All language subtitles for American.Monster.S01E03.720p.ID.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.x264-BOOP

This is the story
of an American family

headed by someone
with ghastly secrets.

He would kill
at any time, anywhere,

for any reason
that he chose.

Holidays, vacations,

and family joy
caught on camera.

But away from it all,
deadly, hidden secrets.

We sat down,

and there we discussed
how to murder people.

Never-before-seen footage
reveals the shocking truth...

Everything that went on in
my life seemed very normal.

Of what it's like to live
with an American monster.

My father never
missed an important event.

He would take out the camera,
he'd video,

it could be US playing
on the swing set.

It could --
it could be anything.

This is christin's
early life,

obsessively filmed

by her loving father,
Richard kuklinski.

My father was a very large man

and he had a way of making
himself look even larger.

Everyone knew him to be,
you know, big Richie.

It was very strange,

but he had an aura
about him that,

when he was in a room,
it was like you knew

he was in the room,

and yet he could
sneak up on you

and you never knew
he was there.

We lived in New Jersey in a very nice

but very typical
American development,

you know, middle class.

Everybody took good care
of their property.

It always seemed like we were
the perfect family.

We had a pool in our yard.

My father couldn't swim,

but he would jump
in the pool

because he knew
that he could stand.

And he was forever
laughing hysterically

when he pushed US
in the pool.

And he just thought that
that was the funniest thing.

The kuklinski family
spend a lot of

happy times together,
and dad Richard

seems determined to film
every moment of it.

It is important for Richard
to give his children

the life he didn't have,

and he wants to prove it
with home movies.

My father
came from nothing.

His family was a nightmare,

very abusive,
very ignorant.

He very much enjoyed being able
to show that he had come so far.

My mother is the complete
and total opposite of my father.

She was a very pretty woman.

She was always in style
and fashionable.

It was always
very important to her

that she be current
with the times

and dressed appropriately

and have the proper
bag and makeup.

I think that my father
became infatuated with my mother

shortly after first seeing her,

and I think it was almost like --

it was a game
that he had to win.

He had to get her
to go out with him.

That was just...
That just had to happen.

And I think that my mother,
it was the excitement of it.

I mean, my father was a bad boy and --

and she was a very innocent young girl.

Behind the camera, Richard kuklinski

captures every moment of family life.

He very much enjoyed having children.

My father thought
that children were wonderful.

And me and my brother and my sister,

we were truly, truly wonderful to him.

He was very proud of US.

I got accepted into an academy
that I wanted to go to

and it was rather influential.

He rode around
with the invitation

to a father-daughter breakfast

on the visor of his car
for probably a year

because he was so --

like, it's like, "my daughter
goes to that school."

My father wanted to be
the complete father

for all of US.

My sister merrick
had a lot of medical issues.

She constantly had infections

and she was very weak
to begin with.

When my sister was ill
and in the hospital,

my father would try to do all
that he could

in the respect that he would
try to go to work in the morning

and work his full day at work
and then see merrick

and then come home
and spend time with me.

And it put a lot
of pressure on him to --

you know, you can only be
in so many places at one time.

My father was so protective
of my mother.

I mean, he literally would
zip up her jacket on her,

you know, fix her collar and --

and, you know, carry her bag for her

if she was not feeling well.

He spoiled her very, very much.

Richard wants to provide his family

with the life he didn't have,
but it comes at a cost.

He's in constant need of money.

I can't remember
a birthday that he wasn't there

or a Christmas
or even easter.

We did the easter egg hunt.

He was the biggest bunny
out of all of US.

To Richard's children,
dad's work is a bit mysterious.

Hello?

Yeah, it's me.
How ya doing?

Hey, Phil.

My father was
a wholesale distributor.

Yeah, maybe.

People would have
a shipment of something

and someone would come
and purchase,

let's say, half of it.

So then they would have
half left over.

And my father
would be the person

to come in and scoop
that half up and sell it.

But what these
shipments were

or where they came from
was none of their business.

Okay.

