Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 23 minutes ago
Richard Kuklinski was a devoted husband, a loving father...and a ruthless killer. A decade after HBO last visited him in prison, the convicted murderer, who freely admits having whacked more than 100 people in cold blood, takes viewers back inside his cold, calculating mind. In this follow-up to America Undercover's 1992 film The Iceman Tapes: Conversations with a Killer, Kuklinski provides all-new insights about his exploits as one of the Mafia's most notorious assassins...and reveals some shocking confessions for a number of previously unsolved murders.

Category

😹
Fun
Transcript
00:00:00On May 25th 1988, Richard Kuklinski was convicted of multiple murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
00:00:30This ended 30 years of cold-blooded killing by a masked criminal police called the Iceman.
00:00:38Richard Kuklinski is one of the most dangerous criminals we have ever come across in this state.
00:00:45He murdered by guns. He murdered by strangulation. He murdered by putting poison on victims' food.
00:00:53He did all of this at the same time while exhibiting a normal placid family existence.
00:01:00His wife, his children were uninvolved in his criminal activities.
00:01:05Yet, we are faced with evidence, convicting evidence, of numerous grisly murders.
00:01:12How many people have you killed?
00:01:22I have an approximate guess.
00:01:28Approximately, we'll go with more than a hundred.
00:01:39How do you feel about killing?
00:01:49I don't.
00:01:54It doesn't bother me.
00:01:57It doesn't bother me at all.
00:02:01I don't have a feeling one way or the other.
00:02:06I think if I had a choice, I wouldn't.
00:02:12The following program is based on 17 hours of an interview conducted under maximum security at Trenton State Prison.
00:02:22Law enforcement officials allowed our cameras unprecedented access in an attempt to uncover details of various unsolved crimes.
00:02:31It was also hoped that the interview would help to penetrate the mind of Richard Kuklinski, a mind made for murder.
00:02:44Richard, when you were on the streets, what kind of weapons did you use?
00:02:49When I was out on the streets to do something, I carried three guns and a knife.
00:02:57I had a derringer in each pocket.
00:03:04I had a gun on my ankle, a bigger gun just in case, and a knife.
00:03:12And it all depends how it came about.
00:03:16Did you hear yesterday that you used a shotgun to grab a storm light or something like that?
00:03:24I had a red light.
00:03:26We were following this fellow.
00:03:31I pulled up with a red light, came alongside of him, and shot the shotgun and took his head off.
00:03:44He never saw the green light.
00:03:46It was a sawed-off shotgun.
00:03:51As a matter of fact, when it happened, it surprised me.
00:03:56I expected the man to die, but it really surprised me when it took his head off.
00:04:06It was something I didn't expect.
00:04:09Richard Kuklinski is not a serial killer.
00:04:14He's not a drug-crazed, wild man running around with a machine gun.
00:04:21He's not a person that is driven by perverse sexual desires.
00:04:29He doesn't drink.
00:04:31He doesn't gamble.
00:04:34All of these things, which many persons that are involved in killing and murders often are motivated by.
00:04:41Richard Kuklinski, instead, is nothing more than a predator on human beings.
00:04:49His motivation is greed, and his method of murder is very varied and very extreme.
00:04:55Richard, I understand that you're an expert at the use of cyanide.
00:05:01How many times did you kill with it?
00:05:04Quite a few.
00:05:05What's the different ways you use cyanide?
00:05:08You could put it in liquid form.
00:05:17You could...
00:05:19A person could say, for instance, a person could be in a bar.
00:05:24You bunk into them, possibly by mistake or say you were intoxicated.
00:05:30Spill a drink on them and leave.
00:05:35Everybody just looks around and thinks you were drunk or that you just had an accident or something.
00:05:40And meanwhile, it's soaking through their clothes into their pores and into their system.
00:05:50And eventually, they'll die.
00:05:56I've been in a restaurant where we were eating,
00:06:03and the guy went to the bathroom.
00:06:06And when I was in the bathroom, we put a little boost in his food.
00:06:12And he was rushed to the hospital after that.
00:06:20And he died.
00:06:25And they buried him.
00:06:29I'm not exactly sure what they attributed his death to.
00:06:35But, you know, it wasn't homicide.
00:06:39Somewhere, and I don't know where, he picked up on cyanide poisoning as being a good way, a good, quick way to kill somebody.
00:06:50It's such a good way to kill somebody that that's the gas that's used in gas chambers.
00:06:55I mean, cyanide in a gas-fed form, which is similar to cyanide in a being eaten form, kills very quickly.
00:07:05It kills faster than arsenic, faster than strychnine.
00:07:08And it's hard to detect if the person, if it isn't specifically looked for.
00:07:18He murdered, sometimes months apart, years apart.
00:07:24He used different methods.
00:07:27He would go so far as to plan in his crimes the actual deceit of law enforcement.
00:07:35By that I mean he would on occasion murder someone, cut their body, wrap them in layer after layer of plastic bags and material,
00:07:45and then deposit the body many, many miles from the murder scene.
00:07:49What is it to dispose of something?
00:07:51You throw it away.
00:07:54You throw it anywhere.
00:07:56It all depends if you don't want it found or if you want it found.
00:08:00If you want it found, it doesn't matter. You just leave it there.
00:08:04If you don't want it found, you could take it somewhere.
00:08:10You could bury it.
00:08:13You could put it in a big drum.
00:08:19You could put it in the trunk of a car and have it crushed.
00:08:29You could leave it in town. You could put it on a park bench.
00:08:32I mean, you know, you could put it anywhere you want.
00:08:35They found a few people sitting on park benches, I'm sure.
00:08:41As a matter of fact, I know they have.
00:08:45Are there any murders that you committed that haunt you?
00:08:49That you just sort of, you feel and you do?
00:08:55Nothing haunts me.
00:08:58No murders haunt me.
00:09:03Nothing.
00:09:05Nothing.
00:09:06I don't think about it.
00:09:08That's why it's hard for me to tell you.
00:09:10In order for me to be able to tell you when something happened, I'd have to think about when.
00:09:15If I think about it, it would wind up hurting me, so I doubt I don't think about it.
00:09:31If I had a choice, and of course you have already said to me we all have choices.
00:09:38Maybe we do.
00:09:42At the time, I didn't seem to have one.
00:09:44But if I could have, I would like to be different than what I am.
00:09:50I would have liked to have been different than what I was, yes.
00:09:54It would be better.
00:09:56It would have been better for me.
00:09:58I would have liked to have had a better outlook on life.
