The story of Richard ‘The Ice Man’ Kuklinski is one that will give you chills. How does a devoted father and husband also become the top assassin for the mafia? You will need to read and find out. This man had a wife, three kids and was hosting barbecues without his family and friends ever suspecting a thing.

Kuklinski was born in 1935 in New Jersey to a Polish father and Irish mother (which ends up being the reason he can’t become a ‘made man’ in the mafia. That right is reserved for men of Italian descent only). His parents beat him and his two siblings growing up which probably added to him and his brothers predisposition towards violence. In 1970 his brother was convicted of raping and murdering a twelve year old girl by throwing her off the roof of a five-story building. Kuklinski said of his brother’s crimes ‘We came from the same father’.

He claimed that his first killing occurred when he was just 13 years old and he later became associated with the Gambino crime family. Over the next thirty years he would kill at least six people but he would claim upwards of 200 people died by his hand. He gained his nickname by freezing his victims to try and confuse the time of death. He was tried, convicted and sentenced to two life sentences in 1988. He finally died in 2006 at age seventy after being in prison for almost 18 years. This story details his life and crimes and I found it to be a well written book.

If you are interested in purchasing The Ice Man: