The Iceman Cameth and Wenteth
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Richard Leonard Kuklinski was a murderer, hitman, and exquisitely prolific serial killer from New Jersey. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of killing two members of his burglary gang and two other associates in 1988.
2003 found him sentenced to an additional 30-year sentence after confessing to the murder of a mob-connected police officer. He acquired the nickname The Iceman by authorities after they discovered that he had frozen the body of one of his victims in an attempt to disguise the time of death.
He was known to his associates as a "one-man army" and even "the Devil himself".
He has numerous claims of high crimes in the form of the murder of various others and these were described in detail over the course of three HBO documentaries where he described his exploits and methods in great detail.
His claims of being a mafioso hitman were documented to the nth degree and his imprisonment capped what was a sad state of humanity ... being the product of a violent alcoholic and physically abusive father he in turn was a violent wife abuser in his own right.
Those highlights of his career feature a multitude of criminal activities for the better part of his adult life. He dealt in stolen goods, operated a burglary and car theft ring, and dabbled in narcotics, pornography, the arms trade, and money laundering.
His family stated that they were unaware of his crimes.
After multiple murder convictions Kuklinski gave interviews to writers, prosecutors, criminologists and psychiatrists.
His body count ranged from 100 to 250 men and those details stated were typically gruesome and largely uncorroborated. He has become immortalized in a feature film and miles of interview footage.
He died at age 70 as the result of a 'do not resusciate' order left by his second wife with the medical staff of St Francis Medical Center in Trenton, New Jersey where he had specifically requested CPR given his diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. His wife was given the declined opportunity to rescind that dnr a week before he died.
Goes to show you that violent wife beating simply isn't a good idea.