00:10:08But I can't change yesterday.
00:10:13Richard Kuklinski was born April 11, 1935, in a low-income public housing project in Jersey City.
00:10:23His father was a brakeman for the railroad, and his mother worked in a meatpacking plant.
00:10:29I didn't like my partner, because he would beat me just because he felt like it.
00:10:35To get my attention, I guess.
00:10:38He would think nothing of coming in and smacking you.
00:10:42You know, basically.
00:10:45He'd just come in and give you a whooping for no reason whatsoever.
00:10:50And my mother was cancer.
00:10:52She would destroy everybody.
00:10:55She thought I took too long to do something.
00:10:57She didn't hesitate to give me a swat here and there.
00:11:00And she didn't just use her hand.
00:11:02She...
00:11:04She would hit me with a broomstick or something like that.
00:11:08It wouldn't...
00:11:10It'd hurt.
00:11:13As a matter of fact, she broke the broom on me more than once.
00:11:17Richard's mother believed that harsh discipline at home should go hand in hand with a rigid religious education.
00:11:26I was raised Catholic.
00:11:32We were very...
00:11:35She was strict, as far as religion goes.
00:11:38I went to...
00:11:39Your mother?
00:11:40My mother, yeah.
00:11:41My mother, yeah.
00:11:42My mother, we went to a Catholic grammar school.
00:11:47And we were raised with a Catholic belief.
00:11:51I was even an altar boy.
00:11:57But, uh...
00:12:00During the course of my life, I don't really believe it.
00:12:06It's just the way it happened.
00:12:08Didn't mean it to happen that way, but it just happened that way.
00:12:10When his father abandoned the family, Richard, a skinny, timid young teenager, was left to fend for himself.
00:12:20He was an easy target for street gangs.
00:12:23But by the time he was 16, things began to change.
00:12:28When I was a young man, I found out that if you hurt somebody, they'll leave you alone.
00:12:34Good guys do finish last.
00:12:42When I tried to leave everybody alone, just do my own thing, everybody just wanted to hurt me.
00:12:49Until one day, I just decided, well, I've had enough of this picking.
00:12:54And I went upstairs, and I took a, uh...
00:12:58A bar, which the clothes used to hang on in the closet.
00:13:04And I went back downstairs, and there were like six young men...
00:13:11Still figuring they were gonna mess with my head, and, uh...
00:13:18We went to war.
00:13:23To their surprise, I was no longer taking the beating.
00:13:29I was giving it.
00:13:30And that's when I learned that it was better to give than to receive.
00:13:35I've been known to hurt people for no reason if you check out my background as I came up.
00:13:45I could be anywhere, and if somebody humiliated me, I would think nothing of hitting them with a cue stick.
00:13:50In an instant.
00:13:52In an instant.
00:13:57And the only thing they might have done was...
00:14:01Made me feel bad.
00:14:02I was trying to kill them.
00:14:04Or...
00:14:06Challenge my authority at the time.
00:14:09Kuklinski's reputation as a tough guy with a hair-trigger temper grew.
00:14:14By the time he was 18, the abused had become the abuser.
00:14:18the abuser it wasn't long before he committed his first murder I got into a
00:14:24fight in a bar we got into an argument to fight and I hit him with it but a
00:14:33cue stick a few too many times and he died how'd you feel after when you found
00:14:45out you died I felt very bad very very bad I was upset I didn't mean to do it
00:14:57actually but surprisingly I felt sadness and after a while I felt something else I
00:15:09didn't feel sad I was sad along with some sort of a rush that I had control and if
00:15:20you mess with me I guess it's if you mess with me I'll hurt you by the time he'd
00:15:29reached his 20s Kuklinski had become a petty crook and pool hustler then his life
00:15:35changed in 1960 he met a pretty 19 year old girl named Barbara Pedron he was
00:15:42absolutely flowers at the door every day and and considerate and romantic and all
00:15:51of the things that anybody could could hope for dream for he bought me beautiful
00:15:57things we went fun places he was happiest when we were together he was happiest when
00:16:05just he and I were together he and Barbara had three children but with just an eighth
00:16:11grade education he could only get low paying jobs that didn't pay enough to
00:16:15support his growing family I didn't have the capability of getting a better paying
00:16:22job I was gonna push a yarn truck the rest of my life make menial amount of money I
00:16:31couldn't afford it one child let alone three he went to work at a film lab where
00:16:41he began to pirate pornographic films and sell them to outside sources connected to
00:16:46the Gambino crime family this connection led to other criminal activities and it
00:16:52wasn't long before he went from being a small-time hood to a big-time killer he
00:17:01worked as a hitman and associated with a gang that worked out of the notorious
00:17:05Gemini lounge in Brooklyn above the lounge was a mafia killing factory where victims
00:17:13were killed and dismembered hacked bodies were packaged in plastic bags and carted
00:17:20away Kuklinski was the perfect enforcer he was brutal and he knew how to
00:17:27intimidate if people owed money they either paid up or paid with their lives most
00:17:36people paid their bills some didn't I remember one guy he was owed a lot of money well I guess
00:17:47considered a little amount of money he hid me I thought he could hide behind a door it was a nice door
00:18:02expensive door expensive door anyway most people don't realize it when you come to
00:18:12answer a door if there's light in the background the person on the outside can
00:18:21look through the peephole and see the guy coming to the door so he came to the door I
00:18:29asked who it was and he looked through the peephole and he never saw what hit him for Richard
00:18:46Kuklinski murder had become a way of life and the macabre became the commonplace
00:18:52would you ever use a chainsaw to cut someone up yes I've done that to dismember them yes not to kill
00:19:08them though what was it like to cut somebody up with a you know the other guy's dead how did it feel to
00:19:16cut some guy up with a chainsaw I didn't have any feeling one way or the other that that just
00:19:27happened that's the way it had to be messy yes this was no I've had a request where the guy wanted the
