David Berkowitz

David Richard Berkowitz (alias Son of Sam) is an American serial killer who pled guilty to eight separate shooting attacks that began in New York City during the summer of 1976.

Background
David Berkowitz was born Richard David Falco on June 1, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York. His mother, Elizabeth "Betty" Broder, grew up as part of an impoverished Jewish family, and was a waitress. She married Tony Falco, an Italian American, in 1936. After a marriage of less than four years, Tony Falco left her for another woman.

In 1950, Broder started a relationship with a married man named Joseph Klineman. Three years later, she became pregnant with a child to whom she chose to give the surname Falco and, within a few days of Richard's birth, Broder gave the child away. Although her reasons for doing so are unknown, writers have surmised that Klineman threatened to abandon her if she kept the baby and used his name.

The infant boy was adopted by Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz of the Bronx. The Jewish-American couple were hardware store retailers of modest means, and childless in middle age. They reversed the order of the boy's first and middle names and gave him their own surname, raising young David Richard Berkowitz as their only child.

Journalist John Vincent Sanders wrote that Berkowitz's childhood was "somewhat troubled". Although of above-average intelligence, he lost interest in learning at an early age and became infatuated with petty larceny and starting fires. Neighbors and relatives would recall Berkowitz as difficult, spoiled, and a bully. His adoptive parents consulted at least one psychotherapist due to his misconduct, but his misbehavior never resulted in a legal intervention or serious mention in his school records. He attended Public School #123 and Public School #77.

Berkowitz's adoptive mother died of breast cancer when he was 14 years old, and his home life became strained during later years, particularly because he disliked his adoptive father's second wife. He lived with his father while attending Christopher Columbus High School (graduating in 1971) and college in a four-and-a-half-room apartment at 170 Dreiser Loop in Co-op City in the Bronx from 1967 to 1971.

In 1971, at the age of 17, Berkowitz joined the United States Army and served in Fort Knox in the United States and with an infantry division in South Korea. After an honorable discharge in June 1974, he located his birth mother, Betty. After a few visits, she disclosed the details of his birth. The news greatly disturbed Berkowitz, and he was particularly distraught by the array of reluctant father figures. Forensic anthropologist Elliott Leyton described Berkowitz's discovery of his adoption and birth details as the "primary crisis" of his life, a revelation that shattered his sense of identity. His communication with his birth mother later lapsed, but for a time he remained in communication with his half-sister, Roslyn. He attended Bronx Community College for one year, enrolling in the spring of 1975. In 1976 he went to work as a driver for the Co-Op City Taxi Company. He subsequently had several non-professional jobs, and at the time of his arrest was working as a letter sorter for the United States Postal Service.

Sentencing
On June 12, 1978, Berkowitz was sentenced to 25-years-to-life in prison for each murder, to be served consecutively. He was ordered to serve time in Attica Correctional Facility, an Upstate New York supermax prison. Despite prosecutors' objections, the terms of Berkowitz's guilty plea made him eligible for parole in 25 years.

Detention
After his arrest, Berkowitz was initially confined to a psychiatric ward in Kings County Hospital where the staff reported that he seemed remarkably troubled by his new environment. On the day after his sentencing, he was taken first to Sing Sing prison, and then to the upstate Clinton Correctional Facility for psychiatric and physical examinations. Two more months were spent at the Central New York Psychiatric Center in Marcy before his admission to Attica prison. Berkowitz served about a decade in Attica until he was relocated (c. 1990) to Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, where he remained for many years until he was transferred to Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County. Berkowitz described life in Attica as a "nightmare."

In 1979, there was an attempt on Berkowitz's life in which the left side of his neck was slashed from front to back, resulting in a wound that required more than 50 stitches to close. Berkowitz refused to identify his assailant, and he only claimed that he was grateful for the attack—it brought a sense of justice or, in Berkowitz's own words, "the punishment I deserve".

Known Victims
New York City, New York:


 * December 24, 1975: Co-Op City, The Bronx: (injured both with a knife)
 * Michelle Forman
 * An unnamed Hispanic woman (allegedly)
 * 1976:
 * July 29: Pelham Bay, the Bronx:
 * Donna Lauria, 18 (fatally shot in the neck, arm, and chest)
 * Jody Valenti, 19 (shot in the thigh; survived)
 * October 23: Flushing, Queens: (both survived) :
 * Carl Denaro, 25 (shot in the head)
 * Rosemary Keenan, 38 (slightly injured by flying glass)
 * November 26: Bellerose, Queens: (both survived) :
 * Donna DeMasi, 16 (shot in the neck)
 * Joanne Lomino, 18 (was rendered a paraplegic from her gunshot wounds)
 * 1977:
 * January 30: Forest Hill, Queens:
 * Christine Freund, 26 (fatally shot twice in the head)
 * John Diel, 30 (survived)
 * March 8: Exeter Street, Queens: Virginia Voskerichian, 19 (fatally shot in the head)
 * April 17: Hutchinson River Parkway, the Bronx:
 * Alexander Esau, 20 (died several hours later in the hospital)
 * Valentina Suriani, 18
 * June 26: Bayside, Queens: (both survived with slight injuries; struck by three bullets) :
 * Sal Lupo, 20
 * Judy Placido, 17
 * July 31: Bath Beach, Brooklyn: (both shot in the head) :
 * Stacy Robin Moskowitz, 20 (killed)
 * Robert Violante, 20 (survived)