In the summer of 1976, the city of New York
was thrown into a state of terror. A madman was on the loose, wandering the streets
and killing people at random. This was a killer who loved publicity, sending
vicious, taunting letters to the police and media. Each one was signed with the moniker ‘Son
of Sam’. When fate finally caught up with the monster,
he was revealed to be a chubby introvertby the name of David Berkowitz. In this week’s Biographics we discover his
story. The Early Years The child who would become the Son of Sam
was born Richard David Falco on June 1st, 1953. His mother, Betty Broder, had previously been
married to a man named Tony Falco, but when he left her for another woman she began a
relationship with a married man named Joseph Kleinman. Betty and Tony already had a child, Roslyn
and when Kleinman found out that she was pregnant again he pressured her give the baby up for
adoption. It appears that he also forbade Betty from
giving the child his name, which is why she gave the child her former husband’s last
name. A few days after birth, Richard was adopted
by a middle aged couple named Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz, who lived in New York’s Bronx. The Berkowitz’s owned a hardware store,
which occupied a large portion of Nathan’s time. He was never close to his adopted son, who
was known by his middle name David, considering the adoption to be a ‘mistake’. As David was her only child, Pearl was extremely
close to the boy.. She indulged David and let him get away with
things he shouldn’t have. David developed into a difficult child. He was hyperactive, mischievous and ornery. He was a bulky child and quickly learned that
he could use his size to his advantage and lord it over other children. He showed little interest in schooling and,
through a combination of truancy and feigned illnesses, missed a lot of class time. When he was seven years old, David was hit
by a car and suffered head injuries. It is unclear whether this resulted in long
term effects. Soon after he started to show signs of a fascination
with fire. He began burning bugs and advanced to starting
fires around his neighborhood. None of this activity brought him to the attention
of the authorities, though his adoptive parents did on one occasion take time to see a psychotherapist. When he was fourteen, David’s life was turned
upside down with the death of his adoptive mother. Pearl had been fighting breast cancer for
two years. Pearl was the only person with whom David
had a close relationship and he was shocked to watch her decline as she went through chemotherapy
treatment. Her death was a crushing blow for him. In the year after his mother’s death, David
became increasingly introverted. His school work suffered drastically and he
fell into a dark depression. He had no relationship with his father and
things worsened when Joseph remarried. His new step-mother was even more distant
than his father. When the family relocated to Boynton Beach
near Miami, Florida, David’s isolation became complete. With no friends and no family connection,
he created a fantasy world in order to cope with his loneliness. In 1971, at the age of 18, David found a means
to escape his dismal life with his father and step-mother. He joined the army and, after basic training,
was sent to Korea. Army life was transformative for the troubled
young man. He seemed to respond well to the discipline
that it provided and generally equipped himself well. He trained as a marksman and became a good
shot. In 1974 he was honorably discharged. After leaving the army, David returned to
New York. Here he was completely on his own. He used money he had saved during his army
years to rent an apartment in the Bronx and took classes at Bronx Community College. People remember him at this time as an angry
and argumentative young man who shunned association with others. To support himself, he worked a number of
odd jobs including mail sorter, security guard and cab driver. Though very private, Berkowitz quickly came
to the attention of his neighbors and the local police department. He would instigate petty disputes and escalate
them with personal threats. A man who lived on the floor below, Deputy
Police Sheriff Charles Glassman, received four hand-written threats from Berkowitz. Inhis early twenties, Berkowitz connected
with his birth mother. He began regular visits with Betty and his
half-sister Rosalyn. However, when he found out that Betty had
given him up for adoption after succumbing to pressure from his birth father, he did
not react very well. In fact, he cut the two women out of his life
