November 11, 2024 • 22 mins
What if the person you trust most harbors a secret life as one of the country's deadliest contract killers? Richard was a loving father and husband by day, but a ruthless hitman by night. Richard's story is one of contrasts that pushes the boundaries of human duality. Experience the tension as we recount Kuklinski's eventual capture. Despite his heinous crimes, Kuklinski's lack of remorse challenges our understanding of morality. This episode invites you to reconsider how well you truly know those around you and the potential darkness lurking beneath ordinary appearances. For those craving more, we recommend exploring HBO documentaries that delve deeper into Kuklinski's psyche and his chilling confessions. Prepare to have your perceptions shaken and your curiosity piqued as we unravel this harrowing narrative.
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Be Weird. Stay Different. Don't Trust Anyone!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Welcome to Dark Crossroads Podcast, hosted by
Roxanne Fletcher.
This is your stop for allthings true crime and paranormal
.
From the infamous story of theNew Bedford Highway Killer to
the chilling tale of the BlackEyed Children, dark Crossroads
Podcast is a truly deep diveinto the stories that frighten
and fascinate you.
All links to the show will beprovided in this episode's
(01:33):
description, and don't forget tolet us know what you think of
today's episode.
Before we dive into today'sepisode, I need to give out a
trigger warning.
Today's episode will containdescriptions of extreme violence
, criminal behavior andpsychological trauma.
(01:56):
What you're about to hear is atrue story, but it is not an
easy one.
If you are sensitive to suchcontent, you might want to skip
this episode.
Imagine that you're at a littleleague baseball game in suburban
New Jersey.
It is 1975 and there's this bigguy cheering from the bleachers
.
He's wearing a polo shirt andkhakis holding a video camera to
(02:17):
record his kid's game.
The other parents know him.
It's Richard, the currencytrader from down the block.
He's a great family man and healways has time to help a
neighbor fix their car or throwa few extra hamburgers on the
grill for the neighborhood kids.
Now imagine that just 12 hoursearlier, that same man was in a
warehouse in Brooklynmethodically dismembering a body
(02:41):
and preparing to dissolve it inacid.
The same hands that justclapped for a Little League home
run were, half of a day ago,ending somebody's life with
mechanical precision.
Today, we are going to bebringing you probably one of our
hardest episodes yet thecomplete story of Richard
Kuklinski, known to lawenforcement and crime historians
(03:02):
as the Iceman.
And trust me, by the end ofthis episode, you'll never look
at your neighbors quite the sameway again.
Let's start with a number 6'5".
That's how tall Richard was.
He was 6'5 and 300 pounds ofimposing mass, a giant of a man
who could have easily been abouncer or a professional
(03:23):
wrestler.
Instead, he chose a differentcareer path, one that would make
him one of the most prolificcontract killers in American
history.
A police officer at the timemade a statement saying that in
their 30 years of lawenforcement they had never
encountered anybody quite likeKuklinski.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
The sheer scale of his crimes, the methodical
nature it was unprecedented.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
But to understand this monster we first need to
understand where he came from.
This is where our story takesits first dark turn Jersey City
in 1935.
The Great Depression is stillgrinding America's working class
into dust.
In a small, cramped apartment,anna McNally Kuklinski, a deeply
(04:17):
religious woman of IrishCatholic descent, gives birth to
her second son, richard.
His father, stanley, is aPolish immigrant who works as a
brakeman on the Lekwona.
His father, stanley, is aPolish immigrant who works as a
brakeman on the La Cawana.
His father, stanley, is aPolish immigrant who works as a
brakeman on the railroad when hewasn't drinking away his
paycheck.
Now we often hear about killershaving troubled childhoods, but
(04:40):
what Richard Kuklinskiexperienced goes beyond troubled
.
It was pure horror.
Kuklinski in an interview wouldstate my father, he loved to
beat children.
That was his favorite thing.
He beat my mother, he beat mybrother and he would beat me,
and sometimes I didn't even knowwhy he was beating me.
(05:01):
He just seemed to like to do it.
Let me paint you a picture of ayoung Richard's daily life.
He would wake up hungry.
