The Iceman Tapes - Inside The Mind Of A Mafia Hitman

The Iceman Tapes - Inside The Mind Of A Mafia Hitman
Richard Kuklinski gets diagnosed by a psychiatrist.


 

Richard Leonard Kuklinski (April 11, 1935 – March 5, 2006) was an American contract killer who was convicted of murdering six people, though the true number of murders he committed is speculated to be over two hundred (based on claims by Kuklinski himself). He was associated with members of the American Mafia, namely the DeCavalcante crime family of Newark, New Jersey, and the Five Families of New York City.

Kuklinski was given the nickname "The Iceman" for his method of freezing a victim to mask the time of death. During his criminal career, fellow mobsters called him "the one-man army" or "the devil himself" due to his fearsome reputation and imposing physique of 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) and 270 pounds (122 kg). Kuklinski lived with his wife and children in the New Jersey suburb of Dumont. His family was apparently unaware of Kuklinski's double life and crimes.

By the early to mid-1980s, Kuklinski was involved in narcotics, pornography, arms dealing, money laundering, hijacking and contract killing. While his range of criminal activities expanded, he began to make mistakes. Although Kuklinski is claimed to have killed anyone who could testify against him, he got sloppy about disposing of his victims. Law enforcement began to suspect Kuklinski and started an investigation, gathering evidence about the various crimes he had committed. The eighteen month long undercover investigation led to his arrest in 1986. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988, with an additional 30 years added on.

After his murder convictions, Kuklinski took part in a number of interviews during which he claimed to have murdered from over 100 to 250 men between 1948 and 1986, though his recollection of events sometimes varied. Some have expressed skepticism about the extent of Kuklinski's alleged murders, but law enforcement are confident in their belief that he was a serial killer who killed at least several dozen people both at the behest of organized crime bosses and on his own initiative.

Three documentaries, two biographies, a feature film starring Michael Shannon, and now a play have been produced on Kuklinski, based on his interviews and the results of the task force that brought him to justice.