Customer Reviews

The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer

5 star:		(125)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I've studied NYC, NJ & Philly OC for over 20 years now. I've read 100's of books on this subject including the one by Anthony Bruno about Kuklinski about 10 years ago. Some by cops, some by feds, some by rats, some by reporters. Nowhere have I ever read, even hinted at, the more outragous claims made by Richard (Iceman) Kuklinski. A couple of the more unbelievable.

Paul (Big Paul) Castellano Shooting. HE WAS NOT THERE. This was planned and executed by "The Fist" a faction of Gambino's dissatisfied for a number of reasons with his leadership. The Fist was made up of John Gotti, Angelo Ruggerio, Frankie DeCicco, Robert (DeBee) Debenardo, and Sammy Bull Gravano. Others in the family (Gene Gotti, Joe Gallo, et al) knew of the plot, but it emulated and was executed primarily by the Bergin crew headed by Gotti. Below are the shooters. NONE was paid cash to participate. The payment was power within the Gambino's hierarchy after Big Paul was dead. There is NO WAY Gravano would have asked or Gotti would have approved of an unknown shooter being brought into the plot as a freelance mercenary.

John Carneglia Primary shooter, target Castellano, in front of Sparks,
Vincent Artuso Primary shooter, target Castellano, in front of Sparks,
Eddie Lino Primary shooter, target Billotti, in front of Sparks,
Salvatore (Fat Sally) Scala, Primary shooter, target Billotti, in front of Sparks,
Dominick (Skinny Dom) Pizzonia, Back-up shooter across E. 46th St. from Sparks,
Anthony (Tony Roach) Rampino, Back-up shooter across E. 46th St. from Sparks,
Angelo (Quack Quack) Ruggerio, Back-up shooter across E. 46th St. from Sparks,
Joe (The German)Watts, Back-up shooter across E. 46th St. from Sparks,
John Gotti In Car at 3rd Ave & E. 46th St. opposite Sparks,
Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano In Car at 3rd Ave & E. 46th St. opposite Sparks,
FrankDeCicco Inside Sparks

The association with and killing of Roy DeMeo. It is possible that Kuklinski knew DeMeo. Although no cooperating witnesses ever mentioned him. It is even possible that DeMeo kept "The Pollock" around as a secert weapon - that I'd believe. But there is NO WAY, NONE, ZERO that DeMeo would have introduced him to his supervisor in the Gambino family, Anthony Gaggi. And Gaggi wouldn't introduce himself. BTW Gaggi's dog was not a German shepard but a pure breed male boxer. Lastly, Roy was killed by fellow crew associates Joseph Testa and Anthony Senter as well as Nino after orders came from Paul to "take care of him Nino". Also, Frankie DeCicco was instructed to assist Nino if he needed shooters or back-up. Again, no one was paid. Senter and Testa were promoted to made status. Dracula was killed around the same time.

The killing of Jimmy Hoffa. C'mon not even the author could possibly believe this. It has been verified beyond dispute that Tony Pro was in NJ at the time of the killing. I'm not going to waste time reputing this BS any more.

Carmine (Lilo, Cigar) Galante Shooting. There was a lone dinner in Joe & Mary's that hot July afternoon according to Giuseppe Turano's son. However, he hit the deck when Louis Giongetti, Dominick Trinchera and Sonny Black walked in armed to teeth. Turncoat Galante bodyguard Cesare Bonventre pulled his pistol and shot loyal Galante bodyguard Leonard Coppola six times before he hit the floor. Clueless and 3rd bodyguard Baldassare (Baldo) Amato pulled his gun and dove behind a table. Sonny shotgunned Galante while Big Trin chased down Turano's son and shot him in back while he searched for a gun stored in the employee's bathroom. Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato waited in the street by the car with a M1 carbine. Louis Giongetti walked over to Coppola and shot the top of his skull of for good measure. Cesare quickly informed his cousin Baldo not to shoot and leave with him, which he did. This killing was ordered by boss Phillip Rastelli in conjuction with the Gambino's over control of the heroin market and revenge for Gambino killings. Ironically, it was the Zips headed by Salvatore Catalano & Joe Ganci who eventually took over Galante's babina business. Massino took control of the family. This account has been verified by several different sources.