There was rarely enough food.
His father might be passed outdrunk or he might be in one of
his rages.
His mother, rather thanprotecting her children,
believed that physicalpunishment was God's will.
She regularly beat Richard withbroom handles until they would
(05:23):
break.
But the true horror of Richard'schildhood centers around a
tragedy that would haunt himforever.
In 1942, his older brother diedfrom injuries inflicted by
their father.
The official cause of death wasfalling down the stairs.
At the time, richard was 7years old.
In later interviews, richardwould reveal something that I
(05:45):
think captures the essence ofhis upbringing.
Richard would reveal somethingthat I think captures the
essence of his upbringing.
He would state I never feltwanted, I never felt loved.
How do you love something thatyou don't even know exists?
But Richard had another brother, joseph.
And this is where our storytakes an even darker turn,
(06:06):
Because Joseph would grow up tobe convicted of raping and
murdering a 12-year-old girl.
Maybe nature versus nurture Inthe Kuklinski household?
Both were working overtime tocreate monsters.
Young Richard started showingsigns of violence early.
By age 10, he was killingneighborhood cats a common
precursor to more seriousviolence.
(06:28):
Killing neighborhood cats acommon precursor to more serious
violence.
But what set him apart was hiscapacity for human violence at
an incredibly young age.
According to a criminalpsychologist, what's remarkable
about Richard is how early hestarted.
Most killers have a progression.
He went straight to murder.
At the age of 13, richardcommitted his first murder.
The victim was Charlie Lane, alocal bully who led a gang that
(06:51):
had been tormenting him Using awooden dowel.
Richard beat him to death.
He would later say that he feltno remorse, only a surge of
power that he had neverexperienced before.
Now here's something chilling.
After his first kill, richarddidn't hide and he did not run.
He went home and he had dinnerwith his family.
(07:12):
Nobody ever connected him toCharlie's death.
This ability tocompartmentalize, to commit
violence and then return tonormal life as if nothing had
happened would become histrademark.
By his teen years, kuklinski wasworking for the local mob,
running errands and doing smalljobs.
He was also developing his owncriminal enterprise, starting
with robbery and then movinginto enforcement work.
(07:35):
But his real break into theworld of professional killing
came through, of all things,pornography.
The 1960s found Richard workingat a film lab in New Jersey,
copying pornographic films for alocal crime family.
This was the same family thatwould later inspire the Sopranos
.
This job would lead to apivotal moment in his criminal
(07:56):
career.
One day a customer complainedabout the quality of the copies.
What was Richard's response?
He murdered him Just like that.
No escalation, no argument,just business.
A former associate to the crimefamily that he was working for
stated Word got around quick.
There was this big guy whocould kill without blinking.
No emotion, no hesitation.
(08:18):
That is valuable in our line ofwork.
This caught the attention ofRoy DeMeo, a notorious member of
the Gambino crime family.
Demeo decided to testKuklinski's abilities.
He would randomly point outpeople on the street and order
Richard to kill them.
These were not planned hits,they were auditions.
(08:39):
And this is where we seeRichard develop his signature
versatility.
He did not just shoot people,though.
He was proficient with everytype of firearm.
He strangled, stabbed,bludgeoned and even poisoned.
He would run people over withhis car or push them in front of
trains.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Each kill was different, making it impossible
for law enforcement to connectthe dots everybody just looks
around and thinks you were drunkor that you just had an
accident or something, andmeanwhile it's soaking through
their clothes, into their poresand into their system.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And eventually they'll die.
In another clip he stated Iused cyanide a lot.
Spray it in their face, mix itin their drinks.
They'd be dead before they hitthe ground.
Nice and clean.
Now we come to what I considerthe most fascinating aspect of
Richard's story his family life.
Because while he was outcommitting these brutal murders,
(09:54):
he was also maintaining whatappeared to be a picture-perfect
suburban existence.
In 1961, richard met Barbara ata diner where she worked.
She was 18 and he was 26.
By all accounts, it was love atfirst sight, at least for
Barbara.
They would end up gettingmarried within a year of meeting
each other.
Barbara went on to state he wasdifferent with me.
