The Iceman

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(Richard claims Stanley beat him to death). Joseph was convicted of the rape and murder of a 12 year old girl which even by Richards standard was an inexcusable act. It is unclear if this played into Richards rule of never killing a women or child.

As a young man around the age of thirteen Richard was getting beat at home and a neighbor hood childish gang that called themselves “the projects” were joining in when he was out of the house. . So when Charley Lane (the leader of “the project boys”) bullied Richard, Richard beat him to death with a wooden dowel. This is when Richard says he learned “Its better to give than to receive”. He then cut off all Charley’s fingers, removed his jaw, and dumped him into a river. He reportedly was scared and paranoid in prior week always awaiting the day when his sins would find him out, but this day never came. After this turning point in Richards life his confidence and ego grow steadily with his body count.

Once in his early twenties Richard quickly grew a reputation as a explosive pool shark that would fly off the handle at the slightest criticism. He was quoted as saying “ It was nothing for me to break a cue stick over someone, for anything or nothing at all”. He often killed men for challenging him or not respecting him, he said he really preferred killing loudmouths because they reminded him of his father. He then married a 19 year old who he treated like a queen. With only an 8th grade education he knew that his families wants would have to be met through crime. He was soon became a student of murder and fine-tuned his skills make shift lab in the West Side of Manhattan. He would also practice on bums. During this time his criminal activates increased and got involved with many forms of scams and illegal ways to make money mainly pornography.

Now apart of the criminal underworld Richard started making some important career moves. He began his relationship with the Gambino crime family through an introduction to Roy DeMeo. Richard soon was in the dept of Roy who visited Richard and beat him up pretty bad (including pistol whipping him in the face) Richard while armed took the beating like a man and earned much respect from Roy in the way he handled himself. Richard began to work for Roy in all kinds of criminal activities. Legend has it that Roy took Richard for a ride one day and picked a random target in a park (a man walking his dog) he asked Richard if he thought he could kill him, Richard reportedly got out without a work shot the man in the back of the head and got back in. After this he was Roy DeMeo’s favorite enforcer.

Over the next 25 years Richard worked for the Gambinos but also had many under the table contracts with other crime families and clients that he had to hide from the Gambinos. In 1980 Richard started his own crime ring and developed several new ways to make money from killing to selling pharmaceutical drug. Durning this time he and his happily married wife had two daughters all of whom knew Richard as a devoted father, husband, and businessman.

Richard was a truly unique serial killer because he seemed to break the mold that serial killer are supposed to fit in. His evolution of killing practices started out fairly disorganized and but quickly became organized instrumental mission type killings. Richard was living a double life that he desperately tried to keep separated. On one hand he was a just a family man who’s only care in the world was the safety and happiness of his family. On the other hand he was terrifying serial killer who brutally killed hundreds of men. Other serial killer often played the role of a double life, what makes Richard different is he really lived one and neither was fake.

Richard was a man with morals and principles. He never killed woman or children. He always put his family above everything. He did not take unjust abuse from anyone period. He never wanted to turn into his father. He did not abuse drug, alchoal, or gamble.However simultaneously he felt nothing when killing another human being. He talked about killing a man who owned him money on Christmas Eve right before coming home a opening presents with his family.

These contrasting perspectives of Richard have been thoroughly examined by Daniel Cumbie (self certified expert on the “Iceman” Psychology). The findings are rather enlightened to how and why Richard behaved in these conflicting manors. Its is believe by Daniel and others that Richard was a bipolar due to his impulsive behavior involving dramatic highs and lows. He psychology is a combination of both constitutional and environmental factors. He no doubt received genetic factors that from birth that leant to future conditions and psychotic behavior. This can be seen in his family which was all violent and impulsive. When this predisposition was combined with a total lack of affection and pointless beatings from his father, it formed a subconscious demon (meanness/need to hurt) inside of him that was constantly waiting to be unleashed. Over time the demons appetite grew but also was trained to be consciously controlled to reach desired outcomes. All the while Richard the family man was consciously present and aloud him the control and leadership to direct his eternal needs to hurt others to benefit him and his family.

His personally profile (see Figure 1 A. in appendix) clearly shows that his Richards actions are the result of extremely high aggression, nearly non existent stress reaction, and very low control. What is rather surprising is that he’s wellbeing, social potency, achievement, and traditionalism are actually slightly above average.

This is no doubt why so many people have become interested in Richard and why there have been three documentaries, two biographies, and a feature film(2013). People seem to be attracted to watching movies where a man usually with a family has a moral code. Then when faced with a problem, does what needs to be done without emotion but rather a moral code to dictate there actions. Richard is a cold blooded emotionless murder who is the devil at most time. However the fact the he draws a line in his deviant behavior is the only reason why among criminals and non-criminals alike he maintains his dignity as a man.

Beyond being an undiagnosed bipolar, Richard clearly shows various signs of Antisocial personality disorder, and paranoid personality disorder.

When Richard was at home he never left the house, any other time he really did not desire companionship such as friends. His social closeness was rated high but this closeness was reserved only for his family and no one else. Also his alienation was very high which probably contributed to why he killed so many people who worked with him. His paranoid personality disorder started at a young