Cave with Rats. Logistics would be unlikely or impossible. Try to find a remote cave 75 miles from home at night whilst guarding a live hostage. Try setting up automatic camera's w/ lights to capture the rats eating the victim. I will admit it's a sick mind to envision such things, but I doubt he actually did it. Camera, light and motion technology plus logistics of transport makes it an unlikely tale to scare women and small children.

Flare to balls. I read almost same account about Legs Diamond and a farmer in a book called Mob Stories about seven years ago. A little less graphic but, punch line was same. Probably Rich read this too. Obviously author didn't read it or don't know how to vet a source.

All in all a good book and worth the money for true crime buffs. I'm glad I bought it, but the killings Kuklinski actually did would have been enough. The other mob stuff is his own fantasy.

Reviewer Jeffrey Johnson below sort of stole most of my thunder, and I basically would concur with the majority of what he said. My reaction to this book was similar to his. Upon first starting it, some warning lights went off for me. I'm always nervous about "real-life" books where the author changes the names of characters. I understand a reporter needing to protect his sources, but Mr. Carlo doesn't indicate what names he's changing or why (Ponti crime family?), which basically renders this "true-crime" book valueless as a research tool. The good news is that Carlo has written an engrossing book (although after slogging through the first dozen or so murders and/or mutilations, the reader does become a bit numb). Bad news? At least 40% on what's in this book is bogus, in my opinion, and I'm probably being conservative. Like Mr. Johnson, I don't believe Kuklinski killed anyone with a horde of ravenous rats and filmed it for the delectation of his underworld employer (in bucolic Bucks County yet!), I don't believe Kuklinski killed Paul Castellano, assisted in the "hit" on Jimmy Hoffa, knew Roy De Meo or worked for him or killed him, I don't believe he ever met Nino Gaggi, had anything to do with the slaying of Carmine Galante, etc. etc. There's enough empirical evidence that Kuklinski was a brutal, psychopathic killer, but if Carlo had been a less credulous chronicler of Kuklinski's torturous life and criminal career, he might have been more competently able to separate incidents that actually happened from incidents that happened only in Kuklinski's fevered imagination. It's a shame...Kuklinski was a fascinating and perversely-engaging criminal personality (as chillingly demonstrated in the HBO documentaries) and an in-depth and cogent examination of his life, his tortured psychology, the personal demons that mutated him and transformed him into the monster he ultimately come, the satanically-ingenious killings he did actually commit, would have been an invaluable addition to the canon of true-crime classics like "In Cold Blood" or the study of serial killer Ted Bundy by Stephen Michaud and Hugh Aynesworth. Instead, we get a superficial "murder-and-mayhem" semi-novel that probably would have been better served it if had appeared in serialized-form in one of the "True Detective" magazines infesting the newsstands.

I really wanted to like this book but it just has too much going against it. First, it is extremely repetitive. If you read the book, count the number of times the author mentions that Richard grew to hate his father or his mother. Count the number of times the reader is informed that Barbara has come to despise Richard, or that his family is the only thing Richard ever cared about or that Richard just has no human emotion or empathy. This book could have been about one third as long if all the repetitive garble had been excluded.

Second the killings Richard confeses to (takes credit for) encompass nearly (if not all) of the most celebrated mafia hits of the last half of the 20th century. Jimmy Hoffa, Carmine Galante, Paul Castelano, John Favara etc. Pretty impressive if true but seems unlikely. To me it's like saying one man was responsible for the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK, and, oh yes, John Lennon too.

Overall, this is an interesting read only if taken with a huge grain of salt.

