"Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes" On the Prowl

1 00:00:09,009 --> 00:00:11,761 [Jack Jones on tape] Test. Test. Test. 2 00:00:14,472 --> 00:00:15,390 Test. 3 00:00:17,434 --> 00:00:20,311 Interview with David Berkowitz at Attica Prison. 4 00:00:20,395 --> 00:00:22,605 Over a number of weeks, 5 00:00:22,689 --> 00:00:27,902 we talked openly and actually formed an ongoing relationship. 6 00:00:29,612 --> 00:00:34,909 I wanted to understand why he had done what he had done. 7 00:00:35,869 --> 00:00:37,787 [on tape] Can you think of what it was in you 8 00:00:37,871 --> 00:00:39,998 that made you homicidal rather than suicidal? 9 00:00:40,665 --> 00:00:47,589 [Berkowitz] I was reading a lot of books and movies about other individuals 10 00:00:47,672 --> 00:00:52,385 who took their problems out on other people. 11 00:00:53,595 --> 00:00:57,098 The Boston Strangler, that Zodiac guy. 12 00:00:57,766 --> 00:01:00,477 -[woman screaming] -[gun shots] 13 00:01:00,935 --> 00:01:03,104 [Grossman] Berkowitz had a cinematic mind. 14 00:01:03,188 --> 00:01:06,274 He was an avid student of true crime. 15 00:01:06,357 --> 00:01:08,902 He read of William Heirens, the Lipstick Killer. 16 00:01:09,694 --> 00:01:12,614 [Jones] These guys had killed a whole bunch of people, 17 00:01:12,697 --> 00:01:14,699 gained a great deal of attention. 18 00:01:15,617 --> 00:01:20,663 In his 20s, he went to the library, he checked out books on Jack the Ripper. 19 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:23,917 [Berkowitz] Jack the Ripper, the historical book, 20 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,002 it discussed the crimes in great length, 21 00:01:26,086 --> 00:01:30,673 showed snapshots of the morgue victims, old black-and-white photos. 22 00:01:30,757 --> 00:01:32,175 [screams echoing] 23 00:01:32,258 --> 00:01:35,136 -[Jones] Do you identify with that stuff? -[Berkowitz] Yeah. 24 00:01:36,471 --> 00:01:40,141 [Grossman] He was using a lot of previous killers' MOs 25 00:01:40,225 --> 00:01:43,770 to inform his work, so to speak. 26 00:01:43,853 --> 00:01:46,564 [Berkowitz] But here I was seeing these other guys… 27 00:01:48,066 --> 00:01:51,861 acting out their angers and frustrations on other people. 28 00:01:52,529 --> 00:01:55,782 [Jones] He was writing his own Stephen King story about himself. 29 00:01:56,282 --> 00:02:00,954 [Berkowitz] I became outwardly aggressive after a period of time. 30 00:02:01,037 --> 00:02:04,791 Especially after all these movies which seemed to encourage me. 31 00:02:05,834 --> 00:02:09,212 [Jones] It's a deadly and very complicated story 32 00:02:09,295 --> 00:02:12,549 of how a human mind spirals out of control 33 00:02:13,049 --> 00:02:17,137 and becomes a lone gunman and mass murderer. 34 00:02:17,220 --> 00:02:19,222 [shots firing] 35 00:02:20,598 --> 00:02:24,477 [Berkowitz] I was a person who, since childhood, has always had a tendency 36 00:02:24,561 --> 00:02:28,106 to vent his aggression through antisocial means. 37 00:02:28,189 --> 00:02:29,482 It was just a matter of time 38 00:02:29,566 --> 00:02:32,026 before the guns and anger would blend together, 39 00:02:32,986 --> 00:02:35,321 and then everything's going to blow up, you know? 40 00:02:35,405 --> 00:02:37,407 [ominous music plays] 41 00:02:42,662 --> 00:02:47,167 [mysterious theme music plays] 42 00:02:55,175 --> 00:02:57,218 [distorted recordings play] 43 00:02:58,469 --> 00:03:00,471 [mysterious music fades] 44 00:03:02,390 --> 00:03:05,018 [slide projector whirring] 45 00:03:05,101 --> 00:03:06,311 [slide projector clicks] 46 00:03:07,270 --> 00:03:10,607 [man] Following Tuesday's killing of 20-year-old Virginia Voskerichian, 47 00:03:10,690 --> 00:03:12,317 Commissioner Codd indicated 48 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,736 that the same man may be the murder suspect 49 00:03:14,819 --> 00:03:17,447 in perhaps three of five killings of young women, 50 00:03:17,530 --> 00:03:22,243 two in Forest Hills and one in the Bronx, dating back to last July 29th. 51 00:03:22,327 --> 00:03:25,955 [man 2] Most of the victims are young women with shoulder-length brown hair 52 00:03:26,039 --> 00:03:28,458 who were gunned down as they sat in parked cars 53 00:03:28,541 --> 00:03:31,044 or walked the sidewalks of the Bronx and Queens. 54 00:03:31,127 --> 00:03:35,048 Last night, Virginia Voskerichian only got this far. 55 00:03:35,131 --> 00:03:37,926 Captain Borrelli, as of this moment, can you reconstruct 56 00:03:38,009 --> 00:03:39,552 what happened last night? 57 00:03:40,136 --> 00:03:43,056 We know the victim is a student at Columbia University. 58 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,851 Somewhere along the line, she was stopped on the street 59 00:03:46,935 --> 00:03:48,978 or accosted by an individual. 60 00:03:49,062 --> 00:03:53,733 She either saw a weapon being displayed or for some reason she put the books up. 61 00:03:53,816 --> 00:03:56,110 That would indicate a defensive-type reaction. 62 00:03:56,194 --> 00:03:58,655 Why? You know, the big question, why? 63 00:03:58,738 --> 00:04:01,991 A young girl like this, he shoots her right in the face. 64 00:04:02,742 --> 00:04:05,954 I was concerned for my girls, because I have four daughters. 65 00:04:06,037 --> 00:04:08,373 I'm picturing this young girl, 66 00:04:08,456 --> 00:04:11,501 my oldest daughter was just maybe a year or two younger. 67 00:04:11,584 --> 00:04:13,002 That was very emotional. 68 00:04:13,836 --> 00:04:15,838 [Murphy] With the Virginia Voskerichian murder, 69 00:04:15,922 --> 00:04:18,341 now we have a total of five shootings. 70 00:04:18,424 --> 00:04:21,261 All these bullets, these ballistics now are matching. 71 00:04:21,344 --> 00:04:24,931 It's a .44-caliber bullet that came from the same gun. 72 00:04:25,014 --> 00:04:26,391 We have determined 73 00:04:26,474 --> 00:04:30,561 that there has been a .44-caliber revolver used in every one of them. 74 00:04:30,645 --> 00:04:34,148 And that was the moment where everything just switched on. 75 00:04:34,232 --> 00:04:36,234 "Oh my God, it's a serial killer." 76 00:04:37,819 --> 00:04:41,239 [man] The general description that we have is of a male, white, 77 00:04:41,322 --> 00:04:46,744 25 to 30 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet in height, 78 00:04:46,828 --> 00:04:50,456 medium build, well-groomed with dark hair. 79 00:04:50,540 --> 00:04:54,711 It's important that you tell the police what you know 80 00:04:54,794 --> 00:04:57,422 and let them judge and follow through. 81 00:04:58,256 --> 00:05:00,800 [Murphy] As soon as the press conference was held, 82 00:05:00,883 --> 00:05:03,386 that's when the city just went totally on edge. 83 00:05:03,469 --> 00:05:06,264 [man 2] People wouldn't go out at night. They're really scared. 84 00:05:06,347 --> 00:05:08,057 And I mean when they're scared, 85 00:05:08,141 --> 00:05:10,560 that's all they do is talk about the killer. 86 00:05:10,643 --> 00:05:13,104 People have not gone out of their houses. 87 00:05:13,187 --> 00:05:14,981 It's just scary. It's frightening. 88 00:05:15,064 --> 00:05:17,275 Now the newspapers are picking it up. 89 00:05:17,358 --> 00:05:19,193 It's no longer page three. 90 00:05:19,277 --> 00:05:20,695 Now it's page one. 91 00:05:20,778 --> 00:05:22,780 [suspenseful music plays] 92 00:05:23,323 --> 00:05:25,742 Everyone wants a piece of this story. 