One of the most infamous, devoted, long time killers once lived in a small town in New Jersey. He killed over 200 people from 1948-1986 and got away with most of his crimes. The reason being, he never had a signature, in which any crime that was committed the same exact way every time, would easily be linked to that one person. The name of this very smart evil man was Richard “Iceman” Kuklinski. He never killed in a predictable way nor did he ever know what was going to happen. But whenever you got on his bad side, or were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, Kuklinski would be out to get you. After finally getting caught in 1986, Kuklinski was requested for interviews, criminologists, writers, psychiatrists and television producers about his criminal career, his past, and his personal life. This is what everyone now knows about the infamous “Iceman”.

Richard Leonard Kuklinski was born on April 11, 1935 to Stanley and Anna Kuklinski. He was the second of four children raised in Jersey City, New Jersey. Even though they were a devoted Catholic family, Anna often beat Richard during his childhood. Meanwhile, Stanley was an alcoholic who worked as a brakeman at a railroad, who also hit his children. When Richard was only five years old, his older brother, Florian, was brutally being beaten by his father and was eventually killed. When Stanley realized what he had done, he demanded Anna to call the hospital and say her son fell down the stairs. Stanley ultimately left the family, leaving Richard to fend for himself. By sixteen, Richard’s explosive temper became well known, along with his willing to kill. In the book The Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer by Philip Carlo, it states, "His younger brother, Joseph, also grew up to be a killer like Richard but not to the same extent. Richard’s younger sister Roberta was probably the only one who grew up to be 'normal.'” In 1970, Joseph stole a dog from a local 12-year-old girl. He then told the young girl that he found her dog, luring her to a roof. On that roof he raped and murdered her. After all that, he threw the girl's lifeless body and her dog off the roof. The dog survived the fall but howled in pain, therefore getting the attention from the neighbors. Once the police were called, Joseph immediately confessed to the crime. Joseph ended up dying in prison on September 22, 2003. (Olszewski)

Richard’s first target was his number one enemy, Charley Lane. Charley was in a gang called 'The Project Boys.' In 1948, Richard was 14 years old when he set up and beat the boy who bullied him for a while. After the beating, Richard decided to go all the way. He repeatedly hit him with a thick wooden dowel (rod), eventually leading to his death. Once the killing was done, Kuklinski dumped Lane off a bridge in South Jersey after chopping Lane’s finger tips off with a hatchet and removed his teeth, trying to hide his identity. All at only 13 years old. Charley Lane’s body was never found. The feeling of accomplishment ran through his veins and Richard went off to look for the other kids from 'The Project Boys.' He snatched a metal pole from a trash can and beat them all nearly to death. Richard’s victims were anyone who annoyed him in anyway and anyone who was a “loudmouth” because it reminded him of his alcoholic father. Richard has also admitted to abusing and torturing small animals, such as cats and dogs. Over the next thirty years, according to Kuklinski, he killed numerous people, either by gun, strangulation, knife, or poison. The exact number has never been settled upon by authorities, and Kuklinski himself at various times claimed to have killed between 33 and 200 individuals (Carlo). After Richard’s association with the Gambinos and DeMeo, killing random people became fun. Richard and his new friends had many adventures together – AKA killing sprees. Using cyanide to murder was one of his favorites. His disposable methods were very unpredictable, for example dismemberment, burial, placing the body in the trunk of a dump car and having it crushed in a junkyard, cutting up the bodies so they’d fit into a 50 gallon oil drum, or even just leaving the body on a park bench. According to Kuklinski, during his time as an alleged hit man, he met the love of his life, Barbara.

Barbara Pedrici recently graduated high school when she met Richard. She worked as a secretary at a trucking company. After a while of dating, she eventually grew doubts about marriage, but married Richard out of fear. They later had three children together, two girls, Christen and Merrick and one boy, Dwayne. Barbara has said that Richard would do whatever he pleased at home and no one ever questioned him, especially Barbara. He would wake up at 2o’clock in the morning and leave the house, and even leave during dinner. Richard was 6’5, 300 lbs and beat his wife often. He broke her nose twice and broke her ribs four times, stabbed her, and suffocated her in the middle of the night saying that it was her time to die.