This has to be hands down one of the worst true crime books ever written! In fact the author should ashamed top have this piece of work published. Beyond the fact that ALL of the mafia related killings "The Iceman", Richard Kuklinski claimed to take part have all been either solved, the true killers and participants named in court, in law enforcement records, by informers or witnesses and none of the killings included Mr. Kuklinski's participation the whole book should be deemed a made up fantasy and the credibility of the author must now come into question for all time.

Every mafia killing mentioned from Paul Castellano to Roy DeMeo and including Carmine Galante have been solved during trial through factual evidence and through the co-operation of informers such as mafia turncoats Sammy "The Bull" Gravano and Big Joe Massino who were both top bosses within the Gambino and Bonanno crime families. Sammy Gravano, the former Gambino crime family underboss assisted with the prosecution of John Gotti having been directly involved in the Paul Castellano murder in December 1985 and gave eye witness testimony of what exactly occurred on the night in question and who participated in the famous Manhattan murder. Kukilinski did not have anything to do with the murder, nothing what so ever, he was not a member of "The F.I.S.T.", the 5 men including John Gotti and Sammy Gravano leading the faction that made the move on boss Paul Castellano. Joe Massino, the former Bonanno crime family boss was indicted in January 2003 and convicted in late 2004 through the testimony of various Bonanno crime family members turned informers who testified that Massino and various associates within the Bonanno crime family co-operated in planning and carrying out the Galante murder in the summer of 1979. Not to mention that by early 2005 Joe Massino himself began to co-operate with authorities in order to spare himself the death penalty and quickly gave new information that supported all previous testimony concerning the Galante hit and Richard Kuklinski was not even mentioned and was not even known to associate with the Massino crew at the time of Galante's murder or at any other time.

Richard Kuklinski in no way, shape or form took part in the planning, let alone did he participate in two of the most famous New York mafia killings of all time! Anybody who knows anything about he mafia, which Mr. Carlo allegedly does, then they would certainly know that no mafia members, let alone bosses would allow any outsider or low level mafia associate such as Richard Kiklinski to take part in any crime family related murder or even any serious affair that required complete secrecy and loyalty, this is mafia law and tradition that was followed by both the John Gotti and Joey Massino factions, along with participating mafia associates at the time who were either high level and very important crime family members or up and coming associates who all became top crime family leaders or members immediately after the murders, in fact that was the reason for the murders, power moves to take over leadership positions and various operations in both cases. No outsider, a non-member, let alone a "mangia cake" and total nobody like Richard Kuklinski would be trusted by any mafia boss with such high level information and secrets concerning the crime family and it's members. Nor would Kuklinski be allowed to hear any discussion or any planning concerning the high level murders in question or for that matter no participants would even gossip around non-mafia members for fear of betrayal and even fear of death for having allowed an outsider to hear the details of such important mafia affairs.

Also lets get it straight, there is no such thing as a "contract killing" within mafia crime families. Soldiers and close associates are expected to follow any orders and to eventually participate in a mafia related killing at some time, thus binding them to their officially affiliated crime family, associate faction or group and to determine their loyalty and trustworthiness. In the event of an internal conflict or mafia war only well known, longtime associates, known to be capable and trustworthy are chosen to participate in important murders, possible coups or take overs, thus guaranteeing once again no possible betrayal from outsiders. Only in certain low level affairs or situations are non-mafia members and associates used for such matters as killings, usually related to the murder of another low level associate or outsider such as the former underworld relationship or alliance once held between the Hell's Kitchen based Westies Irish gang and the Gambino crime family.

Last, but not least, the murders of Gambino crime family soldier Roy DeMeo were shown to be his former underlings within his Gemini lounge crew who committed the murders under the orders of caporegime and DeMeo superior Nino Gaggi who called DeMeo to a meeting ans set him up for the murder, once again nothing to do with Kuklinski! In fact at the time of his death Roy DeMeo was on the run from Colombian drug dealers who where seeking reprisal for a previous matter and he feared he was going to be killed by his own crime family on orders of boss Paul Castellano, which he eventually was. DeMeo would have never met with anybody such as Kuklinski, a known killer at the time, let alone meet with him while on the run when he was even avoiding his own family to keep his whereabouts a secret.