00:19:44guy's tongue cut out and he also wanted his tongue put in his rear end
00:19:53so I believe there was a definite point he wanted to get across
00:20:00I have an experience that I don't know if I should tell you that it might it probably would offend a lot
00:20:12of people I don't know I don't think I should I go into that go ahead now it's not a good one
00:20:25it was a man he was begging and pleading and and praying I guess
00:20:46and
00:20:52and
00:20:52he was pleased garden all over the place
00:21:02so I told him he could have a half hour
00:21:10to pray to pray to God
00:21:14and if God could come down and change the circumstances
00:21:20he'd have that time
00:21:24but God never showed up
00:21:31and he never changed the circumstances
00:21:36and that was that
00:21:42it wasn't too nice
00:21:48that's one thing I shouldn't have done that one
00:21:58I shouldn't have done it that way
00:22:03by the 1970s between his illegal activities and contract killings
00:22:12he was becoming a wealthy man
00:22:15he now lived in an expensive home in a middle-class neighborhood with his wife
00:22:20and three children
00:22:22Richard what did you charge for a hit
00:22:25if I hit somebody
00:22:27I wouldn't hit it for peanuts
00:22:31I'd like to have some
00:22:34some money
00:22:35I say if I were to do somebody
00:22:41I want at least five figures
00:22:44and at least up in the better half
00:22:49not the lower half of the five figures
00:22:52Kuklinski kept his criminal life secret from his family and neighbors
00:22:58he told them he was a businessman
00:23:00no one knew his business was murder
00:23:03we were perfect
00:23:05my children were never in trouble
00:23:06we were perfect
00:23:08we were the all-american family
00:23:10I mean we had what seemed to be the perfect life
00:23:15there were wonderful times
00:23:18and time with his family
00:23:21was the only thing that he was really concerned
00:23:22if he never had to leave the house
00:23:24he would have loved it
00:23:25he hated to have to travel
00:23:27he hated to go away
00:23:28he came back as soon as he can
00:23:31he wanted to be home
00:23:34all the time
00:23:35he wanted to be with us all the time
00:23:37I enjoyed that way of life
00:23:41I felt I had achieved something
00:23:44I very seldom left the house unless I had to
00:23:52because I felt secure in the house
00:23:56I felt very secure
00:23:57I tried to provide the best for them
00:24:04as I knew how
00:24:07might not have been the right way to go
00:24:11but it was for me the only way
00:24:13I tried to never let anything touch the house
00:24:19I brought nobody there
00:24:22my family was not exposed to anybody
00:24:25I wanted to show them the good side of life
00:24:30not the bad side
00:24:31Richard had a very, very sad childhood
00:24:35you got the impression
00:24:36or I knew because he would say something
00:24:38and then drop it and change the subject
00:24:39that he was abused
00:24:40and that there was no love
00:24:43he grew up absolutely without any love
00:24:45without a doubt
00:24:46I mean the first Christmas
00:24:47with my family
00:24:49he couldn't, he was in awe
00:24:52he couldn't believe it
00:24:53there was a tree
00:24:55and everyone was cooking special things
00:24:58and there was lots that we were laughing
00:24:59and it was fun
00:25:00and he kept saying
00:25:01I can't believe that this is what happens
00:25:04it was a Jekyll and Hyde existence
00:25:07the way it was
00:25:09and the way I wanted it to be
00:25:10with absolutely two different
00:25:12two different lives
00:25:15I wanted
00:25:17one life
00:25:18I had to have another life
00:25:22this other life would interrupt
00:25:25one Christmas Eve
00:25:27while his family was celebrating the holidays
00:25:30Kuklinski left his home
00:25:33to collect on a bad debt
00:25:35business was business
00:25:37even on Christmas Eve
00:25:38the man owed me money
00:25:40he was giving me a run around
00:25:42I told him I wasn't happy
00:25:46that he wasn't going to pay me
00:25:47he had the attitude that
00:25:52nobody could hurt him
00:25:57I think he was wrong
00:26:01the only way he never saw Christmas
00:26:05who did you use?
00:26:10a gun
00:26:11extremely loud inside of a car
00:26:15matter of fact
00:26:19my ears were ringing for a long time
00:26:21what did you do afterwards?
00:26:25I walked away
00:26:26I got in my car
00:26:28and went home
00:26:30what did you do when you got home?
00:26:36I put toys together for the kids for Christmas
00:26:39I saw the broadcast
00:26:47while I was putting the toys together
00:26:49it came down
00:26:50mob related killing
00:26:52I was the first time I knew
00:26:57I was mob related
00:26:58how'd you feel?
00:27:09I was annoyed
00:27:10I couldn't get the damn wagon together
00:27:12I never questioned him
00:27:15and you just knew
00:27:17don't do it
00:27:18don't ask
00:27:19if he got up at 2 o'clock in the morning
00:27:21or during dinner
00:27:22and put on his shoes
00:27:23and walked out the door
00:27:24you said bye
00:27:25you didn't say
00:27:26where are you going
00:27:27or why are you going
00:27:28and it was just
00:27:29understood
00:27:31that that's the way it was
00:27:32he was very private
00:27:34you only knew
00:27:36what he wanted you to know
00:27:37by the 1980s
00:27:40after 25 years
00:27:41of working as a hitman for the mob
00:27:43Richard Kuklinski
00:27:45became the head of his own crime ring
00:27:47he developed new ways
00:27:50to profit from murder
00:27:52the case of Paul Hoffman
00:27:54was typical of the way he operated
00:27:56on the afternoon of April 29th 1982
00:28:01Hoffman arrived at a warehouse
00:28:03leased by Kuklinski
00:28:04like numerous victims of the Iceman
00:28:08he had been set up
00:28:09for a phony business deal
00:28:10Paul Hoffman was a pharmacist
00:28:14and he was looking for a quick buck
00:28:15he was out to purchase
00:28:20a drug called Tagament
00:28:22which was at the time
00:28:24a wonder drug for ulcers
00:28:25and he felt that
00:28:28if he could purchase
00:28:29a large quantity
00:28:30of this Tagament
00:28:31at a very low price
00:28:35that he could
00:28:36he could indeed
00:28:37make a
00:28:39a huge profit
00:28:41on that
00:28:42and that was the
00:28:43alleged deal
00:28:44that he had
00:28:45with Richard Kuklinski
00:28:46when Paul Hoffman
00:28:48showed up
00:28:49to buy the Tagament
00:28:50he was carrying
00:28:51$25,000 in cash
