One of the Most Monstrous Serial Killers of all Time: Richard Kullinkski: The Iceman

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that infamous Richard Kuklinkski has found is place in history as one of the most evil and vile serial killers of all time. How such a person can even be classified as human is beyond me.

Richard Kuklinkski was born into a poor polish New Jersey family on March 5, 1935. His mother worked in a meat factory and his father was a brakemen with the railroad. The parents were very strict and both parents were abusive and beat him. His mother beat him with the broom or anything she could find when he didn’t follow her orders.

Even though Kuklinkski grew up as a choirboy and went to catholic school, it did not convince him to love his parents. He especially hated his father and why wouldn’t he? This little boy saw his father beat his brother to death (quoted from a TV program). With that kind of upbringing it is not hard to understand the rage and hatred that took over the young Richard Kuklinkski’s soul.

Evidence of his anti social behavior began in his childhood. Richard started as a boy to show his diabolical character and the makings of a serial killer. He used to tie cats together by their tail then throw them over the clothesline to watch them claw each other to death. When that bored him he would throw cats into the apartment’s incinerator and watch them burn to death. His cruelty was not limited to cats. He would throw dogs off roofs or tie them to the bumpers of buses so they could be dragged to their death.

After Stanley Kuklinkski created the monster in his child, he abandoned him and young Richard had to fend for himself in the streets.

As a teenager of 14, he was bullied by another kid at school and beat him to death. By 16 he started his own street gang and delighted in his power. Kuklinkski once took on six kids at a time. He always carried a knife and two derringers wherever he went.

By 1960 he was a well-known street hustler but he did manage to marry and have three kids. He had trouble holding down real jobs, and eventually started working for a film lab where he stole, or pirated the pornographic movies in order to sell to people connected to the Gambino crime family. This little business paved to the way to working odd jobs for the mob.

Kuklinkski, now a serial killer who enjoyed working with brutality and disregard for human lives became a debt collector for the Gambino Family at the Gemini Lounge in Brooklyn. The victims either paid their debts or ended up hacked to death and taken out in body bags. Most people no doubt made sure they paid their debts to the family after that.

Kuklinkski enjoyed his work, he didn’t mind chopping off body parts while the victim was still alive. He felt if his work required cutting out victims’ tongue and shoving it up their rectums was what it took to make a point, then he did it without a second thought. The serial killer also used cyanide, either pouring it in their drinks to poison them or pouring it directly onto their bodies so it would seep into the pores. Eventually the cyanide killed them that way as well. Kuklinkski would dump his bodies all over the place, in the river, old smashed up cars, steel drums, off the side of a road, anywhere.

Richard Kuklinkski told the world he was a businessman. This serial killer actually was a hit man who charged $50,000 a contract making him a very wealthy man. What was astonishing is that his wife and children never knew about his business. He wife never questioned his comings and goings and most importantly, Kuklinkski was actually a great husband and father. He provided his family with the love he never got as a child.

It makes me wonder how a man that could be so loving as a father be so cruel to everyone else in the world. It just does not seem logical. When we think of a cold-blooded serial killer we think that he is cold blooded in every aspect of his life. It is like Kuklinkski was too different people in the same body.

An example of the two minds in this serial killer occurred on a particular Christmas Eve when Kuklinkski left the house to kill someone. He came home and wrapped toys for the kids. He then watched the news about the murder on TV like he had nothing to do with it.

By the 1980’s, serial killer, Richard Kuklinkski, was the leading man in his crime ring. He was involved in drugs, pornography, and gambling as well as contracts for killing on an worldwide level but he also started to get cocky. He was taken more chances, leaving telltale signs behind which lead the FBI right to his activities.

Some of his mistakes included leaving a victim who he poisoned under a hotel room bed. He poisoned him but he also strangled him so the evidence was more than obvious that this man was murdered.

The stunt that gave this serial killer the nickname Iceman was a stunt intended to throw the police off. He had killed Louis Masgay in 1981 and froze the body. Two years later he dumped the body in a park after he unfroze it. Kuklinkski was attempting to throw the police off by thinking the murder just happened. Only his plan was foiled as the body was not fully thawed out.

More and more bodies were popping up dead. They were either business associates of the serial killer or they were last seen with him. At this point Kuklinkski had been under investigation for three years. By 1986, a task force was set up to catch the serial killer. An agent was sent in to work under cover and report Kuklinkski’s activities. It then became apparent that Kuklinkski was going to murder the agent and so the task force set up a roadblock in December of 1986 and arrested him. Kuklinkski was sent to trial and convicted of murder and attempted murder on the life of the agent involved in the case.

Kuklinkski pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two life sentences. Kulklinkski’s first opportunity for release would be at the age of 111. Kuklinkski boasted of killing over 200 people. He died in his cell on March 5, 2005 at the age of 70. He never admitted remorse but was quoted as saying, he could live his over again he probably would have chosen a different career path.

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