completely, never visiting again. In 1974, Berkowitz’s fascination with fire
resurfaced. Over the next three years he set more than
1,500 fires around New York City. David diligently recorded the details of each
arson in his journal, referring to himself as ‘The Phantom of the Bronx’. Fire lighting gave him the sense of control
over a situation that he could find nowhere else in life. In 1975, Berkowitz developed another fascination,
this time with the occult. After reading the Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey,
the founder of the Church of Satan, he became convinced that he was being controlled by
evil spirits. First Attack In late November, 1975, Berkowitz wrote a
letter to his father. In it he said . . . “It's cold and gloomy here in New York,
but that's okay because the weather fits my mood — gloomy. Dad, the world is getting dark now.” A month later, on Christmas Eve, he took hold
of a hunting knife and headed out to satisfy his blood lust. His first victim was a woman coming out of
a grocery store. Berkowitz stabbed her several times before
she managed to run away. He then came across a fifteen year-old by
the name of Michelle Forman. She was stabbed six times but fought off her
attacker and made it to the safety of a nearby apartment. At the end of January, 1976, Berkowitz relocated
from the Bronx to a rental house in Yonkers. His landlords owned a German Shepherd dog
which barked incessantly. Berkowitz would later state that the dog was
possessed by Satan and through its barking had commanded him to kill young women. At the time he was a working night shift job
as a security guard. He recalled that the constant barking almost
caused him to take his own life. After three months, the noise was too much
for Berkowitz and he moved to an apartment at 35 Pine Street at Yonkers. As it turned out, he was unable to escape
the barking of dogs, further convincing him that this was the signal that Satan was using
to drive him to murder. He used a molotov cocktail to try to kill
the dog belonging to his neigbor, a man named Sam Carr. When this didn’t work he shot the dog. Berkowitz was convinced that Sam Carr was
possessed by the Devil and it was from him that he came up with the name ‘Son of Sam’. His two botched knife attacks convinced Berkowitz
that he needed a more effective means of killing. By June of 1976 he had built up a formidable
arsenal of firearms that included a .44 caliber revolver, Commando Mark III rifle, a Glenfield
rifle with telescopic sight, Charter Arms AR-7 Explorer Shotgun and a 12-gauge Ithaca
Deerslayer shotgun. Towards the end of June, 1976, Berkowitz quit
his job as a security guard and began driving for the Co-Op City Taxi Company. But that job didn’t last long. By the end of July he was working a day-job
as an installer of air conditioning ducts. Berkowitz’ first kill occured on July 29th,
1976. He had left his apartment via the fire escape
shortly before 1am with his .44 caliber handgun in a paper bag, hopping into his car and cruising
for a victim. He came across 18-year-old Donna Lauria and
her 19-year-old friend Jody Valenti, talking in a car outside Donna’s apartment. Berkowitz approached Donna’s side window,
squatted down into a firing position and, holding the gun with both hands, emptied the
chamber. Donna was shot and killed.. Jody, wounded, reacted by screaming and desperately
honking the car horn. Jody survived. With his gun empty, Berkowitz melted away
into the night. He was filled with a euphoria that he had
never known before. His addiction to murder was well under way. A Litany of Murder The next attack came three months later, on
October 23rd. Berkowitz was again cruising for a victim
in the dead of night. He was driving down a street in Flushing,
Queens when he spotted two people in a red Ford Galaxie.One of them had long black hair,
which he found attractive. He began following them and, when they came
to a stop, he parked behind them. Berkowitz had set his sights on twenty year
old Carl Denaro and his eighteen year old date Rosemary Keenan, who happened to be the
daughter of a New York City Police Officer. Following the same pattern of his first murder,
Berkowitz approached the passenger window, pulled out his handgun and fired five times. One of the bullets smashed into Carl’s head,
but an uninjured Rosemary managed to escape the car and flee. When Berkowitz left, she returned and drove
Carl to the hospital. Amazingly he survived, with doctors having
to insert a metal plate into his skull. A month later, Berkowitz struck again. This time his victims were a couple of teenage