00:28:53he took the bag
00:28:56door opened it
00:28:57showed me a whole mess
00:28:58of money
00:28:59a whole mess of cash
00:29:00he said
00:29:02I got the money
00:29:02right here
00:29:03and he came back
00:29:05he says
00:29:10what are we going to do
00:29:10what are we going to do
00:29:11how am I going to get
00:29:12this merchandise
00:29:12I put the gun
00:29:21under his chin
00:29:22and I said
00:29:23there is no merchandise
00:29:24and I shot him
00:29:37he didn't die
00:29:37the gun jammed
00:29:41he was
00:29:44gurgling
00:29:47I had hit him
00:29:49it was
00:29:54blood was pouring
00:29:57out of his mouth
00:29:57and
00:30:01he was in a
00:30:10I would imagine
00:30:11it looked like he was
00:30:12in a lot of pain
00:30:13so there was a tire iron
00:30:16in there
00:30:16I took the tire iron
00:30:17and hit him with it
00:30:18which
00:30:20knocked him out
00:30:22and
00:30:25he died
00:30:27I then took him
00:30:30and put him in a
00:30:3250 gallon drum
00:30:33put it on the side
00:30:35of a
00:30:35motel
00:30:37it was behind
00:30:40Harry's corner
00:30:41I listened to
00:30:43the people
00:30:44I went in
00:30:44Harry's
00:30:45every morning
00:30:46the thing was there
00:30:48for a long time
00:30:49I looked at it
00:30:51every day
00:30:52it was there
00:30:53I went in
00:30:55Harry's every day
00:30:56one day it was
00:30:57just missing
00:30:58continued to go
00:30:59in Harry's
00:31:00to see if anything
00:31:00was
00:31:01said about it
00:31:03nothing was said
00:31:04I don't know
00:31:07what happened
00:31:07to the drum
00:31:08by the 1980s
00:31:10Kuklinski was involved
00:31:12in narcotics
00:31:13pornography
00:31:13arms dealing
00:31:14money laundering
00:31:15hijacking
00:31:16and contract
00:31:17killing
00:31:17on a worldwide
00:31:18basis
00:31:19he was also
00:31:22pressing 50
00:31:23and getting tired
00:31:24he started
00:31:26to make mistakes
00:31:27he began
00:31:28to leave traces
00:31:29and law enforcement
00:31:31officers
00:31:31who had suspected
00:31:32him over the years
00:31:33began gathering
00:31:35evidence
00:31:35Kuklinski would
00:31:38protect himself
00:31:38by killing anyone
00:31:40who could testify
00:31:40against him
00:31:41on December 27
00:31:441982
00:31:45a body was discovered
00:31:46at the York Motel
00:31:48in New Jersey
00:31:48the body was
00:31:51identified as
00:31:51Gary Smith
00:31:5237
00:31:53Smith had been
00:31:55given cyanide
00:31:56and then strangled
00:31:56to death
00:31:57this was the first
00:31:59of many mistakes
00:32:00Kuklinski was
00:32:01to commit
00:32:02Gary Smith
00:32:04was found
00:32:04under a motel
00:32:06bed
00:32:07in New Jersey
00:32:09as I recall
00:32:11where some
00:32:1120 people
00:32:12had used
00:32:13the room
00:32:14in five days
00:32:15and nobody
00:32:15had realized
00:32:16there was a rotting
00:32:16body underneath it
00:32:17the body was found
00:32:20in a decomposed state
00:32:21it was very hot
00:32:22weather
00:32:22Smith would have not
00:32:26been identified
00:32:28as a murder victim
00:32:29if he had died
00:32:31only of the cyanide
00:32:32if the cyanide
00:32:33had worked
00:32:33and he had died
00:32:34and he didn't need
00:32:35to be strangled
00:32:36that ligature mark
00:32:38around the neck
00:32:39wouldn't have been seen
00:32:39and he would have
00:32:40been possibly
00:32:43a drug addict
00:32:44overdose
00:32:44or lots of other
00:32:46things of a non-homicidal
00:32:48nature
00:32:48would have to be
00:32:49considered
00:32:49on September 25th
00:32:521983
00:32:53the body
00:32:54of Louis
00:32:55Mazgay
00:32:55was found
00:32:56as he had done
00:32:58many times before
00:32:59to confuse
00:33:00the time of death
00:33:01Kuklinski
00:33:02had frozen the body
00:33:03in an industrial
00:33:04freezer
00:33:05this was the murder
00:33:07that earned him
00:33:07the name
00:33:08of Iceman
00:33:09this murder
00:33:10was also
00:33:11his second
00:33:12deadly mistake
00:33:13he did too good
00:33:16a job
00:33:16in that body
00:33:17because he left
00:33:17that body
00:33:18in the freezer
00:33:18for two years
00:33:19then took the body
00:33:20out
00:33:20and dumped it
00:33:22in Rockland County
00:33:23and the body
00:33:26was found
00:33:27before it had
00:33:28fully thawed out
00:33:29so the doctor
00:33:30doing the autopsy
00:33:31the medical exam
00:33:31in Rockland County
00:33:32when he opened
00:33:33the body up
00:33:34saw ice inside
00:33:35the body
00:33:36in the summer's day
00:33:37and said
00:33:38there's something
00:33:39wrong here
00:33:39this guy
00:33:40could not have died
00:33:41two days ago
00:33:42the way he looks like
00:33:43from the outside
00:33:44on May 14th
00:33:471983
00:33:48a bicyclist
00:33:50was riding down
00:33:50a lonely road
00:33:51in a wooded area
00:33:52and saw a buzzard
00:33:54feeding on a body
00:33:55it was Daniel
00:33:57Deppner
00:33:5844
00:33:58the third business
00:34:00associate
00:34:00of Richard Kuklinski
00:34:01to be found dead
00:34:03the body count
00:34:04grew
00:34:05there would soon
00:34:06be five
00:34:07unsolved murders
00:34:08with one thing
00:34:09in common
00:34:09the last person
00:34:11to see the victims
00:34:11alive
00:34:12had been
00:34:13Richard Kuklinski
00:34:14after 30 years
00:34:16of getting away
00:34:17with murder
00:34:17Richard Kuklinski's
00:34:19time was running out
00:34:20he had been under
00:34:21investigation
00:34:22for three years
00:34:23and the police
00:34:24were beginning
00:34:25to put the pieces
00:34:26together
00:34:26what I told
00:34:29my superiors
00:34:31in Trenton
00:34:32was that
00:34:32hey look
00:34:36you know
00:34:36we can check
00:34:37with the FBI
00:34:38and we can see
00:34:39that there's
00:34:40a certain number
00:34:41of given
00:34:42serial killers
00:34:44roaming around
00:34:45this country
00:34:45of ours
00:34:46but take a good
00:34:49hard look
00:34:49at what we got
00:34:50here
00:34:50we got
00:34:52Richie Kuklinski
00:34:53and there's only
00:34:54one of him
00:34:55in 1986
00:34:57a division
00:34:59of the New Jersey
00:34:59Criminal Justice
00:35:00Department
00:35:01set up a task force
00:35:03made up of
00:35:03federal
00:35:04state
00:35:05and local
00:35:05law enforcement
00:35:06agencies
00:35:07the task force
00:35:08analyzed existing
00:35:10investigative material
00:35:11and gathered
00:35:12new information
00:35:13they had one mission
00:35:15to arrest
00:35:16and convict
00:35:17Richard Kuklinski
