"Iceman" Kuklinski, Infamous Mob Hitman, dies

Associated Press

TRENTON - Richard Kuklinski, a notorious Mafia hit man who claimed to have killed more than 100 people and was known as "The Iceman," died Sunday at St. Francis Hospital in Trenton, the state Department of Corrections announced yesterday.

Department spokeswoman Deirdre Fedkenheuer did not disclose the cause of death, but said it was not suspicious.

Kuklinski, 70, was serving life sentences at New Jersey State Prison for two murders.

He was the subject of several books and two cable-TV documentaries. Just five years ago, he confessed to two murders on HBO's The Iceman Confesses: Secrets of a Mafia Hit Man.

In one of those cases, the 1980 killing of New York City Police Detective Peter Calabro, Kuklinski implicated another well-known mob hit man, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano. Gravano was charged in 2003 with murdering Calabro in Saddle River after Kuklinski told authorities that he had shot the detective on Gravano's orders.

Kuklinski, who preferred to kill by using a cyanide solution administered from a nasal spray bottle, earned his nickname because he kept some victims' bodies in a North Bergen freezer.

I watched an interview with him on A&E a couple weeks ago. Truly a sick man. When asked how he felt about murdering, he simply said "I don't."

Yeah, I saw a DVD released of two interviews conducted with him, and in one he described how he once bought a crossbow, and then proceeded to kill a man with it, "just to see if it worked."

I also rememember a story he told where he killed a guy and hid his body in a big barrel of sorts, like an oil drum kind of, and put it next to a resturant. He said he checked back like a week later, and the barrel was missing, and he never heard anything about the body being discovered or anything.

It's interesting, in recent years, Kuklinski had taken to admitting to murders he didn't committ, and trying to implicate people he didn't like as being involved in these murders with him. He kind of just seemed to like the attention.

Here's one example of his antics.

The Iceman Chews Himself Silly
A Gang Land Exclusive

Nineteen years ago, self-described Mafia hit man Richard (Iceman) Kuklinski complained bitterly about the way he was being treated by a swat team of cops and federal agents who arrested Kuklinski on murder charges that would put him behind bars for life.

“These guys watch too many movies,” the shackled Kuklinski bellowed to a TV news team that videotaped his remarks after a joint task force of investigators pulled him from his car and collared him a block from his Dumont, New Jersey home on Dec. 17, 1986.

Since then, Kuklinski is the one who has been watching too many gangster movies. That’s the only possible explanation for his actions during a secret jailhouse meeting he had the other day with two lawyers for Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano, whom the Iceman has accused of murdering of a corrupt cop.

Kuklinski, the focus of a 1992 book about his life, is the subject of a work in progress by Philip Carlo, an author who has written about serial killers. Kuklinski, who estimates he has killed “more than 100 people,” has starred in three HBO docudramas about his life. But sources say he bombed two weeks ago when he tried to play the role of a savvy wiseguy to the hilt at the Trenton State Prison, much like Jimmy Cagney might have 50 years ago.

At a March 22 session with the lawyers, The Iceman coolly wrote on a piece of paper that he was willing to throw the case for $200,000, according to sources familiar with his performance.

As the lawyers looked on in disbelief, Kuklinski dramatically tore the sheet of paper into little pieces, stuffed them in his mouth, swallowed them with a flourish in the best tradition of a street smart tough guy, and smiled like a contented Cheshire cat.

The only problem with the Iceman’s efforts to play a human waste paper shredder was that he left an impression of his scroll on the pad that he left behind.

As even a casual viewer of TV’s "CSI" shows is well aware, modern crime fighters will have little difficulty in recreating the words that Kuklinski used in his original note.

With current technology, it’s “quite simple” for authorities to determine the written message that Kuklinski displayed to Gravano’s lawyers, said Dr. Lawrence Kobilinsky, a professor of Forensic Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

“As long as you have the page beneath the one upon which the person wrote, there is standard equipment available that will enable investigators to enhance the indented writing,” said Kobilinsky.