If my father were
to leave the house

at 4:00 in the afternoon
or 4:00 in the morning,

you'd never question
where he was going,

when he'd be back, you know,
who was he going with.

I thought that this is
what everybody did.

Videos.

How much?

25 g's.

25 grand?

Um...yeah,
we can do that.

Daddy!

Ph-- Phil,
I got to go.

Talk to you later, yeah?
All right.

Daddy!

Daddy's coming!

On the surface,

the kuklinski family
is the picture of happiness.

My father was under
a lot of financial pressure

because of the way
that we lived our lives,

my mother driving the car
that she drove and --

and my father having the car
that he drove

and having an extra car
just in case

and our home
and the eating out.

I mean, it just goes on and on.

There were so many things

that were just
a daily part of our lives,

and yet he had to foot the bill.

To his family,
Richard is a solid businessman,

but the reality
is very different.

The life he wants to give them
is forcing Richard

to work with people
he doesn't want to cross.

And as the responsibility
of caring for his family

weighs heavy, Richard is
forced to take risks.

One night in February 1980,

Richard drives off
to a business meeting.

As usual, no questions
are asked at home.

Five days later, workmen
in Jersey city call police.

Okay, so... there's a large metal barrel

on their work site
that doesn't belong.

I know this wasn't here last night.

This one's sealed,
so...

New Jersey,
February 1980.

Richard kuklinski dotes
on his wife

and three children,
whatever the cost.

But he left home last night
for a business deal

and hasn't yet come back.

Now Jersey city police
have been called to the scene

of a suspicious barrel

which has suddenly appeared
in an industrial area.

Okay.

In Jersey city,

a very large man
had been murdered.

His body had been placed
into a 55-gallon drum.

He was shot four times.

There was no forensic
evidence, there was no gun,

there was no eyewitnesses
to the body being dumped.

Yeah.
The subject was a gentleman

by the name of... George malliband.

The police open
an investigation

into George malliband's murder.

Meanwhile, Richard kuklinski

is celebrating
a successful business deal

by taking the kids away
for a family holiday.

Details of the deal
are not spoken of.

When the money was good,

we'd go to Disney world.

My father was
a big kid at heart.

I mean, he loved
the animated characters

and going on the rides.

And if it could accommodate
his body size, he'd be on it.

My father knew that
money makes you happy.

"So if I can go out
and I can make money,

then I can have my ha--
my family be happy

and we could all live
a happy life."

And it's not just money.

After growing up with nothing,
it's important

for Richard to provide
his family with strong values.

We would all go
to church together

and we looked like the
perfect, all-American family.

My mother and father felt

that it was important
to raise US with a religion,

so we were raised catholic.

My father always
came off being a...

Kind of like
the friendly giant.

To me, I always thought he was
very comforting in public.

But as Richard
sits behind the camera,

the investigation into
George malliband's

brutal murder
takes an unexpected turn.

During an interview
with malliband's brother,

police discover George
was en route to a meeting

with a large sum of cash.

In February of 1980,

before the meeting
had taken place,

George malliband had
a discussion with his brother.

25,000 bucks?
Are you crazy?

Stay out of my business,
man.

This is a big-money deal

and all you're doing
is creating more problems.

You just need to back off!

Police have no idea
who George was going to meet

or where the money went.

I don't know what
to tell you, Joe.

We got nothing.

The local police officers

and the county police officers
investigated the case

but they couldn't get
any solid evidence.

There was nothing linking
anybody to the actual murder.

A cold-blooded
murderer is on the loose

and police have hit a dead
end.

My father really
thought that, you know,

"family time"
was an important thing.

Sometimes we went for a drive

to watch the leaves
change colors,

which was something
my mother enjoyed.

Sometimes someone told us about
some special farm or something.

We would make a day of it.

As the kuklinski family

amasses more happy memories,

a state away,

a Pennsylvania businessman
is reported missing.

Two days.
It's not like Lou.

He would call.

And I'm really worried.

July 1, 1981.

Lou masgay was reported
missing by his wife, Ruth.