93 00:05:28,536 --> 00:05:31,414 [Edmonds] The Daily News and the Post were the source of information 94 00:05:31,497 --> 00:05:33,624 for everyone in New York City. 95 00:05:34,125 --> 00:05:36,669 I was a reporter at the New York Daily News. 96 00:05:36,753 --> 00:05:38,755 I got assigned to working nights 97 00:05:38,838 --> 00:05:42,008 back at the City room where all the action was. 98 00:05:42,091 --> 00:05:43,426 Journalism back then was… 99 00:05:43,509 --> 00:05:49,098 you had a bottle of booze at your desk. If you had a desk, it was gritty. 100 00:05:49,182 --> 00:05:51,559 Journalists thrive on chaos. 101 00:05:52,769 --> 00:05:55,688 [Belsky] I was 31 years old. I had come out of the Army, 102 00:05:55,772 --> 00:05:58,983 and I suddenly was the city editor of the New York Post. 103 00:05:59,067 --> 00:06:00,109 [printer whirring] 104 00:06:00,193 --> 00:06:03,946 This wasn't just a story. This was the story. 105 00:06:04,405 --> 00:06:08,326 [woman] The killer police are looking for is called the .44 Caliber Killer 106 00:06:08,409 --> 00:06:10,078 because of the weapon he has used. 107 00:06:10,787 --> 00:06:13,373 [Edmunds] Everything became public. 108 00:06:13,456 --> 00:06:17,627 The police commissioner is under pressure. "We've got to solve this case right away." 109 00:06:17,710 --> 00:06:23,007 [Borrelli] Ballistics compared the bullets and we determined it was one gun. 110 00:06:23,091 --> 00:06:26,052 We know he's riding because it's happening all over. 111 00:06:26,135 --> 00:06:30,223 Early in the morning hours, you know, after midnight, generally. 112 00:06:30,890 --> 00:06:33,684 [Hopkins] We were looking for something, anything. 113 00:06:33,768 --> 00:06:36,104 I was in the 15th homicide zone. 114 00:06:37,271 --> 00:06:40,525 And that was the most interesting time of my life on a job. 115 00:06:41,317 --> 00:06:46,489 The assumption was this assailant would be out at nighttime. 116 00:06:46,572 --> 00:06:49,409 But we didn't know where he was going to strike again. 117 00:06:51,077 --> 00:06:54,705 [Borrelli] Queens and the Bronx had been all the locations. 118 00:06:56,249 --> 00:06:59,127 And we had heavy patrols in those areas. 119 00:06:59,752 --> 00:07:03,381 [Hopkins] We also implemented the use of unmarked cars. 120 00:07:04,757 --> 00:07:07,343 You don't really know what's going on in his mind. 121 00:07:07,844 --> 00:07:08,678 You don't. 122 00:07:09,470 --> 00:07:13,766 But you kind of, I don't know, try to beat him to the punch. 123 00:07:13,850 --> 00:07:16,060 [distant sirens wailing] 124 00:07:16,144 --> 00:07:17,812 [film projector rolling] 125 00:07:18,563 --> 00:07:20,982 [Grossman] Meanwhile, during the killing spree, 126 00:07:21,482 --> 00:07:25,486 Berkowitz really starts to kinda lose it. 127 00:07:26,946 --> 00:07:30,241 He was living in these really cheap apartments 128 00:07:30,324 --> 00:07:33,411 in sort of bad neighborhoods 'cause it was all he can afford. 129 00:07:33,494 --> 00:07:38,082 He ended up in a series of odd jobs. He becomes a security guard. 130 00:07:38,666 --> 00:07:40,668 [Berkowitz] I wasn't making real money. 131 00:07:40,751 --> 00:07:44,088 I left one job, went into another, and then another. 132 00:07:44,172 --> 00:07:45,923 I wasn't unemployed for very long. 133 00:07:46,591 --> 00:07:48,926 [Jones] You felt like these were all dead-end jobs? 134 00:07:49,010 --> 00:07:49,844 [Berkowitz] Yeah. 135 00:07:50,178 --> 00:07:53,431 That all, of course, started to add to his feelings 136 00:07:53,514 --> 00:07:55,975 of frustration and intense anger. 137 00:07:57,727 --> 00:08:02,565 [Klausner] He rents an apartment at 35 Pine Street in Yonkers, New York, 138 00:08:02,648 --> 00:08:05,985 which will be the epicenter of everything. 139 00:08:06,527 --> 00:08:08,196 [Grossman] It's off the beaten path 140 00:08:08,279 --> 00:08:15,286 in what was a working-class neighborhood of Yonkers that was in transition. 141 00:08:16,996 --> 00:08:19,123 [Berkowitz] I was frustrated as hell. 142 00:08:19,207 --> 00:08:21,334 I felt really dejected. 143 00:08:21,417 --> 00:08:23,294 No job satisfaction. 144 00:08:24,086 --> 00:08:26,130 No social life satisfaction. 145 00:08:26,214 --> 00:08:28,549 There was nothing in the apartment, nothing at all, 146 00:08:28,633 --> 00:08:31,552 just my clothes, my guns and my bed. 147 00:08:32,053 --> 00:08:33,679 He was going to work every day. 148 00:08:33,763 --> 00:08:37,600 And then by night, many nights, he was stalking victims. 149 00:08:41,938 --> 00:08:44,023 [suspenseful music plays] 150 00:08:44,607 --> 00:08:49,403 [Borrelli] He was constantly searching, you know, prowling, looking, you know. 151 00:08:49,987 --> 00:08:54,784 It was a situation, the circumstance that he found himself in. 152 00:08:54,867 --> 00:08:57,286 He was an opportunist. 153 00:08:57,870 --> 00:09:00,456 [Berkowitz] For days on end, you know, I was out every night 154 00:09:00,540 --> 00:09:01,999 like clockwork driving around. 155 00:09:02,083 --> 00:09:05,253 So I spotted more things happening, you know? 156 00:09:06,879 --> 00:09:09,590 [Jones] He told me he began seeking out, 157 00:09:09,674 --> 00:09:14,303 middle of the night, long walks, long drives, with a gun in his pocket, 158 00:09:14,387 --> 00:09:17,515 looking for women that he could kill. 159 00:09:17,598 --> 00:09:18,975 [horns honking] 160 00:09:22,311 --> 00:09:24,939 And he said, before he could pull a trigger, 161 00:09:25,022 --> 00:09:30,027 he had to view his victims as what he wanted them to be. 162 00:09:31,821 --> 00:09:34,448 [Berkowitz] At that time, as angry as I was feeling, 163 00:09:34,532 --> 00:09:37,618 I had reduced them to just objects of my, uh… 164 00:09:38,119 --> 00:09:40,037 anger, hatred or whatever. 165 00:09:40,538 --> 00:09:42,498 If I put myself in a position 166 00:09:42,582 --> 00:09:45,293 where I saw that they were really humans, then I… 167 00:09:45,376 --> 00:09:49,547 like if I engage them in conversation or something, then that would… 168 00:09:49,630 --> 00:09:53,926 Immediately, I would lose everything I psyched myself up for. 169 00:09:54,427 --> 00:09:57,972 [Jones] When some of his intended victims 170 00:09:58,055 --> 00:10:02,310 would maybe ask him for help or smile, the game was off. 171 00:10:02,393 --> 00:10:04,020 He couldn't… He couldn't harm them. 172 00:10:06,647 --> 00:10:08,858 One night, he was out with a gun in his pocket, 173 00:10:08,941 --> 00:10:10,776 intending to commit a murder. 174 00:10:11,277 --> 00:10:16,032 He came upon ideal victims who were stuck in a snowbank. 175 00:10:16,115 --> 00:10:17,825 He had the perfect target. 176 00:10:19,952 --> 00:10:22,496 [Berkowitz] And I had the gun in my pocket. 177 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:23,914 And I… 178 00:10:25,207 --> 00:10:27,251 You know, they asked me, "Hey, can you give us a hand? 179 00:10:27,335 --> 00:10:29,503 'Cause we're stuck, we can't get out." 180 00:10:30,588 --> 00:10:32,923 I looked at these people and I said, "All right, yeah, sure." 181 00:10:33,007 --> 00:10:34,300 And I helped them. 182 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:39,013 [Jones] You never thought at that time about turning the gun on them? 183 00:10:39,513 --> 00:10:42,600 [Berkowitz] I… I… No, because I wasn't worked up in that… 184 00:10:42,683 --> 00:10:44,268 in that state. I, uh… 185 00:10:44,810 --> 00:10:47,438 I didn't want to do that. I had contact with them. 186 00:10:47,521 --> 00:10:48,856 I saw them as persons. 187 00:10:48,939 --> 00:10:52,193 Even for that brief second, I looked at their faces, you know? 188 00:10:52,276 --> 00:10:56,030 And I said to myself, "Oh, thank God, I mean something to somebody, 189 00:10:56,113 --> 00:10:57,907 even if it's just for a second." 