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Richard Kuklinski, also known as ‘The Polack’ and ‘The Iceman’, was a mafia hitman for all six major East Coast crime families throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s. He carried out hits for the Gambinos, DeCavalcantes, Luccheses, Genoveses, Colombos, and the Bonannos. Throughout his career he would rack up almost 200 murders, including every friend he ever had — except the one that would eventually turn him in. Kuklinski was caught by an undercover cop and sent to prison in 1988, ending nearly three decades of murder and mayhem.
The true horrors came to light after he was caught, through prison interviews with the killer, his family, and fellow mafia colleagues.
Here’s 10 absolutely brutal facts about the life and times of Richard Kuklinski: The Iceman.
- His elder brother was murdered as a child — by his own father.
Kuklinski was born in 1935 to a world of poverty and abuse. Richard’s father Stanley beat his wife, Anna, and their children mercilessly. When Richard was five, he witnessed his father beat his eight-year-old brother to death. Stanley had a penchant for punching the little boy in the back of the head whenever he was drunk or in a particularly bad mood. His parents covered it up to authorities by saying Florian had fallen down a flight of stairs.
This would be one of Richard’s first and worst memories of his father. He also had zero fondness for his mother, a broken woman who would also dole out beatings. He would later refer to her simply as “cancer”.
2. He committed his first murder at the age of 13.
Growing up, Richard was bullied not only in his home but at school and in the streets, as well. This culminated in him beating his childhood bully to death. While he had set out with the intention of getting the kid off his back, Richard found he just couldn’t stop hitting him. By the time he did, Charley Lane wasn’t moving anymore. He then pulled out all his teeth and cut off the fingertips so the body couldn’t be identified. Richard was only 13 years old and had gotten these ideas from reading true crime magazines.
Although he admitted he hadn’t intended to kill the bully, he ultimately went after every other kid in Lane’s gang and developed a reputation as…