Lou masgay had a store up
in forty fort, Pennsylvania.

I believe it was
a merchandising store.

Like kuklinski,
masgay was a "merchandiser,"

and what that means
is meant to be vague.

To make a quick buck,
he'd go across state lines.

If you could double,
triple your money

in a couple days,
that's a good deal.

Masgay's son,
Lou, Jr.,

may have been
the last to see him.

Look, how can you say that?
I make money.

'Cause I know business.
Hello, gentlemen.

In July 1981,
Mr. Masgay left Pennsylvania,

traveled to New Jersey
to conduct a business deal.

It's so much more.
Before that meeting,

having met with his son,
he advised his son

that he had brought a large
quantity of money with him.

His purpose was
that he was involved

in buying blank videotapes.

In 1981,
blank videotape isn't cheap.

It's the sort of thing

that merchants like masgay
sometimes trade on the side.

I know what I'm doing, all right?

This is a lot of money.

This is everything
that we have.

If we lose this,
we're screwed.

He told me that he had made
a deal in the past

for a small amount of money,
maybe ten grand.

Hey, listen to me.
Listen to me.

I got a meeting
in 20 minutes.

Go, all right?
I won't screw anything up.

Just stop it.
I'm going to make money.

Go.

And now he's dealing
with the same guy.

I don't know who he is.

There was no body
to be found,

no physical evidence.

There was no
circumstantial evidence.

There was no independent
eyewitness testimony

to tell me
where Lou masgay was.

He was gone.
He dropped off the planet.

He'll come back.
He'll come back.

He took too much money.

I told him he took
too much money with him!

Lou masgay, he left his house with
$95,000.

And that is the last
time anyone's seen him.

In New Jersey,

the kuklinski family is having
a happy summer of 1981.

My sister very much
liked horses.

My father bought her a horse.

And she would go and go riding

and my father
would go and watch

and he really enjoyed it.

The problem with
everything like that was,

"okay, now we have money
and now things are good,

but what about next month?

When we don't have
money to feed ourselves,

how are we going to pay
the boarding fee for the horse?"

So far, nothing connects the murder

in Jersey city
and the disappearance

in Pennsylvania

and the idyllic family world
of Richard kuklinski.

But what will connect it all
is the money Richard needs

to keep these
happy pictures coming.

In New Jersey,

a businessman
is brutally murdered.

In Pennsylvania,

another disappears
under suspicious circumstances.

There is nothing
to connect the cases.

Autumn goes to winter, 1981,
and Richard kuklinski

needs money to keep
his family lifestyle going.

I knew of many times

when the money
was not coming in the way

that they needed it to.

And there were, you know,
months at a time

when my father
hadn't left the house.

You know, my mother wasn't
getting her nails done

every Saturday morning,
and, you know,

they weren't going out to eat
three times a week.

The pressure is on
Richard's mysterious business

to make more money.

Listen, all i'm
saying to you is this.

All I'm saying...

Yeah?
Is don't go making...

That winter,
he goes into business

with two local entrepreneurs,

Gary Smith and Danny deppner.

Yeah, trust me, okay?

There's no need for that.

Guys.
Hey.

Hey, big rich.

It's about detail?

I don't want to see you
without these on.

Of course.
Their business

is very straightforward.

They Rob houses
and steal cars.

You know the route?
I know the route.

Yeah.
But Richard's no innocent.

In fact, he's the boss.

All right.

And he's worked
with bad guys before.

Check it out.
So I went down...

Other house.
What's it like?

No alarms,
nice and quiet.

The mysterious business

that pays for
his family's lifestyle?

Working with
the New York mafia.

Five minutes,
each house.

Don't get greedy.
Keep it simple.

Yeah. We'd only need
five minutes, rich.

Good. Let's go.
All right.

Now he's decided

it's time he has
his own crime ring.

There are so many robberies
that police quickly take notice.

In march 1982,
detective pat Kane

is assigned to the case.