190 00:10:57,990 --> 00:11:00,326 I'm called upon to help. 191 00:11:00,409 --> 00:11:05,247 I would have been more grateful for that incident, you understand, 192 00:11:05,331 --> 00:11:09,669 for my chance to help somebody than to go out and hurt somebody. 193 00:11:09,752 --> 00:11:11,045 [scraping] 194 00:11:11,128 --> 00:11:13,881 [Jones] And rather than kill them, he pushed them out. 195 00:11:13,964 --> 00:11:16,592 And they were very thankful. 196 00:11:16,676 --> 00:11:20,262 And he said, you know, "My pleasure. Have a good night." 197 00:11:21,055 --> 00:11:24,684 Sent them on their way, happy to have done a good deed. 198 00:11:26,268 --> 00:11:28,437 And then he went on and killed somebody else. 199 00:11:29,772 --> 00:11:31,482 -[gun shot] -[glass shattering] 200 00:11:33,067 --> 00:11:34,610 [ominous music playing] 201 00:11:35,486 --> 00:11:36,570 [slide projector clicks] 202 00:11:38,114 --> 00:11:40,074 [reporter] 18-year-old Valentina Suriani 203 00:11:40,157 --> 00:11:43,452 and her steady boyfriend, 20-year-old Alexander Esau, 204 00:11:43,536 --> 00:11:46,706 were parked in his car on the Hutchinson River Parkway service road. 205 00:11:46,789 --> 00:11:50,918 At three a.m., three shots tore through the side window of the car. 206 00:11:51,001 --> 00:11:53,129 Valentina died, a bullet wound in the head. 207 00:11:53,713 --> 00:11:57,675 Alexander was hit twice in the head. He died at nine o'clock last night. 208 00:11:59,218 --> 00:12:01,721 [Murphy] It was in April of 1977. 209 00:12:01,804 --> 00:12:03,681 This time, with the sixth shooting, 210 00:12:03,764 --> 00:12:07,685 a lot of us took note because the killer went back to the Bronx. 211 00:12:07,768 --> 00:12:11,147 [Grossman] It was in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx, 212 00:12:11,230 --> 00:12:14,024 actually quite close to where Berkowitz grew up. 213 00:12:14,942 --> 00:12:17,737 [woman] Everybody knew everybody in that neighborhood. 214 00:12:18,779 --> 00:12:22,616 It was really close-knit and always felt safe there. 215 00:12:22,700 --> 00:12:26,287 I mean, I was walking to school by myself when I was ten years old. 216 00:12:27,413 --> 00:12:30,416 I met Valentina when I first went off to school. 217 00:12:31,625 --> 00:12:35,421 We knew each other forever. We'd hang out at each other's houses. 218 00:12:36,130 --> 00:12:39,633 When Val and Alex met, they were destined to be together. 219 00:12:39,717 --> 00:12:41,469 [ominous music plays] 220 00:12:41,552 --> 00:12:44,597 Learning about Val was very tough. 221 00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:47,558 My sister Teresa and I worked that Sunday morning 222 00:12:47,641 --> 00:12:49,268 at a local supermarket. 223 00:12:50,060 --> 00:12:53,898 Somewhere between 9:30 and ten o'clock I saw my father coming down. 224 00:12:54,482 --> 00:12:57,234 He got on my line and started shooing people away, 225 00:12:57,318 --> 00:12:58,569 telling them I was closed. 226 00:12:58,652 --> 00:13:00,696 [suspenseful music playing] 227 00:13:00,780 --> 00:13:03,532 I said, "Dad, what's the matter? What did I do?" 228 00:13:03,616 --> 00:13:07,161 And he looked at me and he said, "Gloria, Val was killed last night." 229 00:13:09,121 --> 00:13:12,666 I could feel the coffee and buns coming back up. 230 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:15,920 And, uh… 231 00:13:16,003 --> 00:13:17,463 [breathing shakily] 232 00:13:17,546 --> 00:13:23,219 I remember splashing cold water on my face, and the anger hit. 233 00:13:24,053 --> 00:13:26,555 There was a big picture in the newspaper, 234 00:13:27,848 --> 00:13:29,934 .44 Caliber Killer headline. 235 00:13:30,684 --> 00:13:32,853 Everyone knew Val. She wasn't some stranger. 236 00:13:32,937 --> 00:13:34,647 This was one of our own. 237 00:13:35,189 --> 00:13:37,191 [church bells ringing] 238 00:13:38,234 --> 00:13:40,194 [reporter] As if they hadn't paid enough 239 00:13:40,277 --> 00:13:44,114 for the broken dreams or fantasies of this psychopathic killer, 240 00:13:44,198 --> 00:13:47,493 many of those that prayed for Valentina today 241 00:13:47,576 --> 00:13:52,414 will also be praying for her boyfriend of three years, Alexander Esau. 242 00:13:52,498 --> 00:13:56,252 As the fifth victim of the killer's, he'll be buried tomorrow. 243 00:13:57,127 --> 00:13:59,004 [Zonghetti] After Val and Alex were killed, 244 00:13:59,088 --> 00:14:01,006 the neighborhood did start to believe 245 00:14:01,090 --> 00:14:04,176 that he was targeting our neighborhood. 246 00:14:05,553 --> 00:14:07,471 Val and Donna Lauria, 247 00:14:07,555 --> 00:14:11,976 from the first shooting in July of '76, lived pretty much on the same block. 248 00:14:13,227 --> 00:14:16,397 So those shootings were just yards apart. 249 00:14:17,189 --> 00:14:20,025 That's when, you know, you relate everything back 250 00:14:20,109 --> 00:14:23,404 and you realize that they were that close. 251 00:14:23,946 --> 00:14:25,823 Girls started asking themselves, 252 00:14:25,906 --> 00:14:29,952 "Did… Did I meet this guy at a bar or a disco?" 253 00:14:30,035 --> 00:14:32,371 "Did I rebuff him? Is he gonna come after me?" 254 00:14:32,454 --> 00:14:33,956 Did they know this guy? 255 00:14:34,039 --> 00:14:37,251 You start to imagine maybe it is personal. 256 00:14:37,334 --> 00:14:39,378 Maybe he does know us. 257 00:14:39,461 --> 00:14:41,589 [microfiche reader clicks] 258 00:14:41,672 --> 00:14:46,677 [Murphy] This double homicide in the Bronx with Alexander Esau and Valentina Suriani 259 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:52,975 was a huge front-page headline, especially because the killer left a note. 260 00:14:55,644 --> 00:14:57,646 [suspenseful music plays] 261 00:14:57,730 --> 00:15:00,274 [Jones on tape] Where did you put the note? The windshield? 262 00:15:00,357 --> 00:15:02,902 [Berkowitz] Right alongside the car, you know? I just dropped it. 263 00:15:02,985 --> 00:15:06,614 It was in a sealed envelope, and I just dropped it by the car. 264 00:15:07,740 --> 00:15:12,202 [Klausner] When the police get there, the first patrolman sees a letter, 265 00:15:12,286 --> 00:15:15,164 an envelope on the street, picks it up. 266 00:15:15,748 --> 00:15:17,541 [Jones] Did it have his name on it? 267 00:15:17,625 --> 00:15:19,043 [Berkowitz] No. It had the… 268 00:15:19,752 --> 00:15:24,214 the guy who was running the investigation, it had his name on it. 269 00:15:24,298 --> 00:15:25,633 Joseph Borrelli. 270 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:29,428 [inaudible chatter] 271 00:15:29,511 --> 00:15:33,349 [Hopkins] We're back in the war room, in my squad office, 272 00:15:33,891 --> 00:15:38,103 and it was a bunch of us there, and Captain Borrelli came walking in. 273 00:15:38,604 --> 00:15:41,482 He had the letter in his hands, and he said, "I got to read this." 274 00:15:41,565 --> 00:15:43,108 And he read it to us. 275 00:15:44,818 --> 00:15:47,655 "Mr. Joe Borrelli, Queens Homicide." 276 00:15:47,738 --> 00:15:51,450 "I am deeply hurt by your calling me a woman hater." 277 00:15:51,533 --> 00:15:54,787 "I am not. But I am a monster." 278 00:15:55,371 --> 00:15:56,747 "I am the "Son of Sam.'" 279 00:15:56,830 --> 00:15:58,832 [mysterious music playing] 280 00:15:59,750 --> 00:16:02,127 [Hopkins] "Sam loves to drink blood." 281 00:16:02,211 --> 00:16:05,422 "'Go out and kill,' commands Father Sam." 282 00:16:05,506 --> 00:16:07,716 [Borrelli] "I feel like an outsider." 