Hi Binnie, hope you're enjoying your day.

Burke. That was one unhinged SOB wasn't he. When Henry Hill said Burke slammed the phone down in the phone booth upon learning DeSimone was whacked instead of made, you could also feel the vibration right through the book.

Burke was like the Lucchese Roy Demeo almost, and Paul Vario the Lucchese Nino Gaggi, just a low key Sicilian that could lock eyes with a homicidal maniac and actually grab his attention.

Was Burke as prolific a killer as Demeo?

In murders he committed directly, probably yeah. In murders committed by those who worked with/under him, probably not.

It's not easy to answer. Believe it or not, I think Paul Castellano is right up there along with the most prolific bosses when it came to OKing hits, because of his connection to the Demeo crew.


Carlo might be there too. I read an anecdote about how he would hold court and just have that grin on his face with his head bobbing up and down nodding yes over and over again to anyone requesting to hit whomever. He would be nodding yes before you even asked him if you could whack Joey.