The book is a disgrace and is not even worth the paper it is printed on! Philip Carlo has lost all credibility in my opinion due to the fact that any high school student could have done the research required to discredit Mr. Kuklisnki and yet Mr. Carlo willingly did his best to pull the wool over his readers yes by supporting "The Iceman's" ridiculous claims. Outside of the murders Kuklinski was convicted on i would not pout any credibility towards anything in this book, in fact many of the so called murders allegedly committed by Kuklinski were most likely not even carried out, how can somebody who lies to that extent even be considered reliable or credible? Mr. Carlo was in good company in regards to credibility!

In the preface, Carlo notes: "When and where possible all the crimes and murders Richard and I discussed were verified with underground Mafia contacts, police sources, documents, crime-scene reports, and photographs." Okay, but, "When and where possible," just does not cut it for me. I need proof.

If he used rats to eat live victims, where are the videos he took and supposedly shared? None exist? Okay, then show me a cave with some ferocious 20 lb. human-eating rats. How about an appendix with some crime reports, newspaper articles, something, anything to back up his claims of rescuing children from a child trafficker by having them call 911? I understand that cyanide is untraceable in the way the killer supposedly used it, but he used guns and knives on most of his victims. The author could have presented police reports to back up what he claims he "verified."

The story is an incredible read, but the book is not well written. Much of the same text repeats throughout various chapters, leaving the reader with that déjà vu feeling, not to mention the overuse of trite phrases such as, "Not an easy task."

As mentioned, the story itself is an incredible read, but maybe it is a little too incredible to be true. After all, we are talking about a killer here. Since when are killers trustworthy? Therefore, we must rely on Carlo to back his writing with more than, "Richard was always honest and truthful, sincere and forthright in the extreme." That's not research; that's transcribing stories from some lonely guy in jail bloviating about what may or may not have occurred.

Why is this book rated at an average of four-and-a-half out of five stars? It's a work of fiction. This is not a non-fiction, true-crime book -- although it's sold as one. This is a book filled with a litany of lies and fabrications.

Richard Kuklinski is the biggest liar in recent history looking for fame by confessing to a ton of murders he didn't commit. (Actually, the only other contender for Kuklinski's hall-of-fame fibbing who probably comes close to snatching Kuklinski's title of America's Top Liar was Henry Lee Lucas, who falsely confessed to nearly 200 murders back in the early 1980s.)

Sure, Kuklinski was a killer, and he probably killed about ten people -- six of which were confirmed and a couple he was convicted of. But to actually write that Kuklinski killed hundreds of people, including the high-profile murders of Jimmy Hoffa, Carmine Galante, and Paul Castellano/Thomas Bilotti, among others, is ridiculous.

Everybody involved in the Hoffa murder has long been identified, it's just there was never any evidence to prosecute and now most of them are dead.

Everybody who was involved in the Galante murder has been identified -- again, most of the suspects are dead. In fact, one man was convicted of being one of the three shooters in that murder -- his name was Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato, and he served nearly fifteen years in prison for it, was paroled around the year 2000, and is now back in jail on murder conspiracy charges.

Everybody involved in the murders of Castellano/Bilotti have also been identified.

In none of these murders was Kuklinski ever mentioned as being involved or even a suspect despite a slew of informers identifying all those involved and tireless investigative efforts of members of law enforcement who worked long and hard trying to solve those cases.

Richard Kuklinki was a liar, and Philip Carlo should write for Disney because he writes fairy tales. He knew Kuklinski was lying and still wrote this garbage-filled book. If he ever gets another book published, it will be a real shame -- because it will mean that any half-brained crackpot can get a book published, and that's just sad and somewhat insulting to REAL non-fiction authors who vigoriously research and fact-check the people and events they write about to come up with the most accurate account as humanly possible.

In conclusion, I wish I could have given this book no stars. It doesn't even deserve the one star required to publish my comment, and Philip Carlo should be ashamed of himself in trying to pass off fiction as fact.