(10:17):
He was gentle.
He would bring me flowers,write me little notes.
I thought I knew him.
Barbara had no idea what herhusband did for a living.
He told her that he was incurrency exchange, later adding
that he was also in wholesalemerchandise.
The money was good.
The money was very good.
They moved to a nice house inDumont, new Jersey.
(10:38):
They had three children Merrick, christian and Dwayne.
Now here's where things getreally interesting.
By all accounts, richard was anattentive, loving father.
He never missed a school event.
He helped with homework.
He took the family on vacationsto Disney World.
He would cry, watching sadmovies with his children.
His son went on to say he wasjust dad to us.
(11:01):
He taught me to ride a bike.
He helped me with my mathhomework.
How do you reconcile that withwhat we know now?
Barbara and the children wouldwalk on eggshells around his
explosive temper.
He never physically abused themhe was adamant about that but
the threat of violence wasalways present.
This brings us to Richard's mostinfamous method, the one that
(11:24):
earned him the nickname theIceman.
He had acquired anindustrial-sized freezer which
he kept in a storage unit.
After killing his victims, hewould freeze their bodies,
sometimes for years, beforedisposing of them.
A common question to this iswhy?
Because frozen bodies throw offtime of death estimates, a body
found in summer might have beenkilled in the winter.
(11:46):
A victim discovered in NewJersey might have been killed in
New York.
It was brilliant in itssimplicity and it kept
investigators chasing shadowsfor years.
Many would go on to say thatthe freezer was genius.
How do you solve a murder whenyou can't even pin down when it
happened?
Think about this While bodieswere literally on ice waiting to
(12:08):
be disposed of Richard wasattending parent-teacher
conferences.
While he was planning his nexthit, he was helping his kids
with science projects.
The compartmentalization isstaggering.
By the mid-1980s, richard wasmaking up to $40,000 per hit.
He bought a Cadillac, tookluxury vacations, gave his kids
(12:29):
everything they wanted.
But success bred carelessness.
He started taking independentcontracts outside the mob made
enemies, talked too much to thewrong people and in 1985, law
enforcement finally got thebreak that they needed.
Enter Dominic, an undercoverATF agent.
Using an alias.
(12:49):
He spent 18 months infiltratingRichard's world.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
The recordings he made are chilling in their
casualness is the less you foundin this particular case,
because there was differenttypes of murders, different
devices used.
The final method that was usedwas, in fact, the introduction
of an undercover federal agent,dominic Polifron, who was able
to win Mr Kuklinski's confidenceand was able to record
(13:15):
conversations where he detailedhis participation in these
murders.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I portrayed myself as a hitman, told him I worked for
the Wise Guys downtown, newYork and my brother was a good
fella downtown and I went by thename of Dominic Michael
Provenzano.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
You willing to go out on a contract?
If the price is right, I'lltalk to anybody.
Yeah, sure, and you mean totell me your way is nice and
clean and nothing fucking showsup?
Well, it may show, my friend,but it's quiet, it's not messy,
it's not noisy, it's not.
Uh, you know, yeah, but how thefuck do you put it together?
(13:59):
Like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Oh, there's always a way.
There's a will, there's a way.
My friend, we should sit downwe talk.
Either we go to those tablesover there and get away from
people and we discuss how tomurder people.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
You know, I just have a few problems I want to
dispose of.
I have some rats I want to getrid of.
Yeah, let me fucking think Idon't understand.
Don't you use a fucking pieceof iron to get rid of these
fucking people?
You use this fucking siren?
Why be messy?
You can do it nice and calm.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
It became apparent at later points in the
investigation that Mr Kuklinskifully intended on murdering
Dominic Polifron in addition tothe victims that were being
discussed at the time.
They were having thesetape-recorded conversations, so
he could pretty much tellDominic Polifron anything,
because he knew shortly that hehad plans for Mr Polifron too.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
You put that stuff in a mist, you spray it in
somebody's face and they go tosleep.
No shit, as long as he's dead.
That's the bottom line.
Well, that's the thing, isn'tit, no matter how it was done.
I mean, I know guys that wentto sleep and never woke up again
.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
I mean, you know, he says he had one guy.
