Philip Carlo

Philip Carlo (April 18, 1949 – November 8, 2010) was an American journalist and best selling biographer of Thomas Pitera, Richard Kuklinski, Anthony Casso, and Richard Ramirez. Carlo suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease". He was bound to a wheelchair and respirator, but retained his ability to speak normally during his lifetime. He died of the disease on November 8, 2010 at age 61. Philip Carlo was born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York. From an early age, he was involved in gang activity. Raised on the streets of Brooklyn, New York. In 1964 when Carlo was 15 years old, he witnessed a close friend shot to death by hit men from the Colombo crime family in broad daylight. Moving toward induction into an organized crime mob family, Carlo found himself in trouble with the law. At the age of 17, he was involved in a gang fight and shot in the forehead by a .22 caliber gu