Contract Killer: The Explosive Story of the Mafia's Most Notorious Hitman, Donald ""Tony the Greek"" Frankos

Donald Frankos, aka ``Tony the Greek,'' was a contract killer for the Mafia and at various times was also a pimp, drug dealer, burglar and loanshark. His story forms the basis of the most significant true crime book in memory, for Frankos gives details here of such events as the 1957 shooting of Albert Anastasia, the Lord High Executioner of Murder, Incorporated, and the 1972 robbery of the Hotel Pierre in Manhattan, which may have netted as much as $25 million. Most intriguing are his revelations about the murder of labor leader Jimmy Hoffa in 1975. Frankos claims to have been on the hit team and to have dismembered the corpse with a chainsaw and a meat cleaver. Hoffa's body parts in plastic bags were purportedly buried in cement at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. A man whose only regret is that he became ``a rat,'' Frankos is at his most vivid in recalling the horror of prison life. Hoffman ( Unholy Matrimony ) and the late Headley, a Las Vegas private eye, have told the story effectively, but why Frankos is not credited as one of the authors is a puzzlement. Photos not seen by PW. 125,000 first printing; $125,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Jan.)