283 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,719 "I'm on a different wavelength than everybody else." 284 00:16:10,803 --> 00:16:12,388 "Programmed to kill." 285 00:16:12,471 --> 00:16:13,847 [Hopkins] "I love to hunt." 286 00:16:13,931 --> 00:16:17,434 "Prowling the streets looking for fair game. Tasty meat." 287 00:16:17,518 --> 00:16:20,604 "Mr. Borrelli, sir, I don't want to kill anymore." 288 00:16:20,688 --> 00:16:24,358 "No, sir, no more, but I must 'honor thy father.'" 289 00:16:24,441 --> 00:16:26,610 "To the people of Queens, I love you." 290 00:16:27,111 --> 00:16:29,905 "I want to wish all of you a Happy Easter." 291 00:16:30,531 --> 00:16:34,451 [Hopkins] "Police, let me haunt you with these words." 292 00:16:34,535 --> 00:16:36,537 "I'll be back! I'll be back!" 293 00:16:36,620 --> 00:16:42,001 "To be interpreted as bang, bang, bang, bang, bang." 294 00:16:42,084 --> 00:16:44,003 [ominous music crescendos] 295 00:16:44,086 --> 00:16:46,797 "Yours in murder, Mr. Monster." 296 00:16:48,632 --> 00:16:50,551 Is that… Is that crazy? 297 00:16:51,176 --> 00:16:53,846 Is that insanity? Is that… 298 00:16:53,929 --> 00:16:57,057 I don't have the words for it. It's just unbelievable. 299 00:16:57,141 --> 00:16:59,685 I'm getting annoyed just reading this damn… 300 00:17:02,688 --> 00:17:04,398 [mysterious piano music plays] 301 00:17:04,481 --> 00:17:07,943 [Hopkins] When that letter was read, it's like our jaws dropped. 302 00:17:08,027 --> 00:17:11,572 And it was a major concern 303 00:17:11,655 --> 00:17:15,159 because, uh, not only taunting us, 304 00:17:15,659 --> 00:17:18,370 but warning us that he's gonna do it again. 305 00:17:20,039 --> 00:17:24,001 [Belsky] He was scarier than anybody else I can ever remember covering. 306 00:17:24,084 --> 00:17:27,087 In this letter, he goes from saying he doesn't want to kill people 307 00:17:27,171 --> 00:17:28,255 and have a nice Easter 308 00:17:28,338 --> 00:17:31,300 to "I'm going to drink all these girls' blood 309 00:17:31,383 --> 00:17:32,801 and I'm going to be back, 310 00:17:32,885 --> 00:17:35,262 I'm going to kill anybody that tries to kill me." 311 00:17:35,345 --> 00:17:37,598 That's all in the space of one letter. 312 00:17:39,224 --> 00:17:42,895 [Murphy] Son of Sam. That's the first time we ever heard that name. 313 00:17:42,978 --> 00:17:44,938 What does that mean? Who is Sam? 314 00:17:45,022 --> 00:17:48,108 [man] Many men in the Vietnam War refer to themselves as sons of Sam, 315 00:17:48,192 --> 00:17:49,359 being sons of Uncle Sam. 316 00:17:49,443 --> 00:17:53,697 Of course, we have it also connected with satanism, diabolism. 317 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:57,576 Son of Sam being Sam the Devil. 318 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:00,120 And we just don't know what he means. 319 00:18:01,413 --> 00:18:05,834 [Jones] He knew that this Captain Borrelli was the guy that was trying to find him. 320 00:18:05,918 --> 00:18:09,254 And so, you know, it's a "Catch me if you can." 321 00:18:09,338 --> 00:18:10,881 "I'm smarter than you are." 322 00:18:11,465 --> 00:18:15,010 "Be vewy, vewy afwaid! I'm da monsta." 323 00:18:15,803 --> 00:18:18,097 [Grossman] They don't print it in the paper, 324 00:18:18,180 --> 00:18:20,557 but they publicize that he did leave a note. 325 00:18:20,641 --> 00:18:25,437 The city was just horrified, terrified, in a frenzy of fear. 326 00:18:25,521 --> 00:18:28,816 [man] In New York, the search continues for the .44 Caliber Killer. 327 00:18:28,899 --> 00:18:31,193 [reporter] Some women in the area are terrified, 328 00:18:31,276 --> 00:18:34,154 particularly ones with shoulder-length dark brown hair. 329 00:18:34,655 --> 00:18:37,783 I had the dark hair, and I would pin it back in a bun 330 00:18:37,866 --> 00:18:39,243 or a ponytail. 331 00:18:39,326 --> 00:18:42,454 When I went out at night, I would race into the house. 332 00:18:43,288 --> 00:18:46,959 [woman] We put our hair up so the guy can't see the length of our hair. 333 00:18:48,085 --> 00:18:50,087 [cell door opening] 334 00:18:51,046 --> 00:18:53,799 [Berkowitz on tape] They weren't crazy letters, by the way. 335 00:18:53,882 --> 00:18:56,635 People look at them and say, "The man's a deranged madman." 336 00:18:56,718 --> 00:19:00,055 But you see, they miss the whole point of the letters. 337 00:19:01,932 --> 00:19:05,227 The letters were actually just to spur the police on, right? 338 00:19:05,769 --> 00:19:07,563 You see, to drive them harder, 339 00:19:07,646 --> 00:19:10,357 to push the police into doing more to catch me. 340 00:19:11,567 --> 00:19:13,777 [Jones] It was a fun game for him. 341 00:19:15,654 --> 00:19:20,325 And he intended to keep it going as long as he possibly could. 342 00:19:20,409 --> 00:19:25,789 I think now he's into kind of enjoying the publicity aspect of this. 343 00:19:25,873 --> 00:19:30,169 I see it as a kind of becoming a cat and mouse thing. 344 00:19:30,252 --> 00:19:32,254 [man] What's it going to take to break this? 345 00:19:32,337 --> 00:19:33,547 [man 2] A lot of luck. 346 00:19:33,630 --> 00:19:35,924 We're gonna have to be in the right place at the right time. 347 00:19:36,008 --> 00:19:38,427 -But right now, there's nothing to go on? -Nothing. 348 00:19:40,095 --> 00:19:43,182 [Klausner] At this point, the case has exploded beyond 349 00:19:43,265 --> 00:19:46,602 just a single precinct captain handling it. 350 00:19:46,685 --> 00:19:48,312 [slide projector clicks] 351 00:19:49,313 --> 00:19:50,898 [suspenseful music plays] 352 00:19:50,981 --> 00:19:55,736 So, two days after this sixth shooting, the double homicide in the Bronx, 353 00:19:55,819 --> 00:19:58,906 the police commissioner decided we have to make something very formal. 354 00:19:58,989 --> 00:20:01,909 So they announced the formation of a task force. 355 00:20:01,992 --> 00:20:04,578 [Borrelli] Up until that point, it was kind of unofficial. 356 00:20:04,661 --> 00:20:06,580 It was just a group of us together. 357 00:20:06,663 --> 00:20:10,709 When it was expanded, they gave it the name Omega Task Force. 358 00:20:10,792 --> 00:20:14,129 [Murphy] And this would have about 30 crack detectives 359 00:20:14,213 --> 00:20:16,965 that will develop some kind of psychological profile 360 00:20:17,049 --> 00:20:18,675 on who this killer could be. 361 00:20:18,759 --> 00:20:20,093 [phone ringing] 362 00:20:20,177 --> 00:20:23,472 [Borrelli] When you make an appeal to the public then to help, 363 00:20:23,555 --> 00:20:27,517 then I think we're obligated, when they call, that we have to go out 364 00:20:27,601 --> 00:20:29,686 and work on whatever they give us. 365 00:20:30,187 --> 00:20:35,192 You appreciate help from any source. Because we're at a state, we needed help. 366 00:20:35,776 --> 00:20:38,111 [Klausner] Joe Borrelli is a captain, 367 00:20:38,195 --> 00:20:42,491 and in the hierarchy of police, that isn't a high enough rank. 368 00:20:42,574 --> 00:20:48,205 So the commissioner gives it over to a deputy inspector, Dowd. 369 00:20:48,747 --> 00:20:49,873 Timothy Dowd. 370 00:20:49,957 --> 00:20:54,211 [Borrelli] Commissioner Codd calls me, "Joe, I'm sending out Dowd." 371 00:20:54,294 --> 00:20:56,880 "You're gonna remain as his executive officer 372 00:20:56,964 --> 00:20:58,674 'cause you're there from the beginning." 373 00:20:58,757 --> 00:21:00,050 Didn't bother me at all. 374 00:21:00,133 --> 00:21:04,471 Yes, we've received a tremendous amount of calls from the public, 375 00:21:05,013 --> 00:21:06,848 the public's been very cooperative. 