He went to get a hamburger.
They'd come back and he put thecyanide on his hamburger and
was sitting down and he'stelling me.
He says you wouldn't believe it.
He says I'm waiting for thisguy to keel over.
He says because once you eatcyanide, usually you'd roll over
and that's it.
He says this guy had theconstitution of a fucking bully.
(15:29):
He says you wouldn't believe it.
He says he wouldn't die.
And we're both laughing aboutthis and I'm saying in the back
of my mind I said holy God.
I said look at this.
I said what kind of person isthis?
I said.
I said to myself, right there,I said you better cover your
butt.
I said because you just don'tknow what this guy and he'd be
kidding about it and I'd belaughing in the back of my mind.
I'm saying this is the devil,no question about it.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
This is the devil.
December 17th of 1986, dominicarranged a final meeting.
Richard thought he was pickingup a cocaine sample that had
been laced with cyanide, hispreferred poison.
Instead, he found himselfsurrounded by federal agents and
state police.
The arrest shocked thecommunity.
(16:12):
Barbara and the children weredevastated.
Imagine finding out that yourentire life, your marriage, your
family memories were built on afoundation of lies and murder.
During his trial, detailsemerged that stunned even
hardened law enforcementofficers.
The number of victims, thevarious methods, the absolute
lack of remorse Nothing hauntsme.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
No, murders haunt me, nothing.
I don't think about it.
That's why it's hard for me totell you.
It's hard for me to be able totell you when something happened
.
I have to think about when.
If I think about it, it wouldwind up hurting me.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
So I don't think about it.
Richard was eventuallyconvicted of five murders,
though he would later claim tohave killed over 100 people In
prison.
Richard gave several remarkableinterviews, most famously for
HBO's documentaries.
He showed zero remorse for hisvictims, but would break down
crying when talking about hisown family.
(17:10):
He would go on to say I doregret hurting my family.
That's the only thing I regret.
The rest it was just business.
Richard would go on to die in2006 at the age of 70 years old
in Trenton State Prison.
The official cause of death wascardiac arrest, though rumors
have persisted that he waspoisoned A fitting end for a man
(17:32):
who had used poison on so manyothers.
So what do we make of RichardKuklinski?
Was he a sociopath who simplyplayed the role as family man,
or was he something more complex, a compartmentalized
personality who can genuinelylove his family while feeling
nothing for his victims?
Perhaps the most disturbingaspect of the Iceman's story is
(17:55):
not the number of victims oreven his methods.
It's that he shows us howeasily evil can hide in plain
sight.
The monster isn't always thestranger in the shadows.
Sometimes it's the neighbor whohelps you jumpstart your car.
Sometimes it's the dad cheeringat the little league game.
The questions that his storyraises are profoundly
uncomfortable ones.
(18:15):
How well do we really knowanybody?
What capacity for darknessmight lie behind the most
ordinary facade?
And, perhaps, most disturbingly, how many other Richard
Kuklinski's might be out thereright now living their double
lives, waiting for their mask toslip?
If you want to learn more aboutthe Iceman case, I highly
recommend watching the HBOdocumentaries where Richard
(18:38):
Kuklinski tells his own story.
Just be warned his casualnessabout murder is deeply
disturbing.
This episode was written andresearched by Roxanne.
Our theme song is produced bySoul Prod Music, and a special
thanks to the New Jersey StatePolice Archives for providing
access to case files andrecordings.
(19:00):
Alrighty, so it's that time,guys, to say goodbye, but before
I do so, I just want to send athank you to all of my listeners
for your continued love andsupport and for sending in cases
(19:22):
that you want covered andstories that you want read on
the podcast.
We truly accept all stories,including scary, paranormal and
funny.
Any cases you want covered orstories that you want read on
the podcast, just please sendthem in to
darkcrossroadspodcasts atgmailcom.
Thank you for hanging out againtoday.
You can also find us on allsocial media platforms.
(19:42):
Don't forget to like, sharerate, review, subscribe wherever
you're listening to us.
You can subscribe to thepodcast for bonus information.
