Page 13 - Crimes of 20th century

12. The Son of Sam, 1977

New York seemed to be going to hell in the summer of 1977. Already in perpetual fiscal
crisis the city was plunged into a 25-hour blackout on July 13 that saw massive looting
and arson. And the Son of Sam killer was still out there after more than a year, waiting to
kill again, sending his perverse missives to the police and to New York Daily
News columnist Jimmy Breslin. The killer had called himself the Son of Sam in his letters,
which spoke of Papa Sam as a drinker of blood and master of Satanic mayhem. And on
July 31, the Son of Sam struck again, shooting a young woman, who was killed, and her
male companion, who would be blinded. But it would be the last attack. A witness on the
night of that shooting saw a man in the neighborhood remove a parking ticket from a Ford
Galaxie. The police tracked their records and found 24-year-old David Berkowitz, a
dweeby, pudgy employee of the U.S. Postal Service. Trained as a sharpshooter with the
M16 rifle in the U.S. Army, he had used a .44 pistol in all the shootings, killing six and
wounding seven. Who was Sam? Sam, said Berkowitz, was a cantankerous former
neighbor. But Berkowitz said he was the devil and that he transmitted his orders through
the infernal and incessant barkings of his dog, Harvey.

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