Summary of Philip Carlo's The Ice Man

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 Jersey City, New Jersey, was the place where Richard Kuklinski was born and raised. It was a Polish enclave, and the area was full of working-class Polish immigrants. It was a place where the strong were respected and prospered, while the weak were marginalized and put-upon.

#2 Anna was married to Stanley Kuklinski in 1925, and they had a son named Florian. But her marriage to Stanley was not a happy one, and it ended in 1929 when Stanley began accusing Anna of infidelity.

#3 Stanley began to beat his wife and sons more often, and when he was drunk, he would often hit them with his belted fist. He began to view them as his personal property to be used and abused as he pleased.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822525412

IRB Media

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Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Jersey City, New Jersey, was the place where Richard Kuklinski was born and raised. It was a Polish enclave, and the area was full of working-class Polish immigrants. It was a place where the strong were respected and prospered, while the weak were marginalized and put-upon.

#2

Anna was married to Stanley Kuklinski in 1925, and they had a son named Florian. But her marriage to Stanley was not a happy one, and it ended in 1929 when Stanley began accusing Anna of infidelity.

#3

Stanley began to beat his wife and sons more often, and when he was drunk, he would often hit them with his belted fist. He began to view them as his personal property to be used and abused as he pleased.

Insights from Chapter 2

#1

When Richard was five, his brother was killed by Stanley. His mother told him that Florian was hit by a car and died. Richard had no conception of what death was, but he knew that his brother would not wake up.

Insights from Chapter 3

#1

Richard’s father, Stanley, was a violent man who regularly beat his son. His mother, Anna, tried to help Richard by taking him to church, but Stanley saw it as a sign of weakness. Richard grew up into a painfully shy and awkward man who viewed the world as a brutal and violent place.

#2

Richard’s father, Stanley, had a lot of trouble keeping jobs and keeping out of bars. He eventually took up with a Polish woman and came around less and less. Anna, however, was still working two jobs.

#3

Richard became an altar boy, and while he was religious at first, he soon grew bored with it. He was also angry and violent, and turned his rage on animals. He began to believe that the priests and nuns were sadistic creeps who used religion to manipulate people.

Insights from Chapter 4

#1

Richard started stealing to feed his family, like his father before him. He would get up early and lift cakes and cookies from the Drake’s delivery truck, which made daily deliveries to shops and homes all around Jersey City.

Insights from Chapter 5

#1

As it turned out, Richard had a love of true crime magazines. He would spend hours reading them, often stealing them from local candy stores. He grew up believing that he would be a criminal, and he learned to accept that fact.

#2

Richard had a fascination with crime, and he learned about it from reading these magazines. He decided to get even with the boys who bullied him by stalking and attacking Charley late at night.

#3

On a Friday evening in January 1998, Richard removed the closet pole, a two-foot-long, thick wooden dolly, from the hall closet. It was perfect for what he had in mind. Just next to the hall closet there was a picture of Florian, which Anna always kissed as she went out.

#4

When Richard went to Charley’s house to get revenge for the beating he received at the hands of his friends, he did not intend to kill him. He just wanted to teach him a lesson.

#5

Richard had wanted to hurt Charley, not kill him. He had wanted to make Charley suffer the way he had suffered, but not this. He had no choice but to get rid of the body. He drove to New Jersey Avenue and parked just by the project entrance. Then he picked up the dead boy and got him into the trunk.

#6

Richard was proud of himself after his encounter with Charley Lane. He felt like a person who deserved respect. He could control who lived and who died, when and where and how.

Insights from Chapter 6

#1

Richard had little use for school, and barely went anymore. He began hanging out in smoke-filled pool halls and bars with