Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer
Richard Kuklinski was a bad man. A serial killer before he even got involved as a contract killer for the Italian Mafia, the “Iceman” professed to killing over 200 people in his lifetime. If you watch the HBO clip of his interview with the forensic psychiatrist you are going to see someone who is very matter of fact about his crimes. Cold, calculating, and cruel doesn’t even begin to describe his demeanor.
I just finished Philip Carlo’s book The Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer. I had read his previous book about Richard Ramirez just after I got out of high school, and I have to say that it was probably what originally got me interested in both true crime, and psychology. What struck me the most about both works I read by Philip Carlo was the attention paid to what made both Richard’s into the killers they would eventually become. Neither book was merely a facts based retelling of their crimes. With Carlo, the focus is always on all the elements, and characters that played a part in the tragic, bloody sagas that would become these killer’s lives. He saw the psychopath’s he profiled as perfect, awful, storm’s of terrible genetics, messy abusive childhoods, poverty, and choice. All were equal players in ruination of their and their victim’s lives. Nothing in Carlo’s books is ever painted as black and white. He was a truthful, compelling biographer, and his talent will be missed.
February 1, 2013 at 8:11 pm
yeah seen this many times. the guy was a really a “nightmare” as he described himself.
As for the book…I couldn’t finish it. I’m not even that squeamish I don’t think. But it really started getting me depressed. I left it unread and gave it to a friend. I never give books away.
February 3, 2013 at 3:44 am
Yes, I hear you there. It’s a very dark book. However, I found the Richard Ramirez book Philip Carlo wrote to be worse for me though. I really struggled to get through it. While I found it really interesting it was just so sick. I always have two books on the go. One “happier” choice to balance my darker reads sometimes.