376 00:21:06,932 --> 00:21:08,850 Yellow George Zebra. 377 00:21:08,934 --> 00:21:11,186 [Borrelli] The task force was like bedlam. 378 00:21:11,270 --> 00:21:14,147 There were seven phones in the task force office. 379 00:21:14,648 --> 00:21:18,151 There was one call after another on all seven lines. 380 00:21:18,777 --> 00:21:22,281 They were taking down hundreds and hundreds and hundreds 381 00:21:22,364 --> 00:21:23,865 of leads from the public. 382 00:21:23,949 --> 00:21:25,784 [muffled voice over the phone] 383 00:21:25,867 --> 00:21:29,913 We didn't have a face or an image or anything to work with. 384 00:21:29,997 --> 00:21:34,251 You know, the department artists who sketched out these here images 385 00:21:34,334 --> 00:21:38,964 from people's reckoning of somebody for a few seconds, 386 00:21:40,132 --> 00:21:40,966 they were off. 387 00:21:41,049 --> 00:21:43,510 But the press took it and ran with it. 388 00:21:43,593 --> 00:21:48,515 [reporter] He was generally described as white, between 20 and 35 years old. 389 00:21:48,598 --> 00:21:49,933 [phone ringing] 390 00:21:50,017 --> 00:21:54,688 [Borrelli] People were calling, you know. Conspiracy theories all over the place. 391 00:21:54,771 --> 00:21:59,818 We always had three piles of information. I used to call it the three I's. 392 00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:05,032 It was immediate, important, ignore. 393 00:22:05,115 --> 00:22:06,992 -[phones ringing] -[typing] 394 00:22:07,075 --> 00:22:09,703 [Borrelli] The newspapers would be interviewing psychiatrists, 395 00:22:09,786 --> 00:22:14,041 and any time they mentioned something, some crazy things like, uh, 396 00:22:14,583 --> 00:22:16,209 "We think he's impotent." 397 00:22:16,710 --> 00:22:20,839 You know, we'd get calls of women giving up impotent friends 398 00:22:20,922 --> 00:22:21,882 or something like that. 399 00:22:21,965 --> 00:22:24,343 It was crazy, absolutely crazy. 400 00:22:25,761 --> 00:22:27,929 [man] One of a million amateur psychologists 401 00:22:28,013 --> 00:22:31,433 who are attempting to figure out Son of Sam, each with his own theory. 402 00:22:31,516 --> 00:22:34,603 Dr. Harvey Schlossberg is a professional psychologist 403 00:22:34,686 --> 00:22:36,438 and a professional policeman. 404 00:22:36,521 --> 00:22:41,276 This individual is a, uh, contrary to popular belief, 405 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:45,405 where people are looking for somebody with red eyes, foaming at the mouth, 406 00:22:45,489 --> 00:22:47,032 like a mad dog kind of thing. 407 00:22:47,115 --> 00:22:50,285 I think this is a normal appearing 408 00:22:50,369 --> 00:22:54,414 and, apparently, normal functioning individual for the most part. 409 00:22:54,498 --> 00:22:56,792 I think he doesn't stand out at all. 410 00:22:56,875 --> 00:23:00,504 [man] He's a former cop. He's a cab driver, or a priest, 411 00:23:00,587 --> 00:23:04,049 or a sailor, or perhaps even a television newscaster. 412 00:23:04,132 --> 00:23:06,510 Right now, he is anyone. 413 00:23:07,761 --> 00:23:11,640 [Grossman] Everybody went absolutely nuts as amateur detectives 414 00:23:11,723 --> 00:23:14,684 trying to find out who this person was, 415 00:23:15,227 --> 00:23:19,272 but nobody had any clue as what was going on with this guy. 416 00:23:19,356 --> 00:23:20,857 [Berkowitz] People just think… 417 00:23:20,941 --> 00:23:23,360 maybe they either thought I was a deranged madman 418 00:23:23,443 --> 00:23:26,279 totally out of contact with reality, which wasn't the case. 419 00:23:26,363 --> 00:23:29,533 Or they think I'm just this cold-blooded, vicious person 420 00:23:29,616 --> 00:23:32,077 who just walks up to somebody, you know, pow! 421 00:23:32,702 --> 00:23:36,123 But they didn't know, like, 422 00:23:36,206 --> 00:23:38,166 what was going on inside me. Understand? 423 00:23:38,250 --> 00:23:40,127 It was just a continuous succession, 424 00:23:40,210 --> 00:23:43,630 a whole lifetime of angers and frustrations coming out. 425 00:23:44,381 --> 00:23:46,508 [mechanical buzzing] 426 00:23:46,591 --> 00:23:48,552 [slide projector whirring] 427 00:23:49,428 --> 00:23:50,762 [slide projector clicks] 428 00:23:53,140 --> 00:23:55,142 [light music playing] 429 00:23:55,225 --> 00:23:57,811 [Grossman] In the late 1960s, after his mother died, 430 00:23:57,894 --> 00:24:00,147 at the age of about 15, 431 00:24:00,230 --> 00:24:04,818 David moved from the South Bronx up to this newly built neighborhood 432 00:24:04,901 --> 00:24:08,405 called Co-op City in the Bronx with his father, 433 00:24:08,488 --> 00:24:13,660 which was affordable housing for businessmen, firemen, cops, 434 00:24:13,743 --> 00:24:16,246 taxi drivers, working people. 435 00:24:16,329 --> 00:24:19,249 And he just fell in with a group of kids. 436 00:24:20,876 --> 00:24:24,212 In 1970, I moved to Co-op City in the Bronx. 437 00:24:25,422 --> 00:24:27,382 It was a nice place to live at the time. 438 00:24:28,508 --> 00:24:31,845 We had a supermarket. We had a community center. 439 00:24:31,928 --> 00:24:33,472 You could hang out right there 440 00:24:33,555 --> 00:24:35,265 without ever leaving the community. 441 00:24:35,765 --> 00:24:37,893 I was in my senior year of high school. 442 00:24:37,976 --> 00:24:39,769 Didn't really know anybody at the time. 443 00:24:41,271 --> 00:24:43,732 One day, my younger brother came up and said, 444 00:24:43,815 --> 00:24:45,817 "John, there's a bunch of guys you should meet 445 00:24:45,901 --> 00:24:47,319 down at the bottom of the building." 446 00:24:47,402 --> 00:24:50,030 I went down, and it was a whole group of guys I met. 447 00:24:51,114 --> 00:24:53,033 David Berkowitz was one of them. 448 00:24:53,825 --> 00:24:56,536 [Grossman] Berkowitz became what's known as a buff, 449 00:24:56,620 --> 00:24:58,830 a fire buff and a police buff. 450 00:24:58,914 --> 00:24:59,915 [siren blaring] 451 00:24:59,998 --> 00:25:03,043 [Comparetto] The '70s New York City was like the Wild West. 452 00:25:03,126 --> 00:25:05,086 There were fires all over the place, 453 00:25:05,712 --> 00:25:10,884 and fire buffs would take their scanners and they would ride around the Bronx, 454 00:25:10,967 --> 00:25:14,095 and if a big fire came in, they would go to the fire. 455 00:25:14,179 --> 00:25:17,557 Or if a major police incident happened, they would go. 456 00:25:18,808 --> 00:25:20,310 [Berkowitz] If there was a fire 457 00:25:20,393 --> 00:25:24,147 with a building in flames, and if people were trapped in there, 458 00:25:24,231 --> 00:25:26,942 I'd be the first one to run in there to help them, you know? 459 00:25:27,442 --> 00:25:28,777 [crackling] 460 00:25:29,903 --> 00:25:31,988 Kids were playing football and baseball. 461 00:25:32,072 --> 00:25:34,449 We were responding to fires and police scenes. 462 00:25:34,950 --> 00:25:36,409 And Dave was an integral part. 463 00:25:36,493 --> 00:25:40,038 Dave was with us every single night, every weekend. 464 00:25:40,121 --> 00:25:41,748 We were inseparable. 465 00:25:41,831 --> 00:25:46,211 [Grossman] This was a guy who was able to present totally normal in the real world, 466 00:25:46,294 --> 00:25:49,089 have acquaintances, have social relations, 467 00:25:49,172 --> 00:25:52,425 but at the same time was harboring deep inner rage, 468 00:25:52,509 --> 00:25:57,597 not only at himself and his situation and his circumstances in life. 469 00:25:57,681 --> 00:26:00,725 [Berkowitz] My hidden or repressed feelings 470 00:26:00,809 --> 00:26:03,395 or emotions or whatever you see that were below the surface, 471 00:26:03,478 --> 00:26:04,354 you can't see that. 472 00:26:04,437 --> 00:26:06,314 They didn't understand the motives. 