People
Richard Kuklinski – biography, wife, daughters, son and other family members
Richard Kuklinski was one of the killers and criminals of his day who did evil for practically everything in the books, from narcotics, guns, money laundering and kidnapping to assassinating people. Not content with making it small or quiet, he expanded the boundaries of his operations, eventually leading to his inevitable downfall and arrest.
Kuklinski was connected to American mafia families like the DeCavalcante and Gambino. He claimed to have killed more than 200 people in his lifetime, although he was convicted of murdering 6 people.
Richard Kuklinski Biography
Richard Kuklinski was an American criminal and hitman born April 11, 1935 in Trenton, New Jersey. His full first name was Richard Leonard Kuklinski and he was from Poland and Ireland. Kuklinski grew up on 4th Street in New Jersey City in a very abusive house with an alcoholic father who blew his ass at every opportunity and a high-ranking mother who is also known for kicking the shrimp out of him struck. Although he was raised Catholic by his mother, he later rejected the path and teachings of Catholicism.
As a teenager, he is said to have been very cruel to pets in his neighborhood, such as cats and dogs, sometimes tying their tails together and watching them fight or throwing them into the incinerator while watching them until they consume themselves in the fire. Therefore, it was not surprising to many that the young man in trouble chose crime as a way of life and career path.
Criminal activities and style of crime
He beat Charley Lane, a teenage gang leader who was a ruthless bully, to death in 1949 when he was just 14 years old. By the time he was 20 years old, he had been involved with other gangsters such as Roy DeMeo with the Gambino crime family, committing crimes of the small, committing large organized crimes, intimidating people with his huge physique and his expertise in murder perfect of person’s interests.
He soon hit his waterloo with the discoveries of some people he had murdered, such as Gary Smith, his former partner in crime, whose decomposing corpse was seen under the bed in a York motel in New Jersey; Daniel Deppner, Louis Masgay, etc. Richard Kuklinski also confessed to killing a New York City police detective, Peter Calabro, on orders from the Gambinos, for which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Richard wasn’t like other serial killers. He lived a normal life like everyone else and didn’t do drugs, women or alcohol like most of his peers.
Richard used a variety of methods to carry out his kills, ranging from the use of knives, tire irons, lamp wire, truncheons, fire, explosives, guns, asphyxiation to the use of cyanide because it can go undetected in toxicology testing. He disposed of his victims by feeding them to cave rats, freezing their bodies in industrial freezers for years to hide the time of death, using 55-gallon oil drums, dismembering body parts, and also performing burials. Despite his ruthlessness, he never killed women and children.
Other family members – parents and siblings
Richard was born to a Polish alcoholic father,Stanislaw Stanley Kuklinski, and an Irish mother, Anna McNally. His father was a brakeman on the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. He also had an older brother, Florian, and two younger siblings; Roberta and Joseph. Florian died at the age of eight from wounds sustained from severe beatings by his father. Joseph was later convicted for the 1970 rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl.
Family – wife, daughters, son
Richard was a family man whom he remained loyal to, tending to the needs of his family, which he greatly adored. He was married twice, first to a woman nine years his senior and their union had two sons, while his second marriage was to Barbara Pedrici, whom he met at the warehouse where he worked. They married in 1961 and have 2 daughters and a son together. The names of these children are Richard Jr., David, Merrick, Christin and Dwayne.
More Facts About Richard Kuklinski – Books, Death
A three-part documentary was made and aired by HBO in 1992, 2001 and 2003, respectively, about the criminal life of Richard Kuklinski. Anthony Bruno, a writer, after his multiple interviews with Richard, wrote a book called The Iceman: The True Story of a Cold-Blooded Killer , which was adapted into a 2013 film starring Michael Shannon as Richard Kuklinski.
He confessed to knowing what happened to Jimmy Hoffa, who disappeared without a trace in 1975 during one of the numerous interviews he granted. He claimed the union leader was cremated and his ashes placed in a drum, which was initially buried but later shipped to Japan in a compressed car for fear of discovery after one of the accomplices in the murder was arrested by law enforcement was.
Richard was diagnosed with a terminal illness while in prison and transferred to St. Francis Medical Center in October 2005, he suffered a cardiac arrest that resulted in his death on March 5, 2006. He died at the age of 70, his body was cremated and the ashes were said to be given to his daughter Merrick.