I picked up
an investigation

that involved
40 house burglaries,

20 stolen cars
in northern New Jersey.

Unaware the police
have picked up on the racket,

under Richard kuklinski's
watchful eye,

the crime ring
is paying well...

And keeps the happy
family pictures coming.

My father found
that feeding the ducks

was very enjoyable
and relaxing.

We would often try
to take him to the pond

when he was
a little agitated

'cause it calmed him.

As Richard is
relaxing with the family,

October 1982,
detective Kane's investigation

drops a bombshell
that could change everything.

After I investigated
my 40 house burglaries

and 20 stolen cars,

I collected all my evidence
and made a direct presentation

to the passaic county
grand jury,

and they returned
a 153-count indictment.

Through
solid police work,

pat Kane has cracked
the small-time crime ring.

He holds arrest warrants
for Gary Smith

and Danny deppner.

But miraculously,

Richard kuklinski
goes unnoticed,

at least for now.

Gary Smith and Danny deppner
were on the run.

I had the warrants for them.

I was looking all over for
them, couldn't find them.

By December 1982,
times are desperate.

If police find Gary Smith
and Danny deppner,

kuklinski knows
they'll turn him in.

But if he's panicked,
his family isn't noticing.

Everything
that went on in my life

seemed very normal.

We were always smiling,

never disagreeing,
always happy, you know,

never questioning anything
that we weren't supposed to question.

As kuklinski works to make

the Christmas holiday
special for his girls,

he's been hiding fugitives
Gary Smith and Danny deppner

for the past two weeks

to prevent them
from turning him in.

Richard kuklinski
grabbed Gary Smith

and Danny deppner and put
them into the York motel

in north Bergen, New Jersey.

Gary, sit down!

He can't hold US up
in some freaking dump!

It's not right.

Big rich says
we got to say put,

so we stay put.

My family needs me.

Richard kuklinski
gave strict instructions.

"You're not to leave the room
under any circumstances."

Christmas Eve.

Gary Smith takes a gamble
and disobeys big rich.

Gary Smith was being
hidden out in a motel

and told to stay at the motel,

and he was hitchhiking home
at night to see his daughter.

Each time he does,

he puts Richard kuklinski
at risk of discovery.

Christmas day, 1982, dawns,

and excitement fills
the kuklinski household.

Christmas day
was a lot of fun.

He enjoyed playing Santa.

He worked very hard
at trying to make sure

that everybody had
a gift to open.

It's a magical Christmas

at the kuklinski household,
but when Richard finds out

that Gary Smith
has been slipping out of hiding

under the nose of police,

he knows he'll have
a work errand Christmas night.

Richie didn't trust Gary Smith.

If he had been picked up
by law enforcement,

he knew too much
about what they were doing.

He could put them all in jail.

With Smith back
at the motel,

kuklinski pays
the fugitives a visit,

with supplies in hand.

Kuklinski bought
a hamburger for Gary Smith...

It's good.

And laced it with cyanide.

Richard then hid the body
under the bed.

Kuklinski then
goes back home.

After all,
it is Christmas.

It's another happy
Christmas at the kuklinski home.

When Christmas came around,
my mother,

she would always paint
a Christmas scene

on the front glass screen
door.

Pat Kane.

Two days after Christmas...

Speaking.
New Jersey police

receive a call
about a body in a motel.

Yeah, that's right.

December 27, 1982,

I was notified that
north Bergen police department

had found a body under a bed

and they had identified
that body as being Gary Smith.

Smith and Danny deppner

are detective Kane's
most wanted thieves.

Now, Smith is no longer missing.

Here I am,
investigating house burglaries

and stolen cars,
I got two guys on the run.

One of them shows up dead.

I started putting the pressure
on to find Danny deppner.

He was a weak link.

He could testify
against somebody.

I figured he was next.

Hi, George.
Patrick Kane.

One word to police
from Danny deppner

could put Richard kuklinski
behind bars.

But to kuklinski's
friends and neighbors,

it appears his biggest concern
is managing his daughters.

