“THE ICEMAN”Richard Kuklinski

Zach Smith pd. 5

BACKGROUND Grew up in New Jersey to abusive parents Alcoholic father beat him heavily; mother beat him with

household objects-one brother died from injuries due to father’s abuse

Strict Catholic upbringing which he rejected NY Times reported he killed cats growing up Committed first murder at 14; beat local bully and gang

leader with steel clothing rod and unintentionally killed him By early twenties he achieved reputation as an explosive,

tough street hustler who beat and/or killed those who offended him or who he simply did not like

Led to his association with Gambino Crime Family

CRIMESCRIME DATE VICTIM

Shot repeatedly January 31, 1980 George Malliband, 42

Shot w/ shotgun March 14, 1980 Peter Calabro,

Shot in the head July 1981 Louis Masgay, 50

Shot, then bludgeoned w/ tire iron

April 29, 1982 Paul Hoffman, 51

Kuklinski has also claimed to have killed over 200 people in total, however the credibility of his claim is unknown.

THE ICEMAN IS CAUGHT

An undercover policeman, Dominick Polifrone, posed as a client wanted Kuklinski to do a murder for him; he agrees and provides a plan

- He supplied Kuklinski with fake cyanide for the planned murder Upon reaching the destination for the murder, Kuklinski tested the

cyanide on a stray dog, then realizing it wasn’t really cyanide Kuklinski went home immediately and in about 2 hours he was arrested- a gun was found in his car and his wife was also arrested for attempting to block her husband’s arrest Case against Kuklinski was entirely based upon Polifrone’s testimony in

coordination with a case building in the New Jersey State Police for 6 years

Charged with five counts of murder, six weapons' violations, an attempted murder, robbery and attempted robbery

Kuklinski was found guilty of five murders in all in March 1988, and was awarded consecutive life sentences for them

QUOTE“By now you know what I like most was the hunt, the challenge of what the thing was. The killing for me was secondary. I got no rise as such out of it…for the most part. But the figuring it out, the challenge-the stalking and doing it right, successfully-that excited me.”

-Richard Kuklinski

Why “The Iceman”? Used the technique of freezing the dead bodies to

make it difficult for the authorities to establish the time of death precisely

Many techniques used were shooting, stabbing, bludgeoning, dismemberment, chainsaws, fire, cyanide

One of the more gruesome ones was leaving the victim severely injured in a rat infested area to be eaten alive

Cultural References Michael Shannon plays Kuklinski in the 2012 film The

Iceman based on Anthony Bruno's book The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer

Chicago death metal band, Macabre's song "The Iceman" from their album Murder Metal is about Kuklinski, and gives details of his methods of murder

The Iceman Confesses: Secrets of a Mafia Hitman and The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer are two documentaries that feature the Mafia hitman Richard Kuklinski. They were produced by HBO and released in 1992 and 2001, respectively

The Iceman(2013)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJIXOx2-GZ8

SOCIAL CONTROL THEORY Richard faced an abusive family life

His parents beat him and his siblings vigorously Older sibling died from injuries suffered from father

• Lived in a delinquent and aggressive community Grew up surrounded by crime Parents influence was too strong, too aggressive Weakened and severed bonds with parents Ironically forced into strict Catholic religion which he learned to despise;

severing spiritual ties Sense of right and wrong was altered severely Emotional connections and responses faded away Richard learned how to cope with everyday struggles through the violent

nature of his parents responses Parents failed to establish important values and morals within Richard- had

they he would have had a much lower chance of becoming the vicious killer he became