There is a link in all episodesin the notes that we'll send
you to our subscription page andwith that you will get bonus
content, discount on futuremerch and a lot of extra goodies
(20:03):
.
Every single dollar that comesthrough donations or through our
subscription goes straight intothe podcast, helping fund
research and it really helps usout and keeps this podcast going
.
And with all of this said,please don't forget to be weird,
stay different and don't trustanyone.
Welcome to Dark Crossroads Podcast, hosted by
Roxanne Fletcher.
This is your stop for allthings true crime and paranormal
.
From the infamous story of theNew Bedford Highway Killer to
the chilling tale of the BlackEyed Children, dark Crossroads
Podcast is a truly deep diveinto the stories that frighten
and fascinate you.
All links to the show will beprovided in this episode's
(01:33):
description, and don't forget tolet us know what you think of
today's episode.
Before we dive into today'sepisode, I need to give out a
trigger warning.
Today's episode will containdescriptions of extreme violence
, criminal behavior andpsychological trauma.
(01:56):
What you're about to hear is atrue story, but it is not an
easy one.
If you are sensitive to suchcontent, you might want to skip
this episode.
Imagine that you're at a littleleague baseball game in suburban
New Jersey.
It is 1975 and there's this bigguy cheering from the bleachers
.
He's wearing a polo shirt andkhakis holding a video camera to
(02:17):
record his kid's game.
The other parents know him.
It's Richard, the currencytrader from down the block.
He's a great family man and healways has time to help a
neighbor fix their car or throwa few extra hamburgers on the
grill for the neighborhood kids.
Now imagine that just 12 hoursearlier, that same man was in a
warehouse in Brooklynmethodically dismembering a body
(02:41):
and preparing to dissolve it inacid.
The same hands that justclapped for a Little League home
run were, half of a day ago,ending somebody's life with
mechanical precision.
Today, we are going to bebringing you probably one of our
hardest episodes yet thecomplete story of Richard
Kuklinski, known to lawenforcement and crime historians
(03:02):
as the Iceman.
And trust me, by the end ofthis episode, you'll never look
at your neighbors quite the sameway again.
Let's start with a number 6'5".
That's how tall Richard was.
He was 6'5 and 300 pounds ofimposing mass, a giant of a man
who could have easily been abouncer or a professional
(03:23):
wrestler.
Instead, he chose a differentcareer path, one that would make
him one of the most prolificcontract killers in American
history.
A police officer at the timemade a statement saying that in
their 30 years of lawenforcement they had never
encountered anybody quite likeKuklinski.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
The sheer scale of his crimes, the methodical
nature it was unprecedented.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
But to understand this monster we first need to
understand where he came from.
This is where our story takesits first dark turn Jersey City
in 1935.
The Great Depression is stillgrinding America's working class
into dust.
In a small, cramped apartment,anna McNally Kuklinski, a deeply
(04:17):
religious woman of IrishCatholic descent, gives birth to
her second son, richard.
His father, stanley, is aPolish immigrant who works as a
brakeman on the Lekwona.
His father, stanley, is aPolish immigrant who works as a
brakeman on the La Cawana.
His father, stanley, is aPolish immigrant who works as a
brakeman on the railroad when hewasn't drinking away his
paycheck.
Now we often hear about killershaving troubled childhoods, but
(04:40):
what Richard Kuklinskiexperienced goes beyond troubled
.
It was pure horror.
Kuklinski in an interview wouldstate my father, he loved to
beat children.
That was his favorite thing.
He beat my mother, he beat mybrother and he would beat me,
and sometimes I didn't even knowwhy he was beating me.
(05:01):
He just seemed to like to do it.
Let me paint you a picture of ayoung Richard's daily life.
He would wake up hungry.
There was rarely enough food.
His father might be passed outdrunk or he might be in one of
his rages.
His mother, rather thanprotecting her children,
believed that physicalpunishment was God's will.
She regularly beat Richard withbroom handles until they would
(05:23):
break.
But the true horror of Richard'schildhood centers around a
tragedy that would haunt himforever.
In 1942, his older brother diedfrom injuries inflicted by
their father.
The official cause of death wasfalling down the stairs.
