The Ice Man Read online

  THE ICE MAN

  Also by Philip Carlo

  Stolen Flower

  The Night Stalker

  Predators and Prayers

  Smiling Wolf

  Philip Carlo

  THE ICE MAN

  CONFESSIONS OF A MAFIA CONTRACT KILLER

  St. Martin’s Griffin

  New York

  THE ICE MAN. Copyright © 2006 by Philip Carlo. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.stmartins.com

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Carlo, Philip.

  The Ice Man: confessions of a mafia contract killer / Philip Carlo.

  p. cm.

  ISBN: 978-1-4299-0266-3

  1.Kuklinski, Richard. 2. Serial murderers—New Jersey—Biography. 3. Serial murders—New Jersey—Case studies. I. Title.

  HV6248.K75 C37 2006

  364.152'3092—dc22

  [B]

  2006041720

  This work is dedicated to my agent and dear friend, Matt Bialer,

  for always being there, for his constant help, guidance, and unwavering support.This has been a long, bumpy road, Matt, a harrowing journey

  I could not have made without you….

  CONTENTS

  Preface

  Mafia Structure

  Introduction: Rattus Norvegicus

  PART I: BIRTH OF THE GRIM REAPER

  CHAPTER 1: Mortal Sin Indeed

  CHAPTER 2: Mean Streets

  CHAPTER 3: Sticky Fingers

  CHAPTER 4: First Blood

  CHAPTER 5: Reborn

  CHAPTER 6: The De Cavalcantes

  CHAPTER 7: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

  CHAPTER 8: Long Walks, Short Piers

  CHAPTER 9: A Triple Play

  CHAPTER 10: Murder for Hire

  CHAPTER 11: The Enforcer

  CHAPTER 12: Mob Guys and Crooked Cops

  CHAPTER 13: Independent Contractor

  CHAPTER 14: Tough and Rough and Ready to Go

  PART II: BARBARA

  CHAPTER 15: Bambi Meets the Ice Man

  CHAPTER 16: Possession

  CHAPTER 17: Aunt Sadie

  CHAPTER 18: This Is for You, Richard

  CHAPTER 19: Betrayal

  CHAPTER 20: Love and Marriage and a Baby Carriage

  CHAPTER 21: Enter the Lone Ranger

  PART III: VERY BAD GOODFELLAS

  CHAPTER 22: Making Ends Meet

  CHAPTER 23: Murder Runs in the Family

  CHAPTER 24: Let’s Do the Twist

  CHAPTER 25: The Gambinos

  CHAPTER 26: Partnership Born in Hell

  CHAPTER 27: Forgive Me, Father, for I Have Sinned

  CHAPTER 28: The Porn King of New York

  CHAPTER 29: Family Man

  CHAPTER 30: Hit Man

  CHAPTER 31: Lady and Pouilly-Fuissé

  CHAPTER 32: Blood Money

  CHAPTER 33: The Big Guy

  CHAPTER 34: Rolling Over in His Grave

  CHAPTER 35: Double Suck

  CHAPTER 36: The Office

  CHAPTER 37: Mister Softee

  CHAPTER 38: Joe and Mary’s

  CHAPTER 39: Off the Record

  CHAPTER 40: Sammy “the Bull” Gravano

  PART IV:THE MANHATTAN PROJECT

  CHAPTER 41: The Lone Ranger

  CHAPTER 42: The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight

  CHAPTER 43: The Disassembling of Roy DeMeo

  CHAPTER 44: The Elusive Muskie

  CHAPTER 45: How the Fuck You Doin’?

  CHAPTER 46: “The Store”

  CHAPTER 47: Sparks Steak House

  CHAPTER 48: Would You Like Some Tea?

  CHAPTER 49: I’ve Got Some Rats I Have to Get Rid Of

  CHAPTER 50: Operation Ice Man

  CHAPTER 51: Hit Kit

  PART IV:HOMICIDE SUPERSTAR

  CHAPTER 52: The Quiet Before the Storm

  CHAPTER 53: With a Wiggle

  CHAPTER 54: The Politics of Murder

  CHAPTER 55: The State of New Jersey v. Richard Leonard Kuklinsk

  CHAPTER 56: It Was Due To Business

  CHAPTER 57: It’s Not TV, It’s HBO

  CHAPTER 58: Secrets of a Mafia Hit Man

  CHAPTER 59: The Ice Man Versus Sammy the Bull

  CHAPTER 60: No Sunset, No Sunrise

  CHAPTER 61: A Flying Fuck

  Epilogue

  Postscript

  Index

  PREFACE

  This book is based on over 240 hours of one-on-one interviews with Richard Kuklinski at Trenton State Prison. When and where possible all the crimes and murders Richard and I discussed were verified with underground Mafia contacts, police sources, documents, crime-scene reports, and photographs. When Richard and I discussed his life and the crimes he committed over a forty-three-year period, he never bragged or boasted. Indeed, much of what is contained in this book had to be prodded and encouraged out of him. In my estimation, Richard was always honest and truthful, sincere and forthright in the extreme.

  The names of certain individuals connected with this story have been changed.

  I first wish to thank my editor, Charlie Spicer at St. Martin’s Press, for all his expert advice, his guidance, and his belief in this book from the moment it arrived on his desk. Also his right-hand man, Joe Cleemann, was a huge help, on numerous levels. Many thanks also to John Murphy and Gregg Sulivan for their belief in and support of this book. Gaby Monet at HBO was an invaluable friend and assisted me greatly with understanding the enormous complexities of this story. Many thanks to my loyal friend and confidant, Mike Kostrewa, for all his guidance and expertise about Jersey City and the Polish people and culture. I also wish to thank Trenton State Prison for allowing me access to Richard Kuklinski at the facility. Also, thanks to Anna Bierhouse for her suggestions, and all the good people at Sanford Greenburger, the best literary agency in the world; they still treat writers like sensitive artists, a rare thing these days. I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my parents, Dante and Nina Carlo, for their unwavering support. My gratitude to Crystal Proenza for her patience and good cheer in turning my voluminous handwritten drafts into flawless manuscripts. I also wish to thank Barbara, Merrick, Chris, and Dwayne Kuklinski for their honest feelings and kind input.

  Lieutenant Patrick Kane of the New Jersey State Police was an invaluable source of detail, facts, emotion, times, and places. Also, Sergeant Rob Anzalotti and his partner, Detective Mark Bennul, were very helpful in shining light on the dark, violent phenomenon that was Richard Leonard Kuklinski’s life.

  MAFIA STRUCTURE

  Capo crimini/capo di tutti capi: superboss/boss of bosses

  Capo: boss/Don

  Consigliere: trusted adviser or family counselor

  Sotto Capo/Capo bastone: underboss, second in command

  Contabile: financial adviser

  Caporegime or capodecina: lieutenant, typically heads a “crew” comprising ten or more soldiers

  Sgarrista: a foot soldier who carries out the day-to-day business of the family, a “made” member of the Mafia

  Picciotto: lower-ranking soldier, enforcer; also known in the streets as the “button man”

  Giovane d’honore: Mafia associate, typically a non-Sicilian or non-Italian member

  “My husband is a good man, a kind man—a great father. All my children’s friends are always saying they wish they had a dad like my husband—like Richard.”

  Mrs. Barbara Kuklinski

  on the day Richard was ar
rested

  “Richard is both fascinating and as frightening as your worst nightmare. He represents the worst of who we are—yet, he is absolutely fascinating to listen to.”

  Sheila Nevins

  HBO producer

  “This is the devil—No question about it. This is the devil!”

  Dominick Polifrone

  Undercover AFT operative

  “He’s responsible for over two hundred murders—I mean personally responsible.”

  Gaby Monet

  HBO producer

  “I’d never hurt a woman or a child. It’s just not in me.”

  Richard Kuklinski

  “He killed with guns, poison, bats, knives, strangulation, his fists, ice picks, screwdrivers, hand grenades, and even fire. We’ve never seen anything like him. Truth is, we’ve never even heard of anything like him.”

  Bob Carroll

  New Jersey deputy attorney general

  “Even now, I mean so many years later, my stomach gets all tense and my hands tremble when I think about him. But I love my dad. I love him a lot! None of it was his fault…. My father married the wrong woman.”

  Merrick Kuklinski

  Richard’s oldest daughter

  “When he told me he loved me, which he often did, I’d say ‘Me too.’ That’s it…just ‘Me too.’”

  Barbara Kuklinski

  “My father terrorized us. We never knew when or where he’d explode. We tried to hide it from my brother because he would have tried to do something, protect us, you know, protect my mother, and my father would’ve killed him, I’m sure. One time this woman with kids in her car cut him off and he got out of the car at a light and tore the woman’s door right off her car.”

  Chris Kuklinski

  Richard’s daughter

  “They thought I didn’t know what he was doing, but I saw all the broken furniture and I knew my father did it. I saw my mother’s black eyes. I kept an ax under my bed and a machete just next to the bed because of him.”

  Dwayne Kuklinski

  Richard’s son

  “He’s very crafty and cunning, like some kind of jungle predator that nobody ever sees until it’s too late. We knew about him—I knew about him, was tracking him for years, but could never pin anything on him.”