473 00:26:06,398 --> 00:26:10,068 [Jones] Even before he started killing, he was, you know, a walking, 474 00:26:10,151 --> 00:26:15,532 seething cauldron of rage that was so well-concealed. 475 00:26:15,615 --> 00:26:20,412 His entire life he had been practicing that act of keeping that all inside, 476 00:26:21,079 --> 00:26:23,999 this… this horrible side of himself. 477 00:26:24,082 --> 00:26:26,084 [ominous music playing] 478 00:26:26,751 --> 00:26:29,546 [Berkowitz] It wasn't so much them that I was trying to fool. 479 00:26:29,629 --> 00:26:30,714 It was myself. 480 00:26:31,881 --> 00:26:35,093 I wanted to do, you know, something good. 481 00:26:35,594 --> 00:26:37,679 I wanted to be needed by somebody. 482 00:26:37,762 --> 00:26:39,848 I'd have much rather been a hero than a villain 483 00:26:39,931 --> 00:26:43,518 doing something spectacular every other week, you know? 484 00:26:43,602 --> 00:26:45,312 Rescuing people or something. 485 00:26:45,729 --> 00:26:47,480 [dramatic music plays] 486 00:26:47,564 --> 00:26:51,901 [Jones] David Berkowitz was always looking to be a hero 487 00:26:51,985 --> 00:26:54,279 and get attention for being a hero. 488 00:26:54,362 --> 00:26:56,948 In his own mind, he was a patriot. 489 00:26:57,032 --> 00:26:58,783 He was an all-American boy. 490 00:26:59,618 --> 00:27:01,411 [slide projector whirring] 491 00:27:01,494 --> 00:27:02,912 [slide projector clicks] 492 00:27:06,499 --> 00:27:07,751 [firing] 493 00:27:07,834 --> 00:27:09,628 [rapid gunfire] 494 00:27:10,462 --> 00:27:11,588 [shots] 495 00:27:12,297 --> 00:27:15,550 [Jones] It was June of '71, Dave graduated Columbus High School. 496 00:27:16,051 --> 00:27:19,346 Couldn't wait, went down to the recruiter, signed up for the Army. 497 00:27:19,429 --> 00:27:21,056 [man] Meanwhile, in this jungle war, 498 00:27:21,139 --> 00:27:24,934 the United States is becoming more fully involved with each passing day. 499 00:27:25,018 --> 00:27:27,062 [Jones] He wanted to go into infantry, 500 00:27:27,145 --> 00:27:29,439 he wanted to go to Vietnam to fight for his country. 501 00:27:29,522 --> 00:27:32,567 [Jones on tape] Why did you feel like you wanted to go to Vietnam? 502 00:27:34,152 --> 00:27:37,447 [Berkowitz] I was very patriotic, and, uh, just, uh… 503 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:40,367 I can't explain it. 504 00:27:40,450 --> 00:27:43,870 [Jones] You didn't have any sort of bloodlust at that point 505 00:27:43,953 --> 00:27:45,830 that made you want to go to Vietnam? 506 00:27:45,914 --> 00:27:47,165 [Berkowitz] Not… 507 00:27:47,248 --> 00:27:49,959 Perhaps subconsciously, but I wasn't aware of it. Yeah. 508 00:27:50,043 --> 00:27:51,086 [tape recorder clicks] 509 00:27:51,169 --> 00:27:53,838 [Jones] I think he probably reasoned that, you know, 510 00:27:53,922 --> 00:27:55,799 "Any son of a bitch as horrible as me 511 00:27:55,882 --> 00:27:57,926 would probably be a damn good killer, 512 00:27:58,009 --> 00:28:00,178 so I should be in Vietnam." 513 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:05,225 He would be able to go back to his childhood 514 00:28:05,308 --> 00:28:10,271 where he gained some pleasure out of knocking over enemy soldiers. 515 00:28:10,855 --> 00:28:12,148 [fires] 516 00:28:12,232 --> 00:28:13,566 [rapid shooting] 517 00:28:14,275 --> 00:28:19,030 But, uh, instead of the chance for death and glory in combat… 518 00:28:19,114 --> 00:28:20,782 [helicopter blades thrumming] 519 00:28:21,366 --> 00:28:26,579 …he was sent to the demilitarized zone, the DMZ in South Korea, 520 00:28:28,123 --> 00:28:31,167 where there was no shooting war going on. 521 00:28:32,001 --> 00:28:33,461 There's no action there. 522 00:28:34,337 --> 00:28:36,631 That desire to experience combat 523 00:28:36,715 --> 00:28:40,218 and perhaps become a hero was thwarted. 524 00:28:41,136 --> 00:28:43,888 His demons continued to eat away at him 525 00:28:43,972 --> 00:28:46,725 during these idle hours that he had on base. 526 00:28:46,808 --> 00:28:49,644 [Berkowitz] When you weren't in the field on maneuvers, 527 00:28:49,728 --> 00:28:52,397 at around four o'clock, five o'clock, you were done. 528 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:55,942 You showered up, got your pass, you went into the village and partied. 529 00:28:56,443 --> 00:29:00,530 You got drunk on the cheap Korean wines they had 530 00:29:00,613 --> 00:29:03,241 and all the grass that was available, you know? 531 00:29:03,324 --> 00:29:04,367 All the women. 532 00:29:04,451 --> 00:29:08,121 And for the next year, we all got letters from Dave, 533 00:29:08,204 --> 00:29:11,875 and it's just amazing how somebody could change. 534 00:29:13,084 --> 00:29:16,588 He said that he had to start using drugs to calm down, 535 00:29:16,671 --> 00:29:21,176 and the drugs he was using can totally warp your mind. 536 00:29:22,051 --> 00:29:25,346 [Jones] You were smoking dope while writing these letters? 537 00:29:25,430 --> 00:29:28,099 [Berkowitz] Yeah, they were kind of crazy in themselves 538 00:29:28,183 --> 00:29:31,728 because that was when I just, like, used to get high a lot. 539 00:29:31,811 --> 00:29:34,481 You know, just smoke with all the guys. 540 00:29:34,564 --> 00:29:36,941 And we used to write, how would ya call, 541 00:29:37,025 --> 00:29:40,236 freaky letters to shock everybody, you know? 542 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,405 [Jones] Did you ever do anything, any acid or… 543 00:29:42,489 --> 00:29:44,365 [Berkowitz] I tried that, yeah, a few times. 544 00:29:44,949 --> 00:29:46,201 But I don't… 545 00:29:46,284 --> 00:29:49,662 I never used any of those drugs or anything in excess, you know? 546 00:29:50,747 --> 00:29:53,500 [Comparetto] He was changing, he was a changed person, 547 00:29:53,583 --> 00:29:57,003 and we knew he was shot, he was gone. 548 00:29:57,504 --> 00:29:58,963 [slide projector whirring] 549 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:01,674 [clicks] 550 00:30:04,677 --> 00:30:09,307 [Grossman] He comes back from the Army in June of 1974. 551 00:30:09,390 --> 00:30:14,103 He was 21, with very little feelings of ambition or a future. 552 00:30:14,187 --> 00:30:17,065 [Jones] Did you ever try to join the fire department or police? 553 00:30:17,148 --> 00:30:19,651 [Berkowitz] When I was a teenager, I wanted to join, 554 00:30:19,734 --> 00:30:22,737 but then I realize you've got to have almost a college degree 555 00:30:22,821 --> 00:30:24,697 majoring in the sciences 556 00:30:24,781 --> 00:30:29,494 and types of hydraulics, and math. I could never get into that. 557 00:30:30,537 --> 00:30:33,248 [Grossman] Meanwhile, of course, he's seeing all his friends 558 00:30:33,331 --> 00:30:35,667 go into their tracks of getting married, 559 00:30:36,751 --> 00:30:39,504 becoming the cop that he wanted to become, 560 00:30:39,587 --> 00:30:41,714 and he had nothing. 561 00:30:41,798 --> 00:30:44,008 So none of the guys had anything to do with him, 562 00:30:44,092 --> 00:30:48,304 so he came back and he was kind of alone. We never got together again. 563 00:30:48,388 --> 00:30:49,681 [eerie music plays] 564 00:30:49,764 --> 00:30:52,767 [Grossman] Berkowitz is left alone in the big city, 565 00:30:53,810 --> 00:30:56,354 which was a bad place to be for David Berkowitz. 