girls, Joanne Lomino and Dona DeMasi, on their way home from the movies. Berkowitz walked behind them and, as they
stood on the stoop of Joanne’s house talking, he opened up with his handgun. Then he disappeared. Bullets tore through the bodies of both girls
but neither was killed, although Joannewas paralyzed from the waist down. The attacks continued. On January 30, 1977, Berkowitz shot and killed
Christine Freund, who had just seen the movie ‘Rocky’ with her boyfriend. As with most of the previous attacks, the
couple were sitting in their car when Berkowitz opened fire. On March 8th, he killed an 20 Bulgarian immigrant
by the name of Virginia Voskerichian. Virginia was walking home from Columbia University
when she came face to face with Berkowitz. He shot her in the face at point blank range
and then left her to die on the sidewalk.Then, on April 17th, he attacked Valentina Suriani
and Alexander Esau as they sat in their car at 3am. Suriana died at the scene while Esau died
hours later.Police were quickly on the scene. There they found a letter that had been left
by the killer. It read in part . . . I am a monster. I am the "son of Sam"…I feel like an outsider. I am on a different wavelength then everybody
else - programmed to kill. However, to stop me you must kill me... I am the "monster" - "Beelzebub" - the chubby
behe- mouth. I love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game
- tasty meat. The wemon of Queens are prettiest of all... Hunt for the Son of Sam By now, the entire city of New York was in
an uproar. Fear over the next attack by the Son of Sam
led to a rush on hand-gun sales and a dramatic emptying of night time entertainment venues. The information that the majority of victims
had long dark hair led to an overnight hair style change, as women rushed to get their
hair-cut and dyed. The media was all over the story, with coverage
going global. But still, the attacks continued with chilling
regularity. Berkowitz next struck on June 26, 1977. Judy Placido, 17, and Sal Lupo, 20, were sitting
in Lupo’s car around 3am when Berkowitz attacked in his usual way. Placido was shot three times, while Lupo was
shot once. Both survived. A month later, he attacked Bobby Violante
and Stacy Moskowitz, both aged twenty. Again, Berkowitz fired through the passenger
car window, striking both victims in the head. Violante survived though he lost 90% of his
vision but Stacy Moskowitz died two days later. She was the last victim of the Son of Sam. On March 30, 1977 media hysteria was ratcheted
even further when New York’s most prominent crime writer, New York Times columnist Jimmy
Breslin received a handwritten letter from a person claiming to be the Son of Sam. It including the following . . .
Mr. Breslin, sir, don't think that because you haven't heard from me for a while that
I went to sleep. No, rather, I am still here. Like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty, hungry, seldom stopping to rest;
anxious to please Sam. I love my work. Now, the void has been filled. Perhaps we shall meet face to face someday
or perhaps I will be blown away by cops with smoking .38's. Breslin contacted the police, who noted that
the letter contained details of some of the crimes that had not been released to the public. They allowed The Times to publish part of
the letter as a companion to Breslin’s printed response, which urged the killer to turn himself
in. That edition of The Times sold more than a
million copies. The NYPD formed Operation Omega, the most
comprehensive investigation in its history in order to bring the Son of Sam to justice. Over 300 detectives worked around the clock
at a daily cost of $90,000. 45 psychiatrists poured over the taunting
letters that Berkowitz was writing with the general consensus being that he was a paranoid
loner who was unable to form relationships and with possible connections to devil worship. On the night of the Moskowitz, Violante shooting,
a woman named Cecilia Davis was walking her dog when she saw a police officer ticketing
a young man in a car that was parked alongside a fire hydrant. Soon thereafter she saw what appeared to be
that same young man walk past her and staring at her menacingly. It was enough to scare her into a speedy dash
for home. After the murders, Miss Davis gave the information
to the police. As a result, every driver that had been ticketed
that night was brought in for questioning. One of the people on that list was David Berkowitz. Arrest A detective tried to get hold of Berkowitz
