Early Life
Kuklinski was born in a rented apartment on Third Street in Jersey City, New Jersey, to a family of Stanley Kuklinski, a Polish emigrant from Warsaw – a railroad worker – and Anna McNally, a Catholic orphan – daughter of Irish immigrants from Dublin. Stanley Kuklinski was an alcoholic who frequently abused his hyper-religious wife Anna, and children. Kuklinski spent the remainder of his life fantasizing about murdering his father. His mother, Anna McNally Kuklinski, was also abusive to Richard, hitting him with broom handles and other household objects to stop him from stealing.
Richard had three siblings. Florian, reputedly died as a result of a beating from his father, but the Kuklinski family lied to the police, saying that he had fallen down a flight of steps. His other brother, Joseph Kuklinski (1944–2003) was convicted of raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl. When asked about his brother Joseph's crimes, Richard replied: "We come from the same father."
As a boy, Kuklinski says that he killed and tortured neighbourhood cats and dogs for amusement.
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