Merrick and Christen always bumped heads while growing up. During an interview, Christen stated, "I found fault in a lot of what he did. Merrick pretty much made excuses for everything that he did so we did not agree on that. And Merrick and him were very close… I protected my mother and that was where my alliance leads” (Roberts). Merrick loved her father and just wanted to give him comfort. She wanted to show him love so that he wouldn’t be angry or in a mood. The only reason Merrick was like that was because she spent most of her childhood in hospitals and her father would constantly visit her, bringing her gifts and made sure she would get better. To her, Richard was a bowl of sunshine. On the other hand, Chris saw Richard the way Barbara saw him. Even though Richard once admitted to Merrick that if he were to one day kill Barbara, he’d have to get rid of the whole family to leave no witnesses, and she accepted it. Chris and Barbara tried anything possible to get away. They planned poisoning him or escaping from him, but if the attempt to murdering him failed, they’d end up dead. And if Richard found them in their new home, they’d end up dead also. Literally every plan backfired before it even started. Staying there, trying to avoid his outbursts and keep him happy, they can still end up dead just by saying one thing wrong. Surviving the Iceman may have made Chris and Merrick happy, but Barbara did not care. Living her life with this murderous monster made her impassive.

In 1986 authorities finally caught up with Robert. His case was all based on an undercover cop, Pat Kane, who started his investigation six years prior to the arrest. Special Agent Dominick Polifrone had undercover experience specializing in Mafia cases. The New Jersey State Police and the Bureau began a joint operation. Detective Kane recruited Phil Solimene, a close friend of Kuklinski, who introduced undercover agent Polifrone to the killer (Carlo). The Bureau agent decided to act like they wanted to hire Kuklinski as a hitman and recorded his details into how he would do it. When the state and federal agents went to arrest Kuklinski, it took closing off his street and multiple officers to bring him down. They even had to arrest Barbara because the car was under her name and there was an unregistered gun inside. When arresting Barbara, the police officer places his boot on her back, which enraged Robert, hence the multiple officers bringing his down. In 1988, a New Jersey court convicted Kuklinski of five murders and sentenced him to consecutive life sentences, making him ineligible for parole until age 110. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to the 1980 murder of NYPD detective Peter Calabro and drew another 30 years (Carlo). In one interview, Kuklinski claimed that he would never kill a child and most likely would never kill a woman. There was also a confession to testing out a crossbow before using it. He drove in his car and asked a man for directions. He then shot him with the crossbow and stated that it only went through half of his skull. On top of that, he confessed to kidnapping his victims, taping their hands and feet together, and leaving their bodies in caves where the rats would eat them. He admitted to recording their deaths to prove to the buyers that his victims suffered before their deaths. Surprisingly, Kuklinski actually regretted one of his murders. He thought that it was cruel, even for him. Before he was going to murder a man, the man began to pray to God. Kuklinski told him he’d give God 30 minutes to save his life, and actually made the poor man wait. He then murdered him when the minutes passed.

Kuklinski earned the nickname “The Iceman” for his clever disposal of one body. He murdered a Louis Masgay and froze his body for two years. The body was then found alongside a highway, still partly frozen. The reason why it was so clever was because there would be no way of finding out when the man was murdered. The body would still be “fresh” in a way. Even the coroner couldn’t tell when it happened.

The criminological theories that may explain why Richard Kuklinski was the man he had become is Conflict Theory, Stress Theory and Social Learning Theory. Conflict Theory states, “…strong deviant motivation, greater deviant opportunity, and weaker social control, the powerful are more likely to engage in profitable deviancy than the powerless to engage in unprofitable deviancy (Thio). Richard was a very confident man who knew what he was capable of. It got him to work with the Mafia and take control of any situation he did not like and therefore, was satisfied with the lifestyle and what came with it. Those who lack the resources and social support are more likely than others to buckle under stress and turn violent. This statement is a visual of the Stress Theory, in which Richard portrays in multiple instances in his life. For example, once Stanley abandoned his family and made them fend for themselves, that’s when Richard committed his first murder by killing his on going bully. On the days that Richard beat up kids whenever they picked on him, he would use anything he first laid his eyes on. Learning this action from his father, handling things through violence, Richard is portraying the Social Learning Theory. From these experiences, the individual learns that violence is the appropriate way to deal with the interpersonal problems.

From the very first killing to the very last, Kuklinski was very professional. Even though many view this man as a crazy, psycho killer, I’m sure many more view him as the smartest man in the world. Until this day, the authorities cannot track down all of his killings, nor can they find the bodies. It’s pretty unbelievable to commit to a steady day and night job, and still come home to a family he loves. Kuklinski has definitely made a mark in this world, both good and bad, and I’m sure the world will never forget his name.

Works Cited

Carlo, Philip. The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer. New York: St.

Martin's, 2006. Print.

"Interview With Family of a Mafia Hitman." Interview by John Roberts. CNN.com. Larry

King, 26 June 2006. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.

Olszewski, Anthony. "Brother To The Iceman." Hudson County Facts. N.p., 31 Dec.

2009. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

"Richard Leonard Kuklinski." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 02

Thio, A. (2004). Deviant behavior (7 ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.