At the time, richard was 7years old.
In later interviews, richardwould reveal something that I
(05:45):
think captures the essence ofhis upbringing.
Richard would reveal somethingthat I think captures the
essence of his upbringing.
He would state I never feltwanted, I never felt loved.
How do you love something thatyou don't even know exists?
But Richard had another brother, joseph.
And this is where our storytakes an even darker turn,
(06:06):
Because Joseph would grow up tobe convicted of raping and
murdering a 12-year-old girl.
Maybe nature versus nurture Inthe Kuklinski household?
Both were working overtime tocreate monsters.
Young Richard started showingsigns of violence early.
By age 10, he was killingneighborhood cats a common
precursor to more seriousviolence.
(06:28):
Killing neighborhood cats acommon precursor to more serious
violence.
But what set him apart was hiscapacity for human violence at
an incredibly young age.
According to a criminalpsychologist, what's remarkable
about Richard is how early hestarted.
Most killers have a progression.
He went straight to murder.
At the age of 13, richardcommitted his first murder.
The victim was Charlie Lane, alocal bully who led a gang that
(06:51):
had been tormenting him Using awooden dowel.
Richard beat him to death.
He would later say that he feltno remorse, only a surge of
power that he had neverexperienced before.
Now here's something chilling.
After his first kill, richarddidn't hide and he did not run.
He went home and he had dinnerwith his family.
(07:12):
Nobody ever connected him toCharlie's death.
This ability tocompartmentalize, to commit
violence and then return tonormal life as if nothing had
happened would become histrademark.
By his teen years, kuklinski wasworking for the local mob,
running errands and doing smalljobs.
He was also developing his owncriminal enterprise, starting
with robbery and then movinginto enforcement work.
(07:35):
But his real break into theworld of professional killing
came through, of all things,pornography.
The 1960s found Richard workingat a film lab in New Jersey,
copying pornographic films for alocal crime family.
This was the same family thatwould later inspire the Sopranos
.
This job would lead to apivotal moment in his criminal
(07:56):
career.
One day a customer complainedabout the quality of the copies.
What was Richard's response?
He murdered him Just like that.
No escalation, no argument,just business.
A former associate to the crimefamily that he was working for
stated Word got around quick.
There was this big guy whocould kill without blinking.
No emotion, no hesitation.
(08:18):
That is valuable in our line ofwork.
This caught the attention ofRoy DeMeo, a notorious member of
the Gambino crime family.
Demeo decided to testKuklinski's abilities.
He would randomly point outpeople on the street and order
Richard to kill them.
These were not planned hits,they were auditions.
(08:39):
And this is where we seeRichard develop his signature
versatility.
He did not just shoot people,though.
He was proficient with everytype of firearm.
He strangled, stabbed,bludgeoned and even poisoned.
He would run people over withhis car or push them in front of
trains.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Each kill was different, making it impossible
for law enforcement to connectthe dots everybody just looks
around and thinks you were drunkor that you just had an
accident or something, andmeanwhile it's soaking through
their clothes, into their poresand into their system.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And eventually they'll die.
In another clip he stated Iused cyanide a lot.
Spray it in their face, mix itin their drinks.
They'd be dead before they hitthe ground.
Nice and clean.
Now we come to what I considerthe most fascinating aspect of
Richard's story his family life.
Because while he was outcommitting these brutal murders,
(09:54):
he was also maintaining whatappeared to be a picture-perfect
suburban existence.
In 1961, richard met Barbara ata diner where she worked.
She was 18 and he was 26.
By all accounts, it was love atfirst sight, at least for
Barbara.
They would end up gettingmarried within a year of meeting
each other.
Barbara went on to state he wasdifferent with me.
(10:17):
He was gentle.
He would bring me flowers,write me little notes.
I thought I knew him.
Barbara had no idea what herhusband did for a living.
He told her that he was incurrency exchange, later adding
that he was also in wholesalemerchandise.
The money was good.
The money was very good.
They moved to a nice house inDumont, new Jersey.
(10:38):
They had three children Merrick, christian and Dwayne.
Now here's where things getreally interesting.
