Abuse and Iceman Tapes

Richard Kuklinski was born on April 11, 1935. He lived in a housing project in Jersey City, New Jersey with his siblings and parents.He was one out of three boys and had a sister. Richards mother raised him in a Catholic Church where he eventually became an altar boy. His father worked as a brakeman for the railroad and his mother Anna worked for a meat packing plant. His father was an alcoholic and his mother was a strict catholic. Both Richards parents were abusive. They would harshly beat him and his brothers. In the HBO documentary: "Iceman tapes, conversations with a killer" Richard Kuklinski was asked about his father and he said "I didn't like my father because he would beat me just because he felt like it, to get my attention I guess. He would think nothing of coming in and smacking me. He would just come in and give you a whooping for no reason what's so ever. When asked about his mother he said "My mother was cancer she would destroy everybody. She thought I took to long to do something she didn't hesitate to give me a swat here and there and she didn't just use her hands. She would hit me with a broom stick or something like that." As a result of the sever abuse going on in the Kuklinski home Florian ,Richards older brother was killed by their father Stanley. The family covered the killing by saying that it was an accident and that Florian fell down a flight of stairs. As a child Richard was victimized , constantly getting picked on and bullied by a group of his kids in his neighborhood. He began torturing animals at the age of 10. He would tie cats together by their tails and watch them attack and kill one another. Richard dropped out of school in the eigth grade and at some point in his childhood his father abandoned him and his family . Richard killed his first victim when he was 14. He beat Charlie Chase to death which was the boy he taunted and bullied him. In the HBO documentary: "Iceman tapes: conversations with a killer" Richard spoke about