Mafia "hitman", Richard Kuklinski is an interesting case of a different type of serial killer, which is certainly not the same as a mass murderer, although the two are synonymous with each other in the minds of the majority of people (Holmes 1999). Who is Richard Kuklinski, how he became a serial killer, why he did what he did, his background as a child and early adult, and this author's opinion on his diagnosis, if applicable regarding mental illness, will be explored. Richard Kuklinski, aka "The Iceman" was born in the Jersey City projects on April 11, 1935 to Stanley and Anna Kuklinski, of Polish and Irish descent. He owes his nickname to the fact that he sometimes froze the bodies of his victims (Martin 2006). It is said that Kuklinski did this so that the coroner could not pinpoint the time of death. Kuklinski died on March 5, 2006 at the state prison in Trenton, New Jersey, in an undisclosed manner (Martin 2006). He was arrested before Christmas on December 17, 1986 and later confessed to killing between 200 and 250 men during his forty-three careers, most of which were spent working with various East Coast Mafia crime families ( Carlo 2003). He was sentenced to two life sentences in 1988 and an additional 30 years in 2003 for the murder of New York Police Detective Peter Calabro (Carlo 2003). Kuklinski's childhood was dysfunctional. His father was an alcoholic who mistreated his wife and children (Carlo 2003). Richard dropped out of high school and was known for killing cats in his Polish neighborhood when he was young. Even Richard's brother, Joseph, was convicted of the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl (Carlo 2003). Amidst his father's alcohol abuse as well as physical and verbal abuse from his mother...... middle of paper ...... through brutal torture and murder, Richard had no life, no love, no fear. of the world about it. His words were: “I grew up with hatred and now I have come full circle. It's time for me to die. » He is indeed dead. The hospital never released an official report, even though he suffered from a blood disorder. Nonetheless, he was scheduled to testify against another gangster, but died before he could do so. In fact, Richard Kuklinski had been hit. From his childhood until the end, Richard Kuklinski lived a life of rage and unrepentant hatred. There is no doubt that a dysfunctional childhood and miserable youth surely mitigated the reasons why Richard did what he did for 43 years. During his 25 years behind bars, Kuklinski may have rationalized his reasons, but he never really knew why, nor did anyone else in the end. Maybe we'll never know.