Me and my sister
were very close in age

but very, very different
in the people that we were.

My sister and I experimented
a little with clothing

and she was the girly girl.

She always had, like,
the fake nails

and she always, you know,
had so much makeup.

And I remember being like,
"my god.

She's not really going to
go out like that."

His family
has no idea

he's the boss
of a robbery ring

that pays for their
middle-class lifestyle.

Winter turns to spring.

It's may 1983.

Richard's Danny deppner
problem comes to a sudden end.

Danny deppner's body
shows up may 14, 1983,

five months
after Gary Smith's body.

My two guys
that I had warrants for

were systematically
taken out.

I'm going to
find out who did it.

One by one,

kuklinski's problem associates
are turning up dead.

Schlesinger: Any time
kuklinski felt he was losing control,

he had to do things
to regain control.

And if it meant killing
somebody

that he could no longer trust,
he would have to do it.

It's about this time

that detective pat Kane
finally gets a break.

An informant passes him the name
of the head of the robbery ring.

But it's only a nickname --
big rich.

I had an informant.

She gave me this name, big rich.

Told myself right away,

"I have to find out
more about this guy."

September 1983.

In the woods of Rockland
county,

just north of New York City,
police find a body,

and they are sure
they know who this is.

Louis masgay, the person
who had disappeared in 1981.

The merchant who was
off to buy blank videotapes

two years earlier.

The man he was meeting,

Richard kuklinski.

Something's not right.

The medical examiner reports
that after two years,

masgay's body should be
much more decomposed.

What confounded the experts
was the body itself

showed evidence of having been
frozen and preserved.

Kuklinski had hidden
masgay in a freezer

to throw off
the police timeline.

As detectives go back
over the case,

a familiar name comes up --
big rich.

Richard kuklinski

is now dangerously close
to being discovered.

He can't risk his family
finding out,

and as a result,
he has to keep a low profile.

He wanted us
to be happy.

He went the extra mile
to make sure that we were
happy.

I believe that he
would have done anything

if he could have to have US
all be happy and safe.

Detective pat Kane
has his work cut out for him.

With the nickname "big rich"

showing up in
another murder case,

he leans on his informants
to give him more.

Over 2 1/2 years, he learns
who this individual is --

Richard kuklinski.

Four dead bodies
are connected to him --

Gary Smith, Danny deppner,

Louis masgay,
and George malliband.

A state task force is formed

to capture the killer
terrorizing New Jersey.

Kuklinski is placed
under surveillance.

By September 1986,
kuklinski is nearly broke

and must pull some job,
any job,

to keep his family happy.

Schlesinger: He was always
thinking about making money

and basically told himself,

"well, the only way
I can make enough money

to support my three kids
is to do criminal behavior."

Kuklinski's
next move is to reach out

to a local businessman
named Dominick polifrone.

I remember
it was September

and I'm meeting kuklinski.

He pulls up.

And he gets out of the car.

And then he's growing
like the jolly green giant,

and with these tinged
red glasses.

I look, I say, ""

we had some coffee.

We're just breaking the ice.

So business is good
for you, yeah?

Yeah.
Then we're just talking,

he goes, "I hear you're
into a lot of things."

I said, "I got a lot
of connections."

He says, "can you get pure cyanide?"

What Richard kuklinski
doesn't realize

is Dominick polifrone... is a cop.

Dominick polifrone worked for

the alcohol, tobacco,
and firearms,

and he was a very,
very good undercover officer.

As Dominick
builds up Richard's trust,

the kuklinskis carry on
none the wiser.

My mother
and father most days,

if my father was home
in the morning,

he would take my mother
to the local diner

and they would have breakfast.

They did that often.

They did that
a couple times a week.

On September 22, 1986,

kuklinski gets in touch
with polifrone

to check on his cyanide
supply, with the police listening in.

Richard is trying
to tie up loose ends,

and to do this,

he needs polifrone
to come through

with his preferred
murder weapon, cyanide.

Kuklinski has no idea

he's revealing his deepest,
darkest secrets

on a police wire.

