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Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski, a Dumont hit man who turned raging psychosis into a string of lucrative killings, died Monday in the prison wing of a Trenton hospital.
Following him to the grave is a murder charge against Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, a former Gambino crime family underboss charged with hiring Kuklinski 26 years ago to kill a New York City detective in Upper Saddle River.
But an associate of the hit man's family said Monday that a new mystery has arisen: What killed the 70-year-old Kuklinski?
"He was healthy and robust and he got sick all of a sudden," said Philip Carlo, a New York author who is about to release an extensive Kuklinski biography and had been in constant contact with him the past two years. "Family members believe he was poisoned."
Four months ago, Kuklinski suddenly developed heart, lung and kidney problems, the author said. He also suffered from dementia and could not even remember his wife's phone number or the names of his three children, Carlo said.
Deirdre Fedkenheuer, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Department of Corrections, confirmed that Kuklinski died at St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, where he was being treated for an undisclosed medical problem.
Fedkenheuer said federal law prevents her from releasing a cause of death. She said only that Kuklinski died of natural causes in the hospital's prison wing.
Kuklinski had recently been moved from New Jersey State Prison to the hospital. Sources said he had been in declining health for some time.
With the demise of their star witness, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said Monday that authorities were dropping the case against Gravano.
"I cannot proceed with this particular matter at this juncture and will be requesting that the court dismiss [it]," he said, following a daylong review of Gravano's file.
At 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighing nearly 300 pounds, the heavily bearded and tattooed Kuklinski became a horror-movie-type villain not just in New Jersey but nationally. In a pair of HBO television specials, Kuklinski detailed the gruesome fates of what he said were 100 victims.
For Kuklinski, killing was a business tactic used to cover up numerous robberies and thefts. Kuklinski shot, stabbed, strangled and poisoned his way into the upper echelon of mass murderers. As a Gambino family enforcer, he was known for killing with such ease that even "wiseguys" became timid around him.
He claimed to have blown up one man with a grenade, stuffed another into a barrel of quick-drying cement and killed another by poisoning his hamburger and stuffing him under a North Bergen motel bed.
He said he also killed Robert Prongay, a Mister Softee ice cream truck driver whose bullet-riddled body was found hanging inside a garage on Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen.
Kuklinski was arrested by New Jersey authorities in 1986 and charged with five murders. He was convicted in 1988 and sentenced to consecutive life terms for killing Gary T. Smith in 1982 and Daniel E. Deppner in 1983. The two Vernon men had worked under Kuklinski in a robbery and theft ring.
At the trial, Kuklinski was accused of strangling the men after poisoning both with cyanide.
He also pleaded guilty in 1988 to the robbery and shooting deaths of two Pennsylvania businessmen. He froze one of the bodies for months to confuse investigators about the time of death, thus earning him his "Iceman" nickname.
New Jersey State Police captured Kuklinski with the help of Dominick Polifrone of Hackensack, at the time a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent who, posing as a mobster, taped Kuklinski admitting to several killings. It was only after Kuklinski was arrested that Polifrone learned that he was next on the hit man's list.
"The problem was that I was one step ahead of him," the now-retired Polifrone said Monday.
"[Expletive] him," Polifrone added. "He is lucky he had this long life he had in prison. He should have died a long time ago."
A cop's murder
More than a decade into his life sentence, Kuklinski seemed to have faded into oblivion. Then, in 2001, he appeared in an HBO special and said he was the gunman who – at the behest of Gravano – killed New York City Police Detective Peter Calabro on the night of March 14, 1980.
Kuklinski said he popped from behind a double-parked van on a snowy winding road and fired into Calabro's windshield. Gravano, sitting in a car nearby, kept in touch with him by walkie-talkie.
Kuklinski pleaded guilty to the murder in early 2003. A week later, Molinelli brought murder charges against Gravano, 60, who is serving a 20-year term in federal prison for a drug conviction.
Kuklinski was scheduled to testify that he met Gravano at a New Jersey diner, where he received a shotgun and about $30,000 to kill Calabro.
Kuklinski didn't even know Calabro was a police officer, Carlo said. "But he told me that even if he knew, he would have killed him anyway."
Gravano case dead
Once Gravano "ratted out" the mob in the 1990s, bringing down dozens of capos, Carlo said, Kuklinski felt he had no more allegiance to "Sammy the Bull."
Gravano's lawyers called the claims "ridiculous." But this much is sure: Without Kuklinski, the case against Gravano has all but collapsed.
"I regret that a jury is not going to have an opportunity to determine who killed this police officer," Molinelli said. "We do have evidence to corroborate Kuklinski's testimony, but it's not enough."
That doesn't mean the case is closed, the prosecutor warned. "Perhaps in the weeks, months and years ahead, further information may be learned which may shed further light upon this matter."
One of Gravano's attorneys said Monday that he was both satisfied and disappointed.
"We had every confidence in the world that the evidence would have shown Gravano was completely innocent of this crime," said lawyer Peter Quijano. "But we are somewhat disappointed that we didn't have the opportunity to vindicate him of these shameless accusations."
Anthony Bruno, a Philadelphia author who wrote a biography of Kuklinski in the 1990s, also had mixed feelings.
"He wasn't a nice man and he wasn't an asset to society," Bruno said.
"I can't say I am saddened by his death, but one of my main subjects is no longer around."
E-mail: markos@northjersey.com and troncone@northjersey.com
* * *
'Iceman' timeline
December 1986: Richard Kuklinski is arrested outside his Dumont house and charged with five murders.
March 1988: Kuklinski is convicted of murdering two underlings in his burglary ring, Daniel E. Deppner and Gary T. Smith, both of Vernon. He is sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole until age 111.
May 1988: Kuklinski pleads guilty to fatally shooting George Malliband and Louis Masgay, both of Pennsylvania. In return for his plea, the state drops a charge against Kuklinski for the April 1982 slaying of Paul Hoffman, a Cliffside Park pharmacist. Kuklinski had confessed to Hoffman's slaying, state investigators said.
1992: Kuklinski says during an HBO program that he killed up to 100 people.
1993: Kuklinski says in a book that he murdered Roy DeMeo, a Gambino crime family member, in 1983. He also takes credit for murdering Robert Prongay of North Bergen, whose body was found in 1984.
2001: Kuklinski appears in a second HBO special and claims he was paid by the mob to kill New York City Police Detective Peter Calabro.
February 2003: Kuklinski is charged with, and pleads guilty to, Calabro's murder. Kuklinski implicates former Gambino family underboss Salvatore "Sammy The Bull" Gravano. A week later, Gravano is charged with the killing.
December 2003: Gravano appears in court and pleads not guilty to murder.
March 6, 2006: Kuklinski, who was to be the star witness against Gravano, dies. Authorities drop murder charges against Gravano. |
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#1 |
on March 08 2006 12:49 PM
#2 |
on March 08 2006 1:39 PM
#3 |
on March 08 2006 2:19 PM
#4 |
on March 09 2006 6:42 PM
#5 |
on March 09 2006 10:35 PM
#6 |
on March 10 2006 7:11 AM
#7 |
on March 10 2006 2:21 PM
#8 |
on May 19 2009 12:10 PM
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Serial killers are so fun.
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