He dumped some into the nearby Hudson River. He shot, stabbed, and bludgeoned men to death. He came to Manhattan numerous times over the ensuing weeks and months and killed people, always men, never a female, he says, always someone who rubbed him the wrong way, for some imagined or extremely slight reason. Eventually, Kuklinski claimed his criminal activity brought him to the attention of Newark's DeCavalcante crime family, who hired him for his first gangland slayings.īeginning in the spring of 1954, Kuklinski began prowling Hell's Kitchen searching for victims. By the mid-1950s, he had earned a reputation as an explosive pool shark who would beat or kill those who annoyed him. Kuklinski claimed that he first killed in adolescence, allegedly using a closet clothes-hanging rod to bludgeon a neighborhood boy who had bullied and teased him. His motives for murder were also unusual, not fitting neatly into standard serial killer categories of lust-murder, revenge-murder, or "angels of mercy", etc. Apart from his violent temper, he had none of the vices common among criminals he was not an abuser of drugs or alcohol, he was not a womanizer, he did not gamble. Barbara suspected that Kuklinski was at least occasionally involved in crime due in part to his possession of large amounts of cash, but she never expressed these worries to him.Īuthorities described Kuklinski as unusual amongst both mobsters and killers. Kuklinski's family and neighbors were never aware of his activities, instead believing that he was a successful businessman. Bad Richie was prone to unpredictable fits of rage and violence he was physically abusive mainly to his wife and emotionally abusive towards his children. In contrast, bad Richie would appear at irregular intervals: sometimes one day after another, other times not appearing for months. Barbara described his behavior as alternating between "good Richie" and "bad Richie." Good Richie was a hard-working provider for his family's needs, and an affectionate father and husband who enjoyed time with his family. Kuklinski then married Barbara and had two daughters and a son. Kuklinski told her, "That is an object lesson: never leave me." She claimed he stabbed her. She claimed in a later interview that once, during an argument in a car, she told Richard she did not want to stay in the car, felt a pain in her neck and, when she touched it, felt and saw blood. He was married with two sons when he met Barbara Pedrici. When asked about his brother's crimes, Richard replied: "We come from the same father." Marriage and childrenīefore he became a contract killer, Kuklinski worked in a warehouse in New Jersey. He had a younger sister, Roberta, and a younger brother, Joseph, who was convicted of raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl. The family lied to the police, saying that he had fallen down a flight of steps. His older brother Florian died of injuries suffered from abuse by his father. She believed that stern discipline should be accompanied by a strict religious upbringing, and raised her son in the Roman Catholic Church, where he became an altar boy. His mother also beat him with broom handles (sometimes breaking the handle) and other household objects. Richard was constantly abused by his parents, especially by his father, who repeatedly beat him. Richard Kuklinski was born in the family apartment on 4th Street in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Stanley Kuklinski, a Polish immigrant from Karwacz, Masovian Voivodeship and brakeman on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, and Anna McNally from Harsimus, a daughter of Catholic Irish immigrants from Dublin, who worked in a meat-packing plant during Richard's childhood.
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