The day after the Iceman’s faux pas, sources told Gang Land, Gravano’s lawyer, Anthony Ricco, notified Hackensack Superior Court Judge William Meehan of Kuklinski’s alleged extortion attempt and asked that the murder charges against his client be dismissed.

During a session that was apparently not transcribed, Meehan declined, but ordered assistant prosecutor Wayne Mello to investigate Ricco’s charges and report back at a status conference that was scheduled for May 3, according to sources familiar with the recent developments in the two-year-old murder case.

Ricco also contacted the FBI, which retrieved the telltale pad and has begun an investigation into the entire episode, sources said.

Gravano, based on allegations by Kuklinski that Sammy Bull hired him to whack NYPD Detective Peter Calabro (right) on March 14, 1980, was charged with the detective’s murder in February 2003 by Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli. The arrest, and subsequent indictment, took place two years after Kuklinski first asserted in an HBO special that he had shot Calabro to death 25 years ago.

To kill Calabro, Kuklinski said during the HBO special, he waited for hours for the cop to drive from Queens to Saddle River, NJ, and then hid poised behind a van that he double parked on the road. As Calabro slowed to drive around the van, The Iceman stepped out and killed him with a shotgun blast, Kuklinski said.

“I never knew the man, what he looked like or what his job was,” Kuklinski smiled. “I found out the next day he was a police officer,” he said.

FBI spokesman Jim Margolin, Judge Meehan and prosecutor Mello declined to comment. Ricco said he was “reluctant to go into detail” but confirmed that he and co-counsel Ed Wilford “did meet with Kuklinski. The subject matter of that meeting was reported to the appropriate authorities and is the subject of an investigation.”

Welcome to Hell, Richie.

I don't like saying this, but I think the world is a better place without men like Richard Kuklinski.

You shouldn't be ashamed to say it. It's true. The world is truly a better place without brutal murderers like him.

This guy was a nasty mother, you didn't feel anything for his victims..

Just finished his book...WOW..

Just imagine being fed to the rats..Shit thats scary..

I have his book but have'nt read it yet!
What i have seen of him?
Evil bastard!

The book took me like 2 days to read, i couldn't put it down,

The book was very good, in fact I liked the tale so much that if I establish myself in the film business. I would like to make a feature film and get those rights from the publisher.

It would make hell of a film..

same here great book also id love to see it made into a movie who would you have play the part of Richard?

Hmmmm,

I havn't a clue who would play the part..need someone who would convince the audience and play the part over 30-40 years.. maybe an unknown..How about you..

Nah im to good looking

Nah im to good looking

Nice one

I was asking for your choice for an actor..

oh


hard one definetly,ill have to have a think

I have no idea who to cast for the main role, although I think constantly of how i would want to make the film. An unknown actor would be ideal, I guess. although I definietly think John Goodman might be a possible candidate, as I think he can be that nice charming side of Richard, and then quickly change into that abusive ice cold killer. See Barton Fink by the Coen brothers if your thinking wow this guy is wrong.

Hey Guys, I might be out of line for saying this, but, I really felt sorry for Richard, if all was true. However, if you watched his interviews from A&E, then read Phil Carlo's book, you might wonder. After the interviews, Richard received a lot of positive mail from tons of people/women, all over; so, the interview with the psychiatrist makes me wonder: The psychiatrist asked him if he killed more than 100, 200- Richard put his hand over his face and looked down, saying, "yeah, yep, I've killed over 200 people". As much as I like Richard, reading this forum, especially after mistamista Tom Hagen's outlook on the matter. I know that he did some gruesome things, however, if the book is accurate, I might be sensitive enough and think about why, try to understand why. Sorry guys, it is just my opinion. What I am trying to say is that he probably got caught up in the attention, felt relaxed, which he never really had positive attention in the first 25 years of his life. And, if the guy was still alive, I believe I would have made some attempt to write to him. He was "created". I really, strongly, believe that.