  Detective Pat Kane

  New Jersey State Police

  “My mother was cancer. She slowly destroyed everything around her. She produced two killers; me and my brother Joe.”

  Richard Kuklinski

  “There are two Richards, and I never knew who would be walking in the door. He could be generous to a fault, or the meanest man on earth.”

  Barbara Kuklinski

  “We called him ‘the Ice Man’ because he froze some of his victims, kept them in an icebox he had for a while, then put them out so we could not tell when the murder actually took place, you see.”

  Paul Smith New

  Jersey Organized Crime and Racketeering Bureau investigator

  “I became very promiscuous because of my father. The only thing I had control of was my body. I did what I wanted—I did what he didn’t want me to do. I lost my virginity when I was twelve to an older man in a van. Just some guy who picked me up at a bus stop on the corner there.”

  Chris Kuklinski

  Richard’s daughter

  “I feel nothing inside for any of them. Nothing. They had it coming and I did it. The only people I ever had any kind of real feelings for were my family. Those others, nothing. Sometimes I wonder why I’m like this, feel nothing inside…. I wish someone could tell me. I’m curious.”

  Richard Kuklinski

  “Richard is totally unique. There’s not been anyone like him in modern times. He trusts me because I’ve never lied to him. He does have a nice side. Once he asked me if I was scared of him and I told him I wasn’t and asked him if I should be. He just stared at me. That was kind of scary—having him just stare with those chilling eyes of his.”

  Gaby Monet

  HBO producer

  “What the feds did was outrageous. I mean they knew Sammy Gravano ordered Richard to kill a cop and they still made a deal for Gravano to walk.”

  Sergeant Robert Anzalotti

  Bergen County Prosecutor’s office

  “I beat them to death for the exercise.”

  Richard Kuklinski

  “The Law, alone and aloof by its very nature, has no access to the emotions that might justify murder.”

  Marquis de Sade

  THE ICE MAN

  INTRODUCTION

  Rattus Norvegicus

  Richard Kuklinski was first drawn to the sprawling woods of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, because of their peace and tranquillity, solitude and fresh air. The woods reminded Richard of church, one of the few places in his life where he found solace and comfort and could think without distraction. Like a church, the woods were peaceful, quiet, and serene.

  The woods of Bucks County were also a good place to get rid of bodies. By profession Richard was a contract killer, and the disposal of bodies was always a concern. Sometimes it was okay to leave the victims where they dropped, in alleys, parking lots, and garages. Other times they had to disappear. That was specifically requested. One time Richard left a victim in an ice-cold well for nearly two years—preserving the corpse—purposely seeking to confuse the authorities as to the accurate time of death, thus earning his eventual moniker: “Ice Man.”

  Richard was careful never to leave two bodies close to each other here in the woods, lest the authorities become suspicious and stake out a given area. His business was the business of murder and he was particularly adept at it. He had honed killing to a kind of fine art form. No job was too difficult. He successfully carried out every contract he’d ever been given. He prided himself on that. In the netherworld of murder, Richard Kuklinski was a much sought-after specialist—a homicide superstar.

  Richard was unique in that he filled murder contracts for all five New York crime families, as well as the two New Jersey mob families, the Pontis and the notorious De Cavalcantes.

  It was now mid-August of 1972 and the woods were thick with lush green vegetation. As Richard moved in the quiet shade of elm, maple, pine, and tall, elegant poplar trees, he carried a double-barrel Browning shotgun with fancy engraving on the stock. The weapon, in Richard’s enormous hands, seemed like a child’s toy.

  Richard very much enjoyed this kind of cat-and-mouse game he had invented, sneaking up on unsuspecting animals and shooting them before they knew he was there. Richard was a very large man, six foot five in his stocking feet and 290 pounds of solid muscle, yet he had an uncanny ability to move silently and with great stealth, suddenly just being there, and like this Richard managed to shoot unsuspecting squirrels, woodchucks, skunks, and deer, which was all practice for the thing that Richard excelled at, his one true passion in life: stalking, hunting, and killing human beings.

  I don’t particularly enjoy the killing, you know; I enjoy the stalk, the planning, and the hunt much more, Richard explained.

  On one of these “practice outings” in Bucks County, Richard spotted it: a large rodentlike animal standing next to a thick oak tree. Thinking it was a woodchuck, he snuck up on the creature. All was quiet and still except for the rustling of leaves in a gentle breeze. Moving on just the balls of his size fourteen feet, using trees and shrubbery to get close enough for a clean shot—it was important to Richard that he kill with the first round—he managed to outflank the animal by staying upwind. When in good position, he took aim and fired.