By all accounts, richard was anattentive, loving father.
He never missed a school event.
He helped with homework.
He took the family on vacationsto Disney World.
He would cry, watching sadmovies with his children.
His son went on to say he wasjust dad to us.
(11:01):
He taught me to ride a bike.
He helped me with my mathhomework.
How do you reconcile that withwhat we know now?
Barbara and the children wouldwalk on eggshells around his
explosive temper.
He never physically abused themhe was adamant about that but
the threat of violence wasalways present.
This brings us to Richard's mostinfamous method, the one that
(11:24):
earned him the nickname theIceman.
He had acquired anindustrial-sized freezer which
he kept in a storage unit.
After killing his victims, hewould freeze their bodies,
sometimes for years, beforedisposing of them.
A common question to this iswhy?
Because frozen bodies throw offtime of death estimates, a body
found in summer might have beenkilled in the winter.
(11:46):
A victim discovered in NewJersey might have been killed in
New York.
It was brilliant in itssimplicity and it kept
investigators chasing shadowsfor years.
Many would go on to say thatthe freezer was genius.
How do you solve a murder whenyou can't even pin down when it
happened?
Think about this While bodieswere literally on ice waiting to
(12:08):
be disposed of Richard wasattending parent-teacher
conferences.
While he was planning his nexthit, he was helping his kids
with science projects.
The compartmentalization isstaggering.
By the mid-1980s, richard wasmaking up to $40,000 per hit.
He bought a Cadillac, tookluxury vacations, gave his kids
(12:29):
everything they wanted.
But success bred carelessness.
He started taking independentcontracts outside the mob made
enemies, talked too much to thewrong people and in 1985, law
enforcement finally got thebreak that they needed.
Enter Dominic, an undercoverATF agent.
Using an alias.
(12:49):
He spent 18 months infiltratingRichard's world.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
The recordings he made are chilling in their
casualness is the less you foundin this particular case,
because there was differenttypes of murders, different
devices used.
The final method that was usedwas, in fact, the introduction
of an undercover federal agent,dominic Polifron, who was able
to win Mr Kuklinski's confidenceand was able to record
(13:15):
conversations where he detailedhis participation in these
murders.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I portrayed myself as a hitman, told him I worked for
the Wise Guys downtown, newYork and my brother was a good
fella downtown and I went by thename of Dominic Michael
Provenzano.
Speaker 5 (13:37):
You willing to go out on a contract?
If the price is right, I'lltalk to anybody.
Yeah, sure, and you mean totell me your way is nice and
clean and nothing fucking showsup?
Well, it may show, my friend,but it's quiet, it's not messy,
it's not noisy, it's not.
Uh, you know, yeah, but how thefuck do you put it together?
(13:59):
Like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
Oh, there's always a way.
There's a will, there's a way.
My friend, we should sit downwe talk.
Either we go to those tablesover there and get away from
people and we discuss how tomurder people.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
You know, I just have a few problems I want to
dispose of.
I have some rats I want to getrid of.
Yeah, let me fucking think Idon't understand.
Don't you use a fucking pieceof iron to get rid of these
fucking people?
You use this fucking siren?
Why be messy?
You can do it nice and calm.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
It became apparent at later points in the
investigation that Mr Kuklinskifully intended on murdering
Dominic Polifron in addition tothe victims that were being
discussed at the time.
They were having thesetape-recorded conversations, so
he could pretty much tellDominic Polifron anything,
because he knew shortly that hehad plans for Mr Polifron too.
Speaker 5 (14:50):
You put that stuff in a mist, you spray it in
somebody's face and they go tosleep.
No shit, as long as he's dead.
That's the bottom line.
Well, that's the thing, isn'tit, no matter how it was done.
I mean, I know guys that wentto sleep and never woke up again
.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
I mean, you know, he says he had one guy.
He went to get a hamburger.
They'd come back and he put thecyanide on his hamburger and
was sitting down and he'stelling me.
He says you wouldn't believe it.
He says I'm waiting for thisguy to keel over.
He says because once you eatcyanide, usually you'd roll over
and that's it.
He says this guy had theconstitution of a fucking bully.
