Richard Kuklinski
Abstract
The life of Richard Kuklinski was surrounded by violence since his birth. Richard Kuklinski was born in the year 1935, and was brought up by parents who were violent to him and his siblings. The exposure to violence in his young age could have the reason why Kuklinski grew up as a violent man. The method of killing by Richard Kuklinski was strategic in that the police, with the use of media reports, believed that the homeless people were killing each other. During interviews in various media houses, Kuklinski confessed to having started his killing behavior by murdering neighbors’ cats in his neighborhood. The media was the main strength for Kuklinski since he was able to turn the perception of the public concerning his murders and was able to give sensible reasons as to why he had to become a killer. The experiences of Kuklinski made him a spectacular criminal with an exemplary storytelling perspective; as he had the media on his side and used it to force the police into making simple and rush answers, whereas he was wise to play his cards right in a bid to space out media attention while giving his side of the story. The challenges that Richard went through as a child in a violent family prepared him for his final career as a serial killer and a hit man. The media played its role in allowing Richard Kuklinski to justify his actions to a large media audience.
Richard Kuklinski
The life of Richard Kuklinski was surrounded by violence since his birth. Born in the year 1935, Richard Kuklinski was brought up by parents who were violent to him and his siblings. The exposure to violence in his young age could have the reason why Kuklinski grew up as a violent man. During interviews in various media houses, Kuklinski confessed to having started his killing behavior by murdering neighbors’ cats in his neighborhood. The media was the main strength for Kuklinski since he was able to turn the perception of the public concerning his murders and was able to give sensible reasons as to why he had to become a killer. The experiences of Kuklinski made him a spectacular criminal with an exemplary storytelling perspective; as he had the media on his side and used it to force the police into making simple and rush answers, whereas he was wise to play his cards right in a bid to space out media attention while giving his side of the story.
History of Crime
The early life of Richard Kuklinski started in violence that prepared him for the crimes. Richard Kuklinski was brought up by violent parents who made him grow bitter and revengeful. The life of Kuklinski in crime started with the murder of neighbor’s cats as a way of relieving the anger of being mistreated by his parents (Portman, 2016). Kuklinski grew up becoming familiar with crime, and he was unable to complete his studies. The eighth grade was the highest level of education that Kuklinski managed to achieve before deciding to engage in other issues of life. As explained by Kuklinski, the immediate undertaking after leaving school was involvement in a series of various odd jobs and a series of criminal activities that were accompanied by several murders. Richard Kuklinski had not been involved in active murder until in his early teens after leaving school. The activities that Kuklinski engaged in after leaving school exposed him to crime, and he eventually got connected to criminal gangs in his neighborhood.
The beginning of Richard Kuklinski’s career as a hit-man was when he began dealing with the bootlegging of pornographic films. The pornographic film business led Kuklinski into meeting various criminal gangs who would later hire him as their hit-man to carry out several killings (Sarteschi, 2016). Richard continued with his criminal activities without being caught by the police until in the year 1986 when he was arrested and charged with five cases of murder. According to his account, Richard Kuklinski had engaged in far more murders that the police could trace and he had been working as a hit-man for wealthy families and secret organizations. Murders with which Kuklinski was accused had left the society in shock although most of the cases could not gather enough evidence to connect Kuklinski with the murders directly. Also, the confession by Richard Kuklinski concerning his involvement in several cases of murder led to the drop of the charge that was facing him for the murder of Hoffman, who had been on the radar of the police. The involvement of the media towards the unsolved cases facing Kuklinski was inevitable due to Kuklinski’s wisdom of storytelling, and he took the opportunity given by the media to express his concerns while justifying his actions.
Media Involvement and Crime Events
Richard Kuklinski was keen to reveal his actions through the media. The technique that Kuklinski used to freeze victims left confusion over the actual time of murder. The media used to report the murders as being caused by enmity among the homeless. The police believed on the news on the media and no one, including Kuklinski’s family members would suspect Kuklinski for the murders. Commonly, people find ways to differentiate serial killers from professional hit men. Kuklinski, however, gives a unique account that confuses even the police. The confession that Kuklinski was both a serial killer and a hit man was unheard of and made Kuklinski a special killer. Kuklinski spends the time that he was not on contract with the crime families to kill the people who bothered him. Kuklinski reveals a shocking revelation that he always found pleasure in taking the challenge of killing the people who bothered. The interviews on the media helped Kuklinski to explain that his involvement in the crime was as a result of the kind of life that his parents introduced him to, during his young age and that he did not regret engaging in crime. Also, Kuklinski used the media to reveal his methods of committing murder and hence explained the origin of the name, Ice Man. Kuklinski used to freeze the bodies of his victims as a method of confusing the police who would be interested in finding the exact dates of the murders. Generally, Kuklinski did not record going through the emotional distress that is associated with serial killers, although he had the undeniable urge to kill and found pleasure upon killing.
