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Richard Kuklinski

Also known as: The Iceman

Active

1980–1983

Region

North Jersey and New York, USA

States

NJ, NY

Kind

Serial

Status

Convicted

Victims

5

Richard Kuklinski, a Jersey City-born criminal who lived a suburban family life in Dumont, New Jersey, killed business associates and others between 1980 and 1983. An 18-month undercover investigation led to his arrest in December 1986. In 1988 a jury convicted him of the murders of Gary Smith and Daniel Deppner, and he pleaded guilty to killing George Malliband and Louis Masgay; in 2003 he also pleaded guilty to the 1980 murder of NYPD Detective Peter Calabro. He died in custody in 2006. In TV interviews and books he claimed to have killed more than 100 people as a Mafia hit man, but those claims were never corroborated and several were doubted by investigators.

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Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

• George Malliband · January 30, 1980

  Kuklinski pleaded guilty to shooting him in 1980.

• Peter Calabro · March 14, 1980

  A New York City police detective, shot as he drove home from work.

• Louis Masgay · July 1981

  A business associate who disappeared in July 1981; his body was found in 1983.

• Gary Smith · December 1982
• Daniel Deppner · 1983

Timeline of locations

1. 1980
   Kuklinski's home, Dumont (Killer's residence, approximate area)

   Kuklinski lived with his family in the Bergen County suburb of Dumont until his arrest.

2. January 1980
   Jersey City (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Malliband's body was left in a drum near a chemical plant in Jersey City.

3. March 14, 1980
   Saddle River (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Detective Calabro was ambushed and shot in Saddle River, New Jersey, on his way home.

4. December 1982
   Motel in North Bergen (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Gary Smith was killed in a North Bergen motel room that Kuklinski had rented; his body was found there days later.

5. May 1983
   Woods in West Milford (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Deppner's body was found in a wooded area of West Milford, near Clinton Road, in May 1983.

6. September 1983
   Orangetown, New York (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Masgay's body was found near Clausland Mountain Road in Orangetown, Rockland County, in September 1983.

7. 1988
   New Jersey State Prison, Trenton (Prison)

   Kuklinski served his sentences at Trenton State Prison. He died in the prison wing of St. Francis Hospital in Trenton on March 5, 2006.

Watch, listen, read

Active at the same time, nearby

• Michael Ross · both active in 1982, 76 km apart · map both

A coincidence of time and place, not a connection. All overlaps

Sources

• Richard Kuklinski (Wikipedia)
• Richard Kuklinski, 70, a Killer of Many People and Many Ways, Dies (The New York Times, 2006)
• Operation Iceman nabs the culprit (HISTORY.com)
• Richard Kuklinski (EBSCO Research Starters)

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.