566 00:30:56,437 --> 00:31:00,608 [Jones] His father remarried and moved to Florida, 567 00:31:00,692 --> 00:31:04,737 and David took that as another sign of rejection. 568 00:31:05,738 --> 00:31:10,118 He had this rage that he'd carried since childhood, 569 00:31:10,201 --> 00:31:12,078 and he could no longer control it. 570 00:31:12,161 --> 00:31:15,874 When did the moment come when you said that's it, you know? 571 00:31:17,584 --> 00:31:20,503 I had, I guess, made a decision to myself 572 00:31:20,587 --> 00:31:24,257 almost unconsciously to just begin prowling around 573 00:31:24,340 --> 00:31:25,800 looking for somebody to harm. 574 00:31:25,884 --> 00:31:27,886 [shaky breathing] 575 00:31:28,428 --> 00:31:29,804 [slide projector whirring] 576 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:32,265 [slide projector clicks] 577 00:31:34,434 --> 00:31:36,686 -[cars driving] -[horn honking] 578 00:31:39,898 --> 00:31:46,070 He just had this need to kill to release frustration. 579 00:31:46,154 --> 00:31:49,282 So he experimented at first. 580 00:31:49,365 --> 00:31:51,200 "How am I going to do this?" 581 00:31:52,577 --> 00:31:54,913 He didn't settle on the gun right away. 582 00:31:55,872 --> 00:31:58,416 Christmas Eve 1975, 583 00:31:58,917 --> 00:32:03,796 his first violent experiment was with a 14-year-old girl 584 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,634 on this overpass in Co-op City, quite near where he grew up. 585 00:32:09,344 --> 00:32:14,766 [Klausner] David is on that bridge, walking, seeking to do harm, 586 00:32:14,849 --> 00:32:17,393 and a young lady walks in front of him. 587 00:32:18,394 --> 00:32:20,188 And this is the first attack. 588 00:32:21,272 --> 00:32:23,232 David will stab her. 589 00:32:24,901 --> 00:32:28,321 She screams and yells and claws at him, 590 00:32:28,404 --> 00:32:29,364 and David runs. 591 00:32:30,073 --> 00:32:31,616 [Jones] She's wearing a heavy coat. 592 00:32:31,699 --> 00:32:34,744 That probably prevented the blade from getting deep enough 593 00:32:34,827 --> 00:32:37,288 to do significant damage, 594 00:32:37,372 --> 00:32:40,792 but he stabbed her no fewer than six times. 595 00:32:40,875 --> 00:32:42,919 Why did you let her go after you had her? 596 00:32:43,002 --> 00:32:46,255 [Berkowitz] Because I didn't really want to do anything, you see? 597 00:32:46,339 --> 00:32:50,760 [Jones] The one stabbing attack confirmed by police and investigators 598 00:32:51,260 --> 00:32:54,889 and by the hospital was a failure. 599 00:32:55,807 --> 00:33:00,269 I think he was shamed and outraged that she survived. 600 00:33:02,063 --> 00:33:04,148 He realizes at that moment 601 00:33:04,232 --> 00:33:08,194 that stabbing people is just too personal for him. 602 00:33:08,277 --> 00:33:11,990 It's too humanizing, too messy, too loud. 603 00:33:12,073 --> 00:33:15,827 [Jones] He learned that wasn't a reliable methodology 604 00:33:16,744 --> 00:33:18,538 for murdering a woman. 605 00:33:18,621 --> 00:33:23,001 He needed to keep as much distance as possible in these killings. 606 00:33:23,084 --> 00:33:24,419 [slide projector whirring] 607 00:33:26,629 --> 00:33:28,506 [slide projector clicks] 608 00:33:29,757 --> 00:33:33,219 [Grossman] In May of '76, he decides that he's gonna take a road trip, 609 00:33:33,302 --> 00:33:34,679 he's gonna get in his car 610 00:33:34,762 --> 00:33:38,891 and go visit his old Army buddy Billy Dan Parker in Houston, Texas. 611 00:33:39,475 --> 00:33:43,021 [Berkowitz] That night, he said, "You want to see a good movie?" 612 00:33:43,104 --> 00:33:46,357 I say, "A really good movie I like." This is my friend Dan, right? 613 00:33:47,025 --> 00:33:50,528 And I says, "Yeah, all right, I haven't been to the movie in a while." 614 00:33:51,029 --> 00:33:54,240 It's pretty popular. It's a movie called Taxi Driver. 615 00:33:55,908 --> 00:33:59,746 So he sees this movie, and he immediately relates to it. 616 00:33:59,829 --> 00:34:04,042 Because all of a sudden it's about a guy who comes back from the Army rejected 617 00:34:04,125 --> 00:34:06,210 with feelings of anomie and ennui 618 00:34:06,294 --> 00:34:10,048 and total alienation and rejection from society, like Berkowitz. 619 00:34:10,548 --> 00:34:12,842 The guy who was on a hero mission. 620 00:34:12,925 --> 00:34:15,678 He's shooting "the bad guys", right? 621 00:34:15,762 --> 00:34:17,305 [eerie music plays] 622 00:34:17,388 --> 00:34:20,349 [Comparetto] I do remember the scene where, I think it was De Niro, 623 00:34:20,433 --> 00:34:21,934 was standing in front of a mirror. 624 00:34:22,018 --> 00:34:22,935 You're talkin' to me? 625 00:34:23,019 --> 00:34:24,687 And I think he's pulling out his gun saying, 626 00:34:24,771 --> 00:34:26,397 "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?" 627 00:34:27,607 --> 00:34:29,400 "Well, I'm the only one here." 628 00:34:29,901 --> 00:34:31,027 Huh? Huh? 629 00:34:31,986 --> 00:34:35,990 [Berkowitz] The movies didn't cause it, but they reassured me 630 00:34:36,074 --> 00:34:39,786 of my feelings of self-destructive or destructive tendencies 631 00:34:39,869 --> 00:34:45,750 and, you know, reaffirmed the idea that I could take 'em out against society, 632 00:34:45,833 --> 00:34:47,502 like it's the proper thing to do. 633 00:34:48,294 --> 00:34:50,171 The American way or something. 634 00:34:51,547 --> 00:34:54,884 The guy from Taxi Driver did it, all these mass killers did it. 635 00:34:57,011 --> 00:35:01,265 [Jones] It clarified for him this dark path that he had 636 00:35:01,349 --> 00:35:03,267 no choice but to go down, 637 00:35:03,768 --> 00:35:07,105 and he found not just the perfect narrative, 638 00:35:07,188 --> 00:35:08,815 but also the weapon. 639 00:35:10,358 --> 00:35:14,695 [Grossman] He buys the infamous .44 Charter Arms Bulldog 640 00:35:14,779 --> 00:35:17,323 in a pawn shop in Houston, Texas. 641 00:35:17,406 --> 00:35:19,117 [Berkowitz] He bought it under his name. 642 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:21,953 "How about this gun, Dave? Do you think it's nice?" 643 00:35:22,036 --> 00:35:25,331 I said, "Yeah, Dan, that's a good one!" That was the .44 Bulldog. 644 00:35:25,414 --> 00:35:27,875 'Cause it was inexpensive, $125. 645 00:35:29,252 --> 00:35:33,548 And it was small and powerful. It was a .44. 646 00:35:34,173 --> 00:35:36,592 You fill out that silly form, and that was it. 647 00:35:36,676 --> 00:35:38,094 We walked out with the gun. 648 00:35:39,137 --> 00:35:40,638 [Grossman] In the movie Taxi Driver, 649 00:35:40,721 --> 00:35:45,852 the .44 becomes synonymous with the destruction of females. 650 00:35:45,935 --> 00:35:50,189 There's the very, very famous or infamous, depending on your perspective, 651 00:35:50,273 --> 00:35:54,026 scene with Martin Scorsese, who plays a character in the movie, 652 00:35:54,110 --> 00:35:57,530 sitting in the backseat of Travis' cab, 653 00:35:57,613 --> 00:35:59,240 looking up at an apartment, 654 00:35:59,323 --> 00:36:01,951 talking about his wife being up there cheating on him, 655 00:36:02,034 --> 00:36:04,495 and he says the very now-famous line… 656 00:36:04,579 --> 00:36:07,415 I'm gonna kill her. I'm gonna kill her with a .44 Magnum pistol. 