Each time Richard kuklinski

meets up with Dominick polifrone,

he incriminates himself further.

And yet, as his criminal life
is revealed to the police,

his family sees
only a loving father.

To take him down,
the task force has to plan

its next move
with absolute precision.

Mafia-connected
killer Richard kuklinski

has managed
to hide his true nature

from his family, friends,
and the police.

My father
could be a lot of fun.

And when he laughed,
he laughed...

It was a jolly laugh.

And it made you laugh
just because of his laugh.

Kuklinski led a double life,

one of a cold-blooded,

absolutely ruthless
and lethal killer,

the other as this
passionate family man.

That's a double life,
the most lethal form.

Dominick polifrone
asks kuklinski

to kill a drug dealer
for $40,000.

Dominick said that
he had this rich kid

that was a big-time drug dealer.

He always had a lot
of money on him.

"I'm having
some problems with him,

and would you be willing
to go out on a hit with me?"

And Richie responded,
"I'll go out on --

in a second."

December 17, 1986.

At a New Jersey
turnpike rest stop,

kuklinski is walking straight
into a sting operation.

His accomplice, polifrone,
is an a.T.F. Agent.

The intended target,
the rich kid, is a plant,

and the cyanide is fake.

I'd given him
the cyanide.

I said, "be careful.

This is enough to kill
the city of Newark with this."

He takes it and he goes,
"don't worry about it."

He says, "we're good."

Smith: Richard said,
"I'm going to leave,

I'm going to come back,
I've got everything set,

you go get the kid."

Richard has what
he believes to be real cyanide.

He's about to get a big payday

for killing Dominick's
problem rich kid.

Richard kuklinski went home,
opened his trunk

in his driveway,
took the simulated cyanide...

And put it on
two of the sandwiches.

So Dominick was going to be
killed at that meeting, too,

as well as the rich kid.

With Dominick's life
in grave danger,

the police have seen enough
and move in for the arrest.

Bob carroll made a decision.

"We have enough evidence.

Let's just take him down."

This is unwarranted,
unnecessary.

These guys
watch too many movies.

Make room.
Never showed a badge,

never read me my rights,
nothing.

When Richard Kuklinski is arrested

on December 17, 1986,
his wife, Barbara,

is also taken into custody.

I was at work
and my mother called me.

Hello?

And she was hysterical.
Mom?

And I was like,
"what are you talking about?"

And she was like,
"they got your father

and they arrested me

and I'm in hackensack
at the jail

and you have to come
and get me."

Christin!
Mom!

My god!

My mother thought,
basically,

that the reason that they
arrested him with her was

that her being there would
keep him somewhat under control.

It's kind of
a smack in the face,

and it took me a minute
to get my feet back under me.

And then it became,
"my god.

They're really keeping him,
and... my god."

Richard kuklinski
is charged with the murders of

George Malliband,
Louis Masgay,

Gary Smith,
and Danny Deppner.

And I would
go to court.

I found it very difficult
to be there.

They had so much evidence on
him that they really...

They didn't need
to prove anything.

They already had him
dead to rights.

Louis masgay,
on July 1, 1981...

I shot him once
in the back of the head.

Richard kuklinski is sentenced

to two life terms in prison
for the murders of Gary Smith

and Danny Deppner.

He has kept his real life
hidden from his family

for 30 years.

Richard Kuklinski
later claims to have committed

over 100 murders.

We call him
a chameleon murderer,

because he would kill
at any time,

anywhere, for any reason
that he chose,

then go right back
to his family

and conduct a completely
normal family life.

In 2006, Richard
dies in Trenton state prison,

New Jersey.

Knowing my father was a killer

is a very difficult thing for me to...

I have a hard time
even saying that.

That -- that just
sounds so horrendous.

I have thought of
my father as a monster,

but then I've remembered
the good times.

I think his behavior
was monstrous.

I think it was ugly and...

Just disgusting,
just absolutely horrendous.

But there was a part
of him that I loved.

There was a part
of him that was my father.