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.