(15:29):
He says you wouldn't believe it.
He says he wouldn't die.
And we're both laughing aboutthis and I'm saying in the back
of my mind I said holy God.
I said look at this.
I said what kind of person isthis?
I said.
I said to myself, right there,I said you better cover your
butt.
I said because you just don'tknow what this guy and he'd be
kidding about it and I'd belaughing in the back of my mind.
I'm saying this is the devil,no question about it.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
This is the devil.
December 17th of 1986, dominicarranged a final meeting.
Richard thought he was pickingup a cocaine sample that had
been laced with cyanide, hispreferred poison.
Instead, he found himselfsurrounded by federal agents and
state police.
The arrest shocked thecommunity.
(16:12):
Barbara and the children weredevastated.
Imagine finding out that yourentire life, your marriage, your
family memories were built on afoundation of lies and murder.
During his trial, detailsemerged that stunned even
hardened law enforcementofficers.
The number of victims, thevarious methods, the absolute
lack of remorse Nothing hauntsme.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
No, murders haunt me, nothing.
I don't think about it.
That's why it's hard for me totell you.
It's hard for me to be able totell you when something happened
.
I have to think about when.
If I think about it, it wouldwind up hurting me.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
So I don't think about it.
Richard was eventuallyconvicted of five murders,
though he would later claim tohave killed over 100 people In
prison.
Richard gave several remarkableinterviews, most famously for
HBO's documentaries.
He showed zero remorse for hisvictims, but would break down
crying when talking about hisown family.
(17:10):
He would go on to say I doregret hurting my family.
That's the only thing I regret.
The rest it was just business.
Richard would go on to die in2006 at the age of 70 years old
in Trenton State Prison.
The official cause of death wascardiac arrest, though rumors
have persisted that he waspoisoned A fitting end for a man
(17:32):
who had used poison on so manyothers.
So what do we make of RichardKuklinski?
Was he a sociopath who simplyplayed the role as family man,
or was he something more complex, a compartmentalized
personality who can genuinelylove his family while feeling
nothing for his victims?
Perhaps the most disturbingaspect of the Iceman's story is
(17:55):
not the number of victims oreven his methods.
It's that he shows us howeasily evil can hide in plain
sight.
The monster isn't always thestranger in the shadows.
Sometimes it's the neighbor whohelps you jumpstart your car.
Sometimes it's the dad cheeringat the little league game.
The questions that his storyraises are profoundly
uncomfortable ones.
(18:15):
How well do we really knowanybody?
What capacity for darknessmight lie behind the most
ordinary facade?
And, perhaps, most disturbingly, how many other Richard
Kuklinski's might be out thereright now living their double
lives, waiting for their mask toslip?
If you want to learn more aboutthe Iceman case, I highly
recommend watching the HBOdocumentaries where Richard
(18:38):
Kuklinski tells his own story.
Just be warned his casualnessabout murder is deeply
disturbing.
This episode was written andresearched by Roxanne.
Our theme song is produced bySoul Prod Music, and a special
thanks to the New Jersey StatePolice Archives for providing
access to case files andrecordings.
(19:00):
Alrighty, so it's that time,guys, to say goodbye, but before
I do so, I just want to send athank you to all of my listeners
for your continued love andsupport and for sending in cases
(19:22):
that you want covered andstories that you want read on
the podcast.
We truly accept all stories,including scary, paranormal and
funny.
Any cases you want covered orstories that you want read on
the podcast, just please sendthem in to
darkcrossroadspodcasts atgmailcom.
Thank you for hanging out againtoday.
You can also find us on allsocial media platforms.
(19:42):
Don't forget to like, sharerate, review, subscribe wherever
you're listening to us.
You can subscribe to thepodcast for bonus information.
There is a link in all episodesin the notes that we'll send
you to our subscription page andwith that you will get bonus
content, discount on futuremerch and a lot of extra goodies
(20:03):
.
Every single dollar that comesthrough donations or through our
subscription goes straight intothe podcast, helping fund
research and it really helps usout and keeps this podcast going
.
And with all of this said,please don't forget to be weird,
stay different and don't trustanyone.
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