over the phone but there was no answer. The detective then contacted the Yonkers Police
Station to see if they could help him get in touch with Berkowitz. The dispatcher he spoke to just happened to
be the daughter of Sam Carr, David’s former landlord and the inspiration for the Son of
Sam label that Berkowitz had anointed himself with. The detective interviewed Sam Carr, who informed
him that Berkowitz had shot his dog and was a pretty troubled individual. The physical and psychological description
that was given seemed to gel with the profile of the Son of Sam. From this point on, evidence against Berkowitz
quickly mounted. A suspected arson was reported close to his
apartment.Police interviewed David’s former neighbor, Charles Glassman, who showed them
the nasty letters that Berkowitz had written to him.On August 10, 1977, detectives found
his Ford Galaxie parked outside his apartment.. Though they didn’t have a search warrant,
they began searching the car. On the back seat was a duffle bag containing
a rifle.Inside the glove compartment was a handwritten letter addressed to the Suffolk
County Police Department that warned of a coming attack on a disco. One of the officers was sent to get a search
warrant while the officers stayed by the car. A member of the public was told to park his
car so as to box in the Ford, making it hard for Berkowitz to get away if he came out of
his apartment. A SWAT team was deployed around the area. Finally, at around 10:30 pm, Berkowitz came
out of his apartment and got into his car. A detective approached and tapped on his window. The Son of Sam rolled down the window and
said, ‘Well,you got me. How come it took you such a long time?’ Prison
The arrest of the Son of Sam caused a worldwide sensation. It turned out of that the monster who had
terrorized the world’s most famous city was a rather pathetic looking loner. Berkowitz admitted to all of the attacks,
providing details that only the perpetrator would know. On August 11th he was charged with second-degree
murder for the killing of Stacy Moskowitz. The judge ordered a psychological evaluation
to determine if he was fit to stand trial. Meanwhile, the media was in a frenzy to cover
every angle of the Son of Sam story. This resulted in the state of New York enacting
what became known as the Son of Sam laws, permitting the state to confiscate the proceeds
from any earnings made as proceeds of crime for a period of five years after the act was
committed. The money would go to the victims of the crime. As it turned out there was to be no trial. Berkowitz pled guilty to six counts of murder
and refused the urging of his attorney to claim a defense of insanity. He later stated . . .
“I just wanted to end it, and I was just so distraught. I just confessed and pled guilty and got it
over with, and -- just wanted to get out of that environment.” During his sentencing, the mother of Stacy
Moskowitz stood up and said . . . “I could kill him with my bare hands, and
I am not a violent person. I could probably kill him and go for a dinner
and go to sleep that night truly peacefully.” During Mrs Moskowitz's statement, Berkowitz
repeated over and over, ‘Stacey is a whore’. Then he burst from his seat and made for the
courtroom window. He was eventually restrained but not before
knocking down several officers. Sentencing was delayed until June 12th, 1978,
on which date he was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences. Berkowitz proved to be a problem prisoner. He reveled in tormenting other inmates. Because of his rage, other inmates referred
to him as ‘Berserkowitz’. On July 10th, 1979 he was attacked by another
inmate with a razor. The resulting neck injury required 57 stitches. After ten years of confinement, Berkowitz
became a born-again Christian. The angry mass killer was converted into an
evangelical pacifist. He absorbed himself in a letter writing campaign
to spread the message of the Bible. Over the years, a following developed around
Berkowitz as the ultimate example of the changed man, the modern day equivalent of the Apostle
Paul. Berkowitz first became eligible for parole
in 2002. However, he sent a letter to the parole board
requesting that the hearing be cancelled. In it, he stated . . .
In all honesty, I believe that I deserve to be in prison for the rest of my life. I have, with God's help, long ago come to
terms with my situation and I have accepted my punishment. He has been up for parole every two since
2002 but he has consistently refused the opportunity to seek his freedom. As a result he remains in prison to this day,
where he is considered to be a model prisoner.