00:35:18when I first
00:35:20read the file
00:35:20which at the time
00:35:21was nothing more
00:35:22than a compilation
00:35:23of several different
00:35:25unsolved homicides
00:35:26the more you looked
00:35:28for connections
00:35:28the less you found
00:35:29in this particular case
00:35:30because there was
00:35:31different types of
00:35:32murders
00:35:32different devices used
00:35:34the final method
00:35:36that was used
00:35:37was in fact
00:35:37the introduction
00:35:38of a undercover
00:35:39federal agent
00:35:40Dominic Polifron
00:35:41who was able
00:35:42to win
00:35:43Mr. Kuklinski's
00:35:44confidence
00:35:44and was able
00:35:45to record
00:35:46conversations
00:35:47where he detailed
00:35:47his participation
00:35:48in these murders
00:35:49I portrayed myself
00:35:51as a hitman
00:35:52told him I worked
00:35:53for the wise guys
00:35:55downtown New York
00:35:56and my brother
00:35:58was a good fella
00:35:59downtown
00:35:59and I went
00:36:02by the name
00:36:02of Dominic
00:36:04Michael Provenzano
00:36:05are you willing
00:36:07to go out
00:36:08on a contract
00:36:10if the price
00:36:11is right
00:36:12I'll talk to anybody
00:36:14yeah
00:36:14sure
00:36:15and you mean
00:36:16to tell me
00:36:16your way is nice
00:36:17and clean
00:36:17and nothing
00:36:18fucking shows up
00:36:19well it may show
00:36:21my friend
00:36:21but it's quiet
00:36:22it's not messy
00:36:23it's not noisy
00:36:24it's not
00:36:26you know
00:36:27yeah but how
00:36:28the fuck
00:36:28do you put it
00:36:29together like
00:36:29you know what I'm
00:36:30saying
00:36:30oh there's always
00:36:31a way
00:36:32there's a will
00:36:32there's a way
00:36:33my friend
00:36:33we used to sit
00:36:35down
00:36:35we'd talk
00:36:36either we'd go
00:36:37to those tables
00:36:38over there
00:36:38and get away
00:36:39from people
00:36:39and we'd discuss
00:36:40how to murder
00:36:43people
00:36:43you know
00:36:44I just have
00:36:45a few problems
00:36:45I want to dispose
00:36:46of
00:36:46I have some rats
00:36:47I want to get rid
00:36:48of
00:36:48yeah
00:36:49the only fucking
00:36:50thing I don't
00:36:50understand
00:36:50don't you use
00:36:51a fucking piece
00:36:52of iron
00:36:52to get rid
00:36:52of these fucking
00:36:53people
00:36:53you use this
00:36:53fucking silence
00:36:54why be messy
00:36:55you can do it
00:36:56nice and calm
00:36:57it became apparent
00:36:59at later points
00:37:00in the investigation
00:37:01that Mr. Kuklinski
00:37:02fully intended
00:37:04on murdering
00:37:05Dominic Polifron
00:37:05in addition to
00:37:07the victims
00:37:09that were being
00:37:09discussed at the time
00:37:10they were having
00:37:11these tape recorded
00:37:11conversations
00:37:12so he could pretty much
00:37:14tell Dominic Polifron
00:37:15anything
00:37:15because he knew
00:37:16shortly that
00:37:17he had plans
00:37:19for Mr. Polifron too
00:37:20you put that stuff
00:37:22in a mist
00:37:22you spray it
00:37:24in somebody's face
00:37:24and they go to sleep
00:37:27no shit
00:37:28as long as he's dead
00:37:29that's the bottom
00:37:29line
00:37:30well that's the thing
00:37:30isn't it
00:37:31no matter how
00:37:32it was done
00:37:32I mean I know
00:37:33guys that went
00:37:33to sleep
00:37:34and never woke
00:37:34up again
00:37:35I mean you know
00:37:35he says he had
00:37:38one guy
00:37:39he went and
00:37:40get a hamburger
00:37:40they come back
00:37:41and he put the
00:37:42cyanide on
00:37:42his hamburger
00:37:43and we're sitting
00:37:45down and he's
00:37:46telling me
00:37:47he says you
00:37:47wouldn't believe
00:37:47it
00:37:47he says I'm
00:37:48waiting for this
00:37:48guy to keel over
00:37:49he says because
00:37:50once you eat
00:37:51cyanide usually
00:37:51you'd roll over
00:37:53and that's it
00:37:54he says this guy
00:37:55had the constitution
00:37:56of a fucking
00:37:57bully
00:37:57he says you
00:37:58wouldn't believe
00:37:58he says he
00:37:59wouldn't die
00:38:00and we're both
00:38:01laughing about this
00:38:01and I'm saying
00:38:02in the back of my
00:38:02mind I said holy
00:38:03god I said look
00:38:04at this
00:38:05I said what kind
00:38:06of person is this
00:38:06I said I said to
00:38:09myself right there
00:38:09I said you better
00:38:12cover your butt
00:38:12I said because you
00:38:14just don't know
00:38:14with this guy
00:38:15and he'd be kidding
00:38:16about it and I'd be
00:38:17laughing in the back
00:38:18of my mind I'm
00:38:19saying this is the
00:38:20devil
00:38:20no question about
00:38:22it this is the
00:38:23devil
00:38:23on December 17th 1986
00:38:31the special task force
00:38:33set up a roadblock
00:38:34and arrested Richard
00:38:36Kuklinski outside his
00:38:37home in Dumont New
00:38:38Jersey they felt they
00:38:40had all the evidence
00:38:41they needed for a
00:38:42conviction
00:38:43the whole road was
00:38:46blocked off with
00:38:47cops local police
00:38:50state police
00:38:51division of criminal
00:38:53justice investigators
00:38:55county personnel
00:38:57it was no place for
00:38:59him to go so he
00:39:00stopped his car
00:39:01he was told to get
00:39:04out of the car and
00:39:06he did not
00:39:07so he was
00:39:11taken out of the car
00:39:15and he was placed
00:39:19face down on the
00:39:21street in a position
00:39:25where we thought we
00:39:26were safe and then I
00:39:30handcuffed him
00:39:30that guy's big I did
00:39:36everything I could to
00:39:37get one click on the
00:39:38handcuffs and later on I
00:39:41tried to put leg irons on
00:39:43him and there's no no way
00:39:44they would go on they
00:39:46just wouldn't go on
00:39:47law enforcement
00:39:49authorities have
00:39:50arrested one of the
00:39:51most notorious contract
00:39:53killers in state
00:39:54history a self-employed
00:39:56Bergen County man is
00:39:57behind bars charged with
00:39:59five murders and
00:40:00prosecutors are
00:40:01investigating his
00:40:02involvement in dozens
00:40:03more
00:40:03this is unwiring
00:40:05unnecessary
00:40:07these guys watch too
00:40:09many movies
00:40:10he is such a cold
00:40:12blooded killer they
00:40:12call him the ice man
00:40:14after being convicted of
00:40:15two murders he confessed
00:40:16to two others in court
00:40:17today
00:40:18I shot George Maliband
00:40:20five times
00:40:21Louis Mazgay on July 1st
00:40:241981
00:40:25I shot him once in the
00:40:31back of the head
00:40:32when the judge asked him
