Philip Carlo writes in his book that Richard Kuklinski became so "comfortable and at ease" with the two Bergen County investigators, Robert Anzalotti and Mark Bennul, assigned to the Calabro case that he confessed to several more murders that he allegedly committed in New Jersey.
"Everything Richard said was checked and rechecked by Anzalotti and his partner," Carlo writes, "and all proved true, and soon the two detectives cleared twelve unsolved murders thanks to Richard."
Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli takes exception with that statement. "We have not made twelve arrests," he told the Bergen County Record. "I don't know what [Carlo] is talking about."
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| John Molinelli |
Record reporter Kibret Markos wrote that Carlo assured him that "he verified Kuklinski's claim with police and Mafia sources."
But one source he neglected to consult was retired Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms special agent Dominick Polifrone, the man who went undercover as a wiseguy, wore a wire on Kuklinski, and put his life on the line to get the evidence that convicted the Iceman. Carlo admitted to the Record that he never spoke to Polifrone. Nevertheless, Polifrone is quoted in the book as saying that Kuklinski "is responsible for 200 murders."
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| Dominick Polifrone |
"I never, ever said that in a million years," Polifrone responded. "This author never even interviewed me. He never called me."
Carlo also chose not to interview Bob Carroll, the former deputy attorney general who headed the Operation Iceman task force and later served as prosecuting attorney at Kuklinski's trial. Carroll wonders why the author didn't talk to more law-enforcement sources. "You would think that a responsible journalist would have contacted the principals who reviewed all the evidence, prosecuted the cases, and obtained convictions before publishing any conclusions and opinions," he said.
Another person with unique knowledge of the Kuklinski case is retired Supervising State Investigator Paul Smith who worked with Polifrone and Carroll on the Operation Iceman task force and posed as the "rich kid," someone Polifrone had asked Kuklinski to kill in order to catch Kuklinski in the act. After Kuklinski's arrest, Smith was assigned the task of following up on the Iceman's numerous claims of having committed murders across the entire country. Smith says that he was not contacted by author Carlo.
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| Paul Smith |
"I checked every one of the murders that Kuklinski said he committed and not one was true," Smith told the Record. "Authorities throughout the country could not corroborate one case based on the tidbits that Kuklinski gave. The writer [Carlo] never checked his facts—the single most important thing you want to do when you write a book."
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