His favorite method of killing, which he would later boast about was a nasal-spray bottle filled with cyanide. He earned Mafia respect at age 18 by killing a random man selected for him on the sidewalk, it was then he became the Genovese crime family’s indispensable hitman, he was a professional at killing often using guns, ice picks, hand grenades, crossbows and chainsaws to kill his victims, and due to his 6’5” height and his weight of 300 pounds he towered over his victims as he took their life away. Kuklinski’s criminal career included robbery, hijackings and pornography, but murder was his specialty.

Barbara later said that when she expressed doubts about her marriage he pierced her back with a hunting knife and confessed he couldn’t live without her, they married and she bore him three children. Whilst working in a New Jersey loading dock, he met his future wife Barbara, he was however already married and had two boys, but he was persistent. The police were unaware to what was occurring, they were under the impression that local ‘bums’ were killing each other. Soon enough, anyone that annoyed Kuklinski was to be murdered, anyone that reminded him of his father, anyone that didn’t allow him to win at the pool table, and many other various ways. Later in life during an interview, he admitted to feeling empowered after committing his first murder. Unsurprisingly, it wouldn’t be long before Kuklinski started being violent, firstly he began killing cats in the neighborhood before committing his first murder at the age of 14, a teen in a neighboring gang, the body was never found.

His elder brother died from the abuse suffered at the hands of their father. He was born 11th of April 1935 in the Polish section of New Jersey, born to a devout Catholic mother and an abusive violent alcoholic of a father, who beat Kuklinski regularly. His death toll was widely believed to be between 100 and 200 men. Richard ‘The Iceman’ Kuklinski known as ‘The Iceman’ due to the fact he would often freeze his victims to obscure their time of death, was described as one of the most violent contracted hitmen who worked for numerous prominent Mafia crime families.

Iceman killer death cause