00:40:33why he had killed the
00:40:34two men
00:40:35Kuklinski replied
00:40:36it was due to business
00:40:38Dominic Polifron's tapes
00:40:41had nailed Kuklinski but in
00:40:43court the ice man greeted
00:40:44the undercover cop with a
00:40:45smile
00:40:46he seemed to be quite
00:40:49cheery about saying hello
00:40:51to you
00:40:51well I reciprocated the only
00:40:54thing is I'm going home and
00:40:56he's going to a different
00:40:57environment at the present
00:40:58time
00:40:58it wasn't real to us
00:41:08we just had a hard time
00:41:10dealing with what was in the
00:41:13press
00:41:13and I kept saying
00:41:15no way and I don't believe it
00:41:17and then when I actually heard
00:41:18his voice you know in court
00:41:19it was very hard to believe
00:41:22that he talked like that
00:41:24it was very very difficult to
00:41:25believe
00:41:26I've done it always
00:41:28as far as you've known or
00:41:29heard
00:41:30there isn't too many things I
00:41:32haven't tried
00:41:32no matter how it was done
00:41:34I mean I know guys that went
00:41:35to sleep and never woke up
00:41:36again
00:41:36the consensus of
00:41:42the federal state
00:41:44county and local law
00:41:46enforcement agencies that were
00:41:48involved in this
00:41:48investigation
00:41:49is that Richard Kuklinski
00:41:51is one of the most dangerous
00:41:54criminals we have ever come
00:41:55across in this state
00:41:56further it's our feeling that
00:41:59he is of such a diabolical
00:42:02methodical type of killer
00:42:05that it's very possible that
00:42:08when all is said and done we
00:42:10still may never know how many
00:42:12people he has actually killed
00:42:13what Richard has been accused
00:42:17of and found guilty of
00:42:19and spoke to you about
00:42:21it goes against God and man
00:42:24I have very strong feelings
00:42:29I am totally anti-violence
00:42:32I mean as all my children
00:42:33and I can't make those wrongs
00:42:39right
00:42:40I can't make them right in my own
00:42:42mind
00:42:43we are Richard Kuklinski's family
00:42:52and we aren't ourselves anymore
00:42:57we're Richard Kuklinski's family
00:43:00I've never felt sorry for anything
00:43:08I've done other than hurting my family
00:43:10the only thing I feel sorry for
00:43:14I'm not looking for forgiveness
00:43:22and I'm not repenting
00:43:24no I'm wrong
00:43:33I'm wrong
00:43:39I do want my family to forgive me
00:43:43oh boy
00:43:47I'm gonna make this one
00:43:52oh shit
00:43:58this would never be me
00:44:02this would not be me
00:44:05I feel for my family
00:44:12you see the Iceman cry
00:44:31not very macho
00:44:35but I've hurt
00:44:42people that mean
00:44:47everything to me
00:44:50but the only people that mean anything to me
00:45:00it's fine
00:45:01so kate
00:45:05and
00:45:07and
00:45:10and
00:45:13we're
00:45:13we're
00:45:14we're
00:45:15.
00:45:16ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:45:46ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:46:16ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:46:46ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:46:48ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:46:52ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:46:56ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:06ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:08ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:10ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:12ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:14ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:16ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:18ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:20ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:22ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:24ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:26ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:28ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:30ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:32ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:34ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:36ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:38ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:40ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:42ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:44ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:46ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:50ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:52ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:54ORCHESTRA PLAYS
00:47:56ORCHESTRA CONFERusa
00:47:58HEIZ THAT
00:48:03IN 1991
00:48:05RICHARD KUKLINSKI
00:48:07A CONTRACT KILLER
00:48:08KNOWN AS THE ICE MAN
00:48:10WAS INTERVIEWED BY HBO
00:48:12FOR AN AMERICA UNDERCOVER SPECIAL
00:48:14HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE YOU KILL?
00:48:23Ospace
00:48:23approximate guess
00:48:25Approximately, we'll get over more than a hundred.
00:48:39After a lifetime of killing for hire,
00:48:43Kuklinski was finally caught by an undercover ATF agent wearing a hidden wire.
00:48:49Are you willing to go out on a contract?
00:48:52If the price is right, I'll talk to anybody.
00:48:57Yeah, but how the fuck do you put it together like, you know what I'm saying?
00:49:00Well, there's always a way. There's a will, there's a way, my friend.
00:49:04Richard Kuklinski is one of the most dangerous criminals we have ever come across in this state.
00:49:11He murdered by guns. He murdered by strangulation.
00:49:15He murdered by putting poison on victims' food.
00:49:18He did of all of this at the same time while exhibiting a normal, placid family existence.
00:49:25His wife, his children were uninvolved in his criminal activities.
00:49:31Yet, we are faced with evidence, convicting evidence, of numerous grisly murders.
00:49:38In 1986, the ATF and the New Jersey Organized Crime Task Force set up a roadblock outside Kuklinski's home.
00:49:48It took five men to bring down the six-foot-five, 300-pound killer and force handcuffs on him.
00:49:56The Iceman's career as a master criminal was finally over.
00:50:00Richard Kuklinski knows he will never get out of jail.
00:50:07With nothing left to lose, Kuklinski reveals new secrets about the years he spent as a contract killer for the Gambino crime family
00:50:16and tells what happened in his life that turned him into a man, law enforcement, called the Iceman.
00:50:24I hated my father.
