You can't kill them. They won't die. Cut them down to the ground and they'll just start growing again. Yank them out of the ground and they'll just walk over and jump back into the hole as soon as you take the rope/chain off of them. Just try to get rid of them, I dare ya!
I can tell you for sure it will take a much sturdier piece of equipment than a 4WD Chevy Tracker & a normal sized chain from HD. The bushes just laughed at my feeble attempt to yank them out of the ground.
A rototiller won't do it either. A stump chipper might tho.
Op, they've been pretty well hacked over the years. If you don't want to cut it all back at once you can, with heavy gloves, shove a lopper into the mass and cut about 10" below where you want them to eventually be. About 30-50% of the branches. Repeat later for the remaining old branches. Less stress and they will look good in the interum. Plus their growth won't be as erratic/weak and will grow slower.
If you want to do it all at once, cut in the same manner. While 10" would be the average, cut 5" more and less than 10" as they will respond more naturally. Hope that makes sense.
(I'm a certified arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture)
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