The theory behind the involvement of Richard Kuklinski in crime remains clear if his documentation is to go by. The period between the first involvement in crime and his arrest shows the prowess of Kuklinski in the killing career. The first murder that Richard records happened when he was just 13 years old in the year 1948. Kuklinski commits a series of other murder crimes and is only arrested in 1986. The arrest by the police is done for six cases of murder. Through media recordings that Kuklinski makes while in prison, the Kuklinski had committed dozens of killings before his arrest. The most shocking bit of the confessions by Kuklinski was that he did not appear to regret his involvement in the murder. Kuklinski did not show any signs of fear as he narrated his ordeals, and he appeared to be celebrating his achievements already.
The conduct of Richard Kuklinski both in and outside the cells reflected the theoretical definitions of both a serial killer who had qualified to be hired as a hitman by crime families (Farrell, 2018). Serial killers are always products of poor upbringing where serial killers agree to have had to struggle through violence in their young ages. Richard Kuklinski was no exception, and his several interviews made him talk about the reason why he became a serial killer. The first murder that Richard witnessed was when his father murdered Richard’s brother. Richard and his brother had to accept the treatment that their maniac father exposed them as children. Although Richard does not explain why his father and mother hated them, Richard’s family appeared to have been built on violence. Kuklinski’s mother, despite being a devoted Catholic, was a harsh parent and thus left Richard and his siblings with nowhere to hide when their father turned violent. The death of Richard’s brother when his father beat him was a major turn around, and Richard made up his mind to move from the side of a bullying victim to a bully. Richard Kuklinski grew up hating all people who had similar attributes as his father, and he would kill them for no major reason. Also, Richard needed money to survive in the city, and therefore the deal to work for the crime families went just fine with him because he was already a skilled killer.
Impact of Media Involvement
The impact of media in the promotion of antisocial, deviant, and criminal behavior is noticeable with the way the media treats Richard’s case. Media has always been receiving negative criticism due to the way it handles cases of crime, and instead of helping in solving the cases ends up leaving more people interested in committing a crime (Jewkes, 2017). Cases of anomie, as presented by the media, also tend to leave individuals willing to engage in the same activities that other people engaged in and achieved comfort even through illegal means. The media, for example, allows Richard Kuklinski to present his way of life. Richard takes the opportunity presented by the media to express the pleasure associated with becoming a serial killer and a hit man. In the confessions, Richards hails his activities and even reveals the police revealed the weakness of the police in dealing with murder cases since only six out of his several cases. The first failure that the media does is allowing Richard Kuklinski to justify his deeds and thus allowing space for his exemplary storytelling to take the stage. For example, Richard justifies that his first murder was a fight back since Richard had no one to stand for him.
Moreover, the media has, in several occasions, been on the spot for being owned by rich personalities and thus serving only their owners at the expense of the general public: “Since the advent of the modern media industry… society has become more violent…,” Jewkes. The media has been allowing the rich owners to pass their ideologies through hidden strategies (Ostrosky & Ardila, 2017). For example, the case of Richard Kuklinski appeared to be a move by the crime families to claim their involvement in killing criminals who had been giving the police sleepless nights. For example, the death of Paul Hoffmann appeared to be justified since the case was later dropped. The media, therefore, stood on the side of sympathizing with Richard Kuklinski for actions that would have instead been used as evidence against him. The outcome of cases in court tends to be affected by the medial involvement because the police have to reconsider the evidence provided in respected to the confessions made by criminals through the media. Also, the judges may be forced to grant leniency where victims confess their involvement in criminal activities.
In sum, Richard Kuklinski went through experiences that made him a spectacular criminal with an exemplary storytelling perspective. Richard Kuklinski had the media on his side and used it to force the police into making simple and rush answers. The initial killing of the homeless people gave Kuklinski a way of hiding behind the news reported by the media and continued with his murdering spree. Richard Kuklinski was wise to play his cards right in a bid to space out media attention while giving his side of the story. The challenges that Richard went through as a child in a violent family prepared him for his final career as a serial killer and a hit man. The media played its role in allowing Richard Kuklinski to justify his actions to a large media audience.
References
Farrell, M. (2018). Explanations of Serial Poisoning. In Criminology of Serial Poisoners (pp. 21- 43). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Jewkes, Y., & Linnemann, T. (2017). Media and Crime in the US. Sage Publications.
Ostrosky, F., & Ardila, A. (2017). Serial Killers. In Neuropsychology of Criminal Behavior (pp. 68-85). Routledge.
Portman, J. (2016). A Case Study in Psychopathy: Richard Kuklinski, The Iceman.
Sarteschi, C. M. (2016). Public Interest in Mass and Serial Murder. In Mass and Serial Murder in America (pp. 5-15). Springer, Cham.