00:50:32If I could have, I probably would have killed him.
00:50:37Probably would have felt good about it, too.
00:50:43My father would beat me just if I looked at him.
00:50:47He gave me this impersonal feeling I have to when people die in front of me.
00:50:53Especially loud-mouthed people.
00:50:57Loud-mouthed people remind me of my father.
00:51:00Once a loud-mouthed person starts with me, I love it.
00:51:04That's the only excuse I need.
00:51:09One night in a bar, a loud-mouthed man made the mistake of insulting the 18-year-old Kuklinski in front of people.
00:51:16A couple of hours later, the Iceman saw his chance to get even.
00:51:21I came out of this bar, and I see him sleeping in his car.
00:51:31I said, I got you, little sucker.
00:51:32Now I got you.
00:51:35I'm going to light you a fire.
00:51:38And I did.
00:51:39I got myself a bottle, some gasoline, and I threw it in the car with him.
00:51:44And he was screaming and yelling, and burning, and the car burned.
00:51:58And I could smell him.
00:52:04I walked down the block, and I could hear him as I turned the corner.
00:52:08He was still yelling.
00:52:14This was a personal thing, you know, see?
00:52:16This was a guy I disliked.
00:52:17What did he do to you?
00:52:20He made me mad.
00:52:21By the age of 25, Richard Kuklinski had no problem with murder.
00:52:42But now he wanted to get paid for it.
00:52:47There was money in contract killing.
00:52:52To prove himself, he auditioned for Mafia Capo Roy DeMeo.
00:52:58He said, well, I would expect you to, if you came with me, I'd expect you to,
00:53:03if I told you to whack somebody, you'd whack them without any question.
00:53:13So I said, well, I could probably do that.
00:53:16He says, you probably could do it, or could you do it?
00:53:20Did you, do you think you could do it?
00:53:23I said, yeah, I think I could do it.
00:53:25So he told Freddy to get the car.
00:53:29Got the car.
00:53:31He and I got in the back seat.
00:53:32Freddy was driving.
00:53:35We drove someplace.
00:53:36I don't know where it was.
00:53:37It was someplace in New York.
00:53:42And we were sitting there for a while.
00:53:43We got to wherever we were going.
00:53:45We were sitting there for a while, and a man came in the distance.
00:53:49He was walking his dog, it looked like.
00:53:53So he said, all right.
00:53:58Take this guy down.
00:53:59I said, which, what, which guy are we talking about here?
00:54:07So he says, the man walking the dog.
00:54:10So I got out of the car, and I started walking towards the man.
00:54:17The man was walking his dog, just like a regular guy.
00:54:19As he passed me, I turned around and shot him.
00:54:32Freddy and Roy pulled up in the car.
00:54:34I get in the car, and we drove away.
00:54:36Roy, and that is how I got involved with Roy, with doing things like that.
00:54:44Roy DeMeo's hangout was the Gemini Lounge in Brooklyn, New York.
00:54:58It was a house of horrors, where over 100 people were murdered, chopped up, and disposed of
00:55:05by DeMeo and his gang of lethal contract killers.
00:55:11After proving himself, Kuklinski quickly became one of DeMeo's favorite enforcers.
00:55:18DeMeo ordered the hits, and Kuklinski executed them without question.
00:55:22He wanted this guy taken care of, but he wanted to talk to him first.
00:55:35So when I got to the place, I asked the man for the money, so the guy says,
00:55:44he didn't have it, and Roy would just have to wait until he got the money to pay him.
00:55:49And that was that.
00:55:50He'd have to wait.
00:55:51So I said to the man, I said, well, you have to then talk to him.
00:55:56He wants to talk to you.
00:55:58So I dialed the phone number, and he got on the phone, and I said, he wants to talk to you.
00:56:07So he was talking to him, and I guess they were acting like everything was all right,
00:56:13because he got off the phone, and he handed me the phone back.
00:56:16He says, hey, I told you he'd wait.
00:56:17He's in the frame of mind.
00:56:19Don't worry about it.
00:56:19He wants to talk to you now.
00:56:21So I picked up the phone, and he said, kill him.
00:56:29So I shot him.
00:56:33Locked up the phone and walked away.
00:56:35I'm just a hard-working expert at it, of sorts.
00:56:49I looked at myself as a person who did something that somebody wanted done,
00:56:55and they paid me a good price.
00:56:57In the early 80s, the Gambinos were feeling the heat of an intense investigation,
00:57:08which reached as high as their boss, Paul Castellano.
00:57:11As the pressure from law enforcement grew, the family began to worry about potential witnesses.
00:57:17One in particular presented a major problem.
00:57:22His name was Peter Calabro.
00:57:23The family ordered a hit, and Kuklinski was given the contract.
00:57:33On March 14, 1980, Kuklinski drove for hours on a snow-covered road in Saddle River, New Jersey,
00:57:40waiting for a call to come through on his walkie-talkie.
00:57:44I get a call that they're on their way, so now they're coming.
00:57:59And it's snowing.
00:58:01The roads are very bad.
00:58:03A lot of snow slipping and sliding.
00:58:05And I was in a van.
00:58:09So what I figured is, at the last moment, I had a different plan.
00:58:15But at the last moment, I decided, well, I'm going to double-park this thing.
00:58:21This will give me the edge, because this will make him have only one way to come by,
00:58:26and that's he has to come right by this van.
00:58:28And I go to the back of the van, and I go out the back door.
00:58:37I take the shotgun with me, of course.
00:58:42So I kneel down, and I look under the van, so I can see where he's approximately at.
00:58:50And so I watch him come up to where he's almost in the front of the van, and I stood up.
00:58:58And as he's going by the van, I'm fired.
00:59:10I never knew the man, you know, what he looked like or what his job was.
00:59:16Then I found out the next day that he was police.
00:59:19But had I been told to do him anyway, and I knew he was the police,
00:59:31I'm most likely would have done it anyway.
00:59:34I don't think I would have said no.
00:59:39Kuklinski had killed a cop, a cop who had gone bad, selling information to the Gambinos.
00:59:45A cop who was eliminated before he could turn state's witness.
00:59:53For Kuklinski, contracts like the Calabro murder were strictly business.
00:59:58They gave him the money he needed for his family.
01:00:00The Iceman was leading a double life.
01:00:06He lived on a quiet street in Bergen County, New Jersey,
01:00:09surrounded by neighbors who had no idea they were living next door to a mafia hitman.
01:00:15He was determined that no one, not even his own family, would ever find out who he really was.