I won't even begin with the unreliability of what's presented here as fact, simply because it came from the killer's mouth, or the lack of evidence, or the absurd violin story of the killer's childhood, and how nothing was really actually his fault.

I can't believe so many reviewers are saying this is "excellent writing", even those who fault the book for other reasons. Is this the first book you guys have read or something?

The writing - dear God, the writing in this book. It is absolutely, utterly atrocious. The author goes way, WAY overboard with similies, every thing is cliche, and yes, fine, the guy has some knockout 'high nordic cheekbones.' Why keep banging on about it?

I am disgusted at myself for wasting hard earned money on this garbage and lining the pockets of this bottom-feeding hack.

This is a book for readers of true crime and for anyone else who might want to be reminded of man's capacity for inhumanity to man. It is not a book for the squeamish.

Philip Carlo writes of the life and murders of Richard Kuklinski. He contrasts Kuklinski's lives as a professional murderer and a 'devoted family man'. The 'devoted family man' could be either a model husband and father or an abusive monster but, according to Carlo, his family never knew of his 'profession'. Possibly, in the way of many abused families, they learned not to question.

Apparently, Philip Carlo's book is based on some 240 hours of face-to-face interviews with Kuklinski and extensive talks with members of his family. As a reader, I would imagine this would give some considerable insight into the man behind the ruthlessly efficient killing machine that Kuklinski apparently was. Some of what Kuklinski claimed has been verified by other sources but I guess we'll never know with certainty exactly how many lives Kuklinski took.

Beyond the murders, and debates about the forces that create psychopathic killers, this book is a tribute to the detective work undertaken by those who ultimately arrested Kuklinski.

Kuklinski himself died in March 2006.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This books begins well but after about 100 pages extreme doubt begins to set in. The fundamental flaws are as follows:



1) The author seems to have taken little or no measures to qualify Kuklinski's claims. He seems to take his subject at his word, even as he makes highly implausible claims about killing most of the major mafia figures of the 20th century. Once the claims become difficult to believe, you have to begin wondering if anything Carlo reports is accurate.

2) The author has WAY too much reverence for his subject. He bombards the reader with hyperbolic descriptions of Richard's good looks, "superhuman strength", catlike reflexes, enormous size, and paternal instincts. He even makes multiple references to Kuklinski's gorgeous cheekbones!

3) The author's style is repetetive and the book could stand to lose about 200 pages. I would say a good 60% of the book is comprised of laundry listing Kuklinski's murders. Everytime the main narrative begins to gain momentum, the author derails it with yet another tale of random murder.

4) Much of the book has little plausibility or logic. For example, the reader is supposed to believe that Kukliski killed hundreds of people, including several major mafia figures, had a legendary reputation as a killer...but very few people in the organized crime world knew his name. We are also to believe that a major mafia family sends their hitman, who has no experience with the drug trade, to Brazil to set up a major business partnership with South American druglords. Oh yeah, then he travels to Brazil and kills them single handedly with a handgun and six bullets.

Kuklinski is really an interesting figure, but from reading this book I have the impression that he was a truly pathetic creature that had to make outrageous claims about his murders to justify his existence. I also get the impression that Carlo is too enamoured with having access to his subject and does little but contribute to Kuklinski's bloated reputation.

I bought "The Ice Man" because I had viewed the HBO documentary, which was truly chilling. I read this book once and gave it away. According to Richard Kuklinski, hardly a major killing took place in the U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s without his involvement. Among his incredible assertions are that he participated in the murders of Carmine Galante, Paul Castellano, and even Jimmy Hoffa. Had he been somewhat older, it wouldn't have surprised me had he stated that it was he, and not John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Lincoln. Since it's been some time since I've read this tome, my recollection of many of his allegations are somewhat hazy, but I do remember questioning many of them. Philip Carlo's writing is flawless and gripping, and although there's no doubt in my mind that Kuklinski was a "stone-cold killer," his credibility, in my opinion, is somewhat debatable.