• TIM JEAN/Staff photo Joe Ferraro uses a sledgehammer to break paving blocks on top of his brother John'ss head during John's Black Friday performance as Gino Martino, the "Human Anvil," at Two Guys Smoke Shop in Salem yesterday
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• Gino enjoys a Drew Estates Cigar whilst doing wha he does best! 
• TIM JEAN/Staff photo At top, Joe Ferraro uses a jackhammer to break concrete blocks on top of his brother John's head during John's Black Friday performance as Gino Martino, the "Human Anvil," at Two Guys Smoke Shop in Salem yesterday. 

November 27, 2010

By John Toole  Sat Nov 27, 2010, 02:22 AM EST

SALEM — The specter of death hung heavy in the air outside Two Guys.

Or maybe it was just the fragrant smoke from the dozen or so cigar-puffing spectators collected in the smoke shop's parking lot at high noon yesterday.

No matter. It was all about the moment.

A man they call "The Human Anvil." A block of concrete. A few patio bricks. His younger brother, living the dream of younger brothers everywhere, armed with sledgehammer and jackhammer. One thick skull, as the brothers say, documented by Harvard Med and the History Channel.

The man on his knees, holding first the block, then the bricks, upon his head.

His brother, atop a wooden stand, wielding his weapons of destruction.

The man, totally focused now, eyes bulging as the blows were delivered. He leaned forward ever so slightly as the bricks crumbled.

Then, not exactly a scream, more like a growl, and The Human Anvil emerged, fists clenched, arms flexed, to nods of approval, laughter, applause and handshakes. People staring in disbelief from passing traffic on Route 28.

Death defied once more, as it had been hundreds of times before.

John Ferraro knows how to take a pounding.

"It's like I told you," Ferraro said, explaining that animal-like sound. "In that moment, I'm on the beach in Laconia. I feel the jackhammer. I feel the initial boom. Then all my energy is releasing."

Ferraro is not your average vice president of sales and marketing with a plastics company. He also is a professional wrestler, a strongman with a special talent uncovered early in life for breaking things over his head. And escaping concussion, although his forehead shows at least a dozen scars.

He uses two names, not uncommon for a guy from Revere, Mass., but he comes by his second name legitimately. He wrestles and does his Human Anvil exhibitions as Gino Martino.

Brother Joey helped launch him on this career. Neither brother can recall the reason for the quarrel, but John was giving chase as the heavy, oak door slammed into his head.

John survived, the door was damaged. Mother was upset. John had to expand the paper route, pay for the door.

"But I knew I had a special ability," Ferraro recalled.

He's done this with bricks, concrete, boards, iron bars. You name it. The martial arts training helped, but the brothers stress it's really the skull.

His motto: "It's mind over matter. When you're out of your mind, it just doesn't matter."

In the moment, there is a quick prayer to St. Jude. As John goes mentally to his happy place on Lake Winnipesaukee, Joey blocks out distractions.

"You always have to be 100 percent paying attention," Joey Ferraro said. "Where that blade is going, if it slips? It could cut his skull, take his ear, permanently scar him. It could be a fatal blow, you don't know."

"Don't try it, you're not a professional," Joey said.

Store owner David Garofalo said yesterday's event, in conjunction with Drew Estate cigars, was intended to benefit Salem police and firefighters, who last night were squaring off in a tug-of-war competition as part of the festivities.

John Ferraro admits "I'm putting my body on the line every time I do it. "But I will be doing it forever. I won't ever stop."