01:00:22I never questioned him, and you just knew, don't do it, don't ask.
01:00:30If he got up at 2 o'clock in the morning or during dinner and put on his shoes and walked out the door,
01:00:34you said, bye, you didn't say, where are you going or why are you going.
01:00:39And it was just understood that that's the way it was.
01:00:44I was the happiest when I was with Barber.
01:00:46Never involved in anything I ever did, never told her anything I did.
01:00:50If I did, I probably would have shocked the pants off of her.
01:00:55She knew I had a violent temper, and I did have a violent temper.
01:01:00But I don't think she thought I would go as far as I did go.
01:01:13Richard's time with his family was sacred,
01:01:15and any interference would throw him into a rage.
01:01:18It made him even more angry if it happened during the holidays.
01:01:26This fellow, he owed me about $1,600.
01:01:32So here we come Christmas Eve.
01:01:36And I go there, and he says, nah, come with me.
01:01:38We'll go out.
01:01:39We'll have a good time.
01:01:40We'll party.
01:01:41We'll meet some broads with this, that, the other thing.
01:01:44And I said, no, I got to, I would really like the money.
01:01:49I got to buy something.
01:01:51And, you know, they gave me a story, a bull story.
01:01:58So I left there.
01:02:02I was a little bit upset.
01:02:05Got on the bus, went home.
01:02:07I was putting the toys together for the kids, and this thing was really bugging me.
01:02:21It was annoying me.
01:02:23It was just making my whole disposition bad.
01:02:27Thought just to go to me, this is bullshit.
01:02:29It was Christmas Eve, after midnight, his family was sleeping.
01:02:36Kuklinski got in his car and drove to New York City.
01:02:42I went to the bar.
01:02:44They told me he just left, and he was parked a couple blocks down in the parking lot.
01:02:50I believe the parking lot was closed, but he was parked in there.
01:02:54I saw his car, his car was running, but it had snow on it.
01:03:05So I knocked on the door, and he says, hey, how are you?
01:03:09Glad to see you.
01:03:09Come on, sit down.
01:03:10So I go walk around the passenger side, sit down, talk to him.
01:03:14I said, look, I really need the money.
01:03:17I says, you know, it's not right.
01:03:18You've just been playing me like a fool here.
01:03:21I had this pistol in my hand, and he just was annoying me to no end with his babbling.
01:03:32And he was just going on and on.
01:03:38And I fired.
01:03:43And I couldn't see a damn thing, because there was snow on the windows.
01:03:49And when that flash went off, I just had spots before my eyes.
01:03:56My ears were ringing because the noise inside the car when the gun went off.
01:04:02I couldn't hear, I couldn't see.
01:04:07Then I panicked, because now I don't know what's going on.
01:04:11Anyway, I had caught the guy in the temple, and as he moved back, the second shot caught
01:04:25him in under the chin.
01:04:26Only about the time I could see, I reached in the man's pocket, and he had a roll of money.
01:04:39I took my $1,600 off him, put the rest of the money out of it that was his in his pocket,
01:04:47got out of the car, and walked away.
01:04:52And that's when it happened one Christmas Eve in New York City.
01:05:03The Iceman had killed by gun, by knife, by Molotov cocktail, and cyanide.
01:05:21But he also liked to experiment.
01:05:25Crossbows, I just popped a guy in the forehead with it.
01:05:28Actually, it was just seeing if it would work.
01:05:36What was he doing at the time?
01:05:38Looking at me.
01:05:40Well, was he sitting down, or were you standing over him?
01:05:44No, he actually bent down and looked in the car window like I was asking him directions.
01:05:50I didn't know the man.
01:05:58Was this a contract murder, or was it something out of anger, or was it a personal thing?
01:06:07Neither.
01:06:10What was it?
01:06:14I just wanted to see if this thing would work.
01:06:16You mean you were experimenting on somebody?
01:06:19Right.
01:06:21Did it work?
01:06:22It sure did.
01:06:27Went halfway into his end.
01:06:31Kuklinski was always looking for new ways to get away with murder.
01:06:37In the 80s, a man who was nicknamed Mr. Softee teamed up with Kuklinski.
01:06:42This harmless-looking ice cream vendor was, in reality, an Army-trained demolitions expert
01:06:52who was a violent and vicious killer.
01:06:56Mr. Softee was an individual by the name of Robert Prongay.
01:07:01He used to operate a Mr. Softee truck.
01:07:03That's why he got the name Mr. Softee.
01:07:05He became friendly with Kuklinski, very friendly with him, and it is our opinion that that friendship
01:07:17led to Richard Kuklinski learning a lot about killing with different types of chemicals,
01:07:27including cyanide.
01:07:28He taught me a lot, basically, but he was extremely crazy.
01:07:44But he would read all kinds of books on destruction and all kinds of ways to destroy somebody.
01:07:54He used to go around this Mr. Softee truck.
01:07:56That's how he used to spot people and get the outlay of the land, you know, where they were in easy ways.
01:08:05And sometimes he'd do it right from the truck.
01:08:08And he sold ice cream?
01:08:09Yes, he did.
01:08:10Sold to Mr. Softee.
01:08:12He had one of those Mr. Softee trucks.
01:08:14Did you ever see them?
01:08:16That's what he sold.
01:08:17And he sold ice cream to the little kids in the neighborhood?
01:08:19Yes, he did.
01:08:20And that's what he did.
01:08:22He sold.
01:08:22And he'd go into his neighborhoods and sell ice cream to the kids and maybe kill one of their fathers.
01:08:30On August 9th, 1984, Mr. Softee was found dead, hanging out of the driver's side seat in his Mr. Softee ice cream truck.
01:08:47He had been killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
01:08:50I think Kuklinski killed him because he used him for his information.
01:09:07He used him for his knowledge.
01:09:09He probably brought him around, brought him with him on certain jobs that he did.
01:09:16And it was time for the boss to make the decision that he didn't want any more loose ends.
01:09:24He may have said something the wrong way to Ritchie.
01:09:27Who knows?
01:09:27Whatever it was, Kuklinski, in my opinion, made the decision to kill him.
01:09:32After Prongay's murder, Kuklinski was hired for a dangerous contract no one else would touch.
01:09:46It was here in a crowded discotheque that the cyanide killing techniques learned from Mr. Softee paid off.
01:09:54Couldn't get to this person.
01:09:55He was in a disco.
01:09:57So, I was really in a bad way because there was a time schedule involved.
Comments

Recommended