous kumite competition in Sheepshead Bay, Pitera spent 27 months in Tokyo, Japan training assiduously under the revered Japanese martial arts Shihan Hiroshi Masumi in the ways of the Ko-ryū Ninjutsu.

His mother and aunt Angelina Bugowski went to visit him and were impressed with the change to his physical appearance, maturity, sensibility and understanding of the Japanese culture and people.

He belonged to a Bonanno faction headed by caporegimes Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato, Frank Lino, Dominick Trinchera and Philip Giaccone.

The hit was reportedly delegated to Pitera and fellow gunman Vincent "Kojak" Giattino after Gotti had discovered that Johnson had been a government informant since 1966.

Pitera's associates, Lloyd Modell and Frank Martini, murdered two Colombian dealers and stole sixteen kilograms of cocaine.

Martini moved back to Sicily and continued his relationship with the Bonanno crime family while Pitera killed Tala Siksik, a Middle Eastern drug supplier, in his Brooklyn apartment.

Investigators eventually found six of Pitera's victims in a mob graveyard in Staten Island near the William T. Davis Wildlife Refuge.

He used the Staten Island graveyard because he believed that the damp soil would accelerate decomposition and the wildlife refuge would ensure the bodies were not discovered during construction projects.

Frank had been arrested for driving under the influence and allegedly started reliving Pitera's worst atrocities in his mind while sitting in the holding cell.

The prosecution also produced a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent who testified to digging up graves containing the dismembered bodies of some of Pitera's victims.

Moreover, only two of the murder victims, Richard Leone and Solomon Stern, were killed on March 15, 1989, after the Federal death penalty law went into effect.

"[8] After the verdict was read, Pitera smiled and gave a thumbs up to reporters sitting in the Brooklyn courtroom; he had avoided the death penalty.