David Berkowitz - (Son of Sam)

David Berkowitz was born in 1953.

Rejected and adopted as a child, he concealed his low self-esteem by compulsive lying and bragging. And his extreme shyness toward women by assailing them, starting when he was in his early twenties. His courage bolstered by several non-fatal stabbing attacks. Berkowitz bought a gun in 1976 and began a series of impulse killings that paralyzed New York City. Approaching male and female victims randomly selected as they sat on stoops or in cars. He shot them at point-blank range. This reign of terror lasted 13 months, resulting in six deaths and seven serious injuries Police had no witnesses. no suspect. and no motive until the discovery of a letter at a crime scene. It read in part, " I am a monster. I am the Son of Sam love to hunt" and claimed that his father. "Sam", ordered him to kill, after abusing him violently. A second "Son of Sam" note was received by newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin. Luck led police to the killer. After a double murder in July 1977 a witness spotted a man jumping into a nearby car that had just received a parking ticket. Police located the car and noticed a gun and a letter on the front seat, written in "Son of Sam`s" handwriting. They arrested Berkowitz, a quiet, smiling man, who lived alone in a filthy apartment covered in trash and mad graftti. Berkowitz told police he had taken his alias not from his adopive father whom he hated, but from the owner or a Labrador dog whose barking kept him awake nights. Pleading insanity, he said he heard voices and that the dog had told him to kill. Judged sane he was convicted of murder and sentenced to 365 years in prison..

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When police picked up Berkowitz he explained his bizarre moniker. "Sam" turned out to be the name of his neighbour, Sam Carr, who in Berkowitz's warped mind was actually a "High Demon" who transmitted orders to kill through his pet dog (a black Labrador) He was sentenced to three hundred years in jail where he has recently found religeon and become a jailhouse televangelist preaching via public-access TV.

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Sentenced to 30 years at the Attica Correctional Facility. Still serving time there.

One of the world's only jewish serial killers. David was a mild-mannered US Postal worker (which explains a little bit) in New York. No one could have ever guessed he was a serial killer. From July 29, 1976 to August 1, 1977 he had killed six women and wounded seven other with a .44 calibre pistol.

His first victim was Donna Lauria who lived with her parents in the Bronx (which is a bad neighborhood to begin with). She was returning home accompanied by her friend Jody when Dave popped out of the shadows, pulled his .44 out of a paper bag and shot three times. Donna died and Jody was wounded. No big deal to the NYPD. I mean, how many people get shot in New York a day?

The police opened up their files again when later in October when a couple was injured by gunshots. It happened again in a month later. Still no cop had a clue.

It took the murder of Christine Wheeler and Virgina Voskerichian until the cops knew it was all the same guy with a .44 and a bad attitude.

In April, the cops found Berkowitz's first letter to the police at the scene of Valentina Suriani and Alexander Esau's death. He complained in it saying that he was upset the newspapers were calling him a woman-hater.

"I am not. But I am a monster. I am the "Son of Sam." I am a little brat. Sam loves to drink blood. "Go out and kill!," commands father Sam.....I am on a different wavelength that everybody else -- programmed to kill. However to stop me you must kill me. Attention all police: Shoot me first -- shoot to kill or else. Keep out of my way or you will die! I am the monster -- "Beelzebub, the Chubby Behemoth." I love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game -- tasty meat. I live for the hunt -- it's my life. I don't belong on Earth. I'll be back! I'll be back! Yours in murder, Mr. Monster."

I love that letter.

David was born on June 1, 1953 from Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz. He was above-average intelligence. He later enlisted in the army. He returned home in 1974 to his apartment in Bronx.

He also used to write letters to the newspapers. In an attempt to get him out of hiding, New York Daily News Columnist Jimmy Breslin would write back to the letters in the paper. Berkowitz wrote back saying: "Hello from the gutters of NYC which are filled with dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine, and blood. Hello from the sewers of NYC which swallow up these delicacies when they are washed away by thw sweeper trucks. Hello from the cracks in the sidewalk of NYC and from the ants that dwell in these cracks and feed on the dried blood of the dead that has seeped into these cracks."

Breslin asked if he would kill again. There was no reply.
On the day after his one year killing spree he killed Stacey Moskowitz and ninjured her date, Robert Violante. But the killing was coming to an end.

THe police checked cars that were near the murder and found that a ticket was given to a 1970 Galaxie thirty minutes before the murder. Calls were made to the owner but there was no answer.

They broke into Berk's car and found a letter addressed to an inspector of the case. Berkowitz was on his way to the next killing he had planned but the cops ambushed him in his car. He replied, "Okay. You've got me. What took you so long?"
At his arraignment hundreds of citizens chanted "Kill Him!" over and over again. There was even telephone death threats.

Berk was sentenced to 30 years in Attica Correctional Facility and is still serving his time. If things go well he should be in your neighborhood on August 23, 2007. I'll be waiting.

I have recently heard that he is in a different institution now and may be up for parole even sooner than expected.

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