Philip Carlo's The Ice Man spent over six weeks on the New York
Times Bestseller List. Top Mob Hitman**.** Devoted Family Man. Doting
Father. For thirty years, Richard The Iceman Kuklinski led a shocking
double life, becoming the most notorious professional assassin in
American history while happily hosting neighborhood barbecues in
suburban New Jersey.
Richard Kuklinski was Sammy the Bull Gravano's partner in the killing of
Paul Castellano, then head of the Gambino crime family, at Sparks
Steakhouse. Mob boss John Gotti hired him to torture and kill the
neighbor who accidentally ran over his child. For an additional price,
Kuklinski would make his victims suffer; he conducted this sadistic
business with coldhearted intensity and shocking efficiency, never
disappointing his customers. By his own estimate, he killed over two
hundred men, taking enormous pride in his variety and ferocity of
technique.
This trail of murder lasted over thirty years and took Kuklinski all
over America and to the far corners of the earth, Brazil, Africa, and
Europe. Along the way, he married, had three children, and put them
through Catholic school. His daughter's medical condition meant regular
stays in children's hospitals, where Kuklinski was remembered, not as a
gangster, but as an affectionate father, extremely kind to children.
Each Christmas found the Kuklinski home festooned in colorful lights;
each summer was a succession of block parties.
His family never suspected a thing.
Richard Kuklinski is now the subject of the major motion picture
titled The Iceman(2013), starring James Franco, Winona Ryder, Ray
Liotta, and Chris Evans.