657 00:36:07,498 --> 00:36:10,126 Ever see what a .44 Magnum pistol would do to a woman's face? 658 00:36:10,209 --> 00:36:11,460 it'd fuckin' destroy it. 659 00:36:12,336 --> 00:36:17,800 I gotta think that Berkowitz was inspired by that in some capacity as well. 660 00:36:20,428 --> 00:36:24,473 [Berkowitz] Just after I got back to New York from Texas, 661 00:36:24,557 --> 00:36:26,058 I put in the application 662 00:36:26,559 --> 00:36:29,020 to get a cab driver's job. 663 00:36:29,812 --> 00:36:31,105 Now I had the cab! 664 00:36:31,606 --> 00:36:35,276 And I was actually patterning my life after the movie Taxi Driver. 665 00:36:35,359 --> 00:36:38,321 I saw myself exactly as Robert De Niro. 666 00:36:38,404 --> 00:36:41,574 An outcast, a loser, living in a cramped little apartment. 667 00:36:42,074 --> 00:36:45,703 I just saw everything. That was me in that movie! You understand? 668 00:36:46,954 --> 00:36:49,916 He became this egomaniac 669 00:36:49,999 --> 00:36:54,212 who could, uh, who could manipulate an entire city, 670 00:36:55,087 --> 00:36:55,922 which he did. 671 00:36:56,839 --> 00:36:58,841 [slide projector clicking] 672 00:36:59,884 --> 00:37:01,302 [slide projector whirring] 673 00:37:01,385 --> 00:37:02,887 [clicks] 674 00:37:02,970 --> 00:37:07,850 [Grossman] April 1977 needs to be studied as one of the most pivotal months 675 00:37:07,934 --> 00:37:09,894 in the entire Son of Sam spree. 676 00:37:10,478 --> 00:37:15,066 The month in which you realize that everything got ramped up a notch. 677 00:37:17,401 --> 00:37:20,780 At this point, Berkowitz has committed six shootings. 678 00:37:22,406 --> 00:37:24,200 You can say he lost it before, 679 00:37:24,283 --> 00:37:28,204 but he really started to lose his grasp of reality now. 680 00:37:30,081 --> 00:37:33,668 He is exhibiting the inability to handle noise, 681 00:37:34,585 --> 00:37:38,756 inability to handle life in general, the feelings of absolute rejection 682 00:37:38,839 --> 00:37:41,425 to the point of total paranoia about the world. 683 00:37:42,134 --> 00:37:45,888 He's now complaining about the neighbor downstairs making noise. 684 00:37:45,972 --> 00:37:48,224 He had issues with dogs barking. 685 00:37:48,307 --> 00:37:49,558 [barking] 686 00:37:51,644 --> 00:37:54,480 [Berkowitz] They were annoying sounds, they would annoy anybody 687 00:37:54,563 --> 00:37:56,357 when done in the way it was. 688 00:37:56,899 --> 00:37:59,068 They were right down below my window. 689 00:37:59,151 --> 00:38:01,112 They roamed around the whole big yard. 690 00:38:01,195 --> 00:38:02,655 [distant dog barking] 691 00:38:03,406 --> 00:38:05,825 [Jones] There was a series of neighbors with dogs 692 00:38:05,908 --> 00:38:08,119 that really were a trigger for him. 693 00:38:09,620 --> 00:38:14,041 But there was one that pushed him right over the edge of sanity. 694 00:38:14,959 --> 00:38:19,422 [Klausner] At 35 Pine Street, David's apartment, has two windows. 695 00:38:20,965 --> 00:38:23,426 They face the street behind. 696 00:38:25,011 --> 00:38:30,057 The house directly behind was owned by Sam Carr, 697 00:38:30,850 --> 00:38:33,311 just an average Joe 698 00:38:34,353 --> 00:38:35,855 with his three children, 699 00:38:35,938 --> 00:38:38,566 owning a dog, keeping him in the backyard. 700 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:41,277 The dog's name is Harvey. 701 00:38:41,944 --> 00:38:43,070 Harvey barks. 702 00:38:43,154 --> 00:38:45,156 [distorted barking] 703 00:38:45,698 --> 00:38:47,616 Sam had nothing to do with this. 704 00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:51,370 But suddenly, with the howling of the dog 705 00:38:52,246 --> 00:38:55,291 and this constant tormenting of David, 706 00:38:55,374 --> 00:39:01,255 Sam suddenly gets to be important in David's life. 707 00:39:01,339 --> 00:39:02,923 [ominous music plays] 708 00:39:03,007 --> 00:39:06,135 [Berkowitz] Since he was responsible for, you know, keeping me up 709 00:39:06,218 --> 00:39:08,137 in an agitated state all the time, 710 00:39:08,220 --> 00:39:11,474 that dog raised hell in my life, you know. 711 00:39:13,267 --> 00:39:17,063 Berkowitz just became obsessed with the Carr family. 712 00:39:17,146 --> 00:39:18,731 He harassed them like crazy. 713 00:39:18,814 --> 00:39:22,777 He's going in the middle of the night and throwing Molotov cocktails. 714 00:39:23,819 --> 00:39:28,532 He also sent them a whole bevy of threatening letters. 715 00:39:29,116 --> 00:39:31,994 [Klausner] David will actually go to the house, 716 00:39:32,078 --> 00:39:35,081 first setting a fire, then shooting the dog. 717 00:39:35,164 --> 00:39:36,457 -[gun shot] -[dog whimpers] 718 00:39:41,045 --> 00:39:43,130 [Jones] Did you shoot the dog with the .44? 719 00:39:43,214 --> 00:39:46,342 [Berkowitz] No, the rifle, the .45-caliber rifle. 720 00:39:46,926 --> 00:39:49,220 I admit it was pretty extreme. Um… 721 00:39:50,304 --> 00:39:53,933 But, you know, his dog was inconsiderate. 722 00:39:54,016 --> 00:39:56,268 That doesn't work. The dog survives. 723 00:39:56,352 --> 00:39:59,688 Eventually the Carrs will go to the Yonkers PD, 724 00:39:59,772 --> 00:40:01,524 but there was nothing to go on. 725 00:40:01,607 --> 00:40:04,819 At this point, Sam Carr can't identify who does it. 726 00:40:06,112 --> 00:40:11,617 [Grossman] He was reacting to Sam Carr and the noise that the barking dogs make, 727 00:40:11,700 --> 00:40:14,120 and Berkowitz was absolutely inspired by that. 728 00:40:14,620 --> 00:40:16,330 [Jones] It happened about the same time 729 00:40:16,414 --> 00:40:18,833 that the identity of Son of Sam came about? 730 00:40:18,916 --> 00:40:21,085 [Berkowitz] Yeah, that's where I got it from. 731 00:40:21,961 --> 00:40:26,298 And the idea of calling myself Son of Sam I guess, just came to me 732 00:40:26,382 --> 00:40:30,928 because Sam Carr was causing me a lot of aggravation 733 00:40:31,804 --> 00:40:33,764 with his dog barking. 734 00:40:35,599 --> 00:40:37,810 [Grossman] This was a guy who was just wigging out 735 00:40:37,893 --> 00:40:40,438 in his apartment on Pine Street in Yonkers, 736 00:40:41,021 --> 00:40:46,152 and the waves of madness emanating from David Berkowitz's mind 737 00:40:46,235 --> 00:40:49,780 really ended up engulfing the entire city of New York. 738 00:40:50,739 --> 00:40:53,033 [ominous music playing] 739 00:40:53,117 --> 00:40:54,034 [camera rolling] 740 00:40:55,119 --> 00:40:57,621 [man] What the killer looks like, where he lives, 741 00:40:57,705 --> 00:40:59,582 what he does, why he kills, 742 00:40:59,665 --> 00:41:03,919 all of this, like the true identity of Jack the Ripper, is still unknown. 743 00:41:05,921 --> 00:41:09,258 [Borrelli] We weren't making much progress, not because of effort. 744 00:41:09,341 --> 00:41:12,052 It was stalled because there was a lack of any… 745 00:41:12,636 --> 00:41:14,889 legitimate lead that we could follow up on. 746 00:41:16,056 --> 00:41:21,103 Well, we're confirmed in our opinion of his method of operation. 747 00:41:21,187 --> 00:41:23,647 [reporter] Are you any closer to his identity now? 748 00:41:24,482 --> 00:41:27,193 Uh… To his actual name, or… 749 00:41:29,236 --> 00:41:30,154 I would say no. 750 00:41:30,654 --> 00:41:33,324 We were dealing not only with trying to solve a case, 751 00:41:33,908 --> 00:41:37,036 but we had to satisfy the press, you know, 752 00:41:37,119 --> 00:41:40,372 and the press, they were pushing and pushing. 753 00:41:40,456 --> 00:41:42,541 You couldn't feed them enough information. 754 00:41:43,125 --> 00:41:46,921 [reporter] What is it about the courtship process that seems to attract him? 755 00:41:47,004 --> 00:41:48,005 Do you have any idea? 756 00:41:48,547 --> 00:41:49,882 I really have no idea. 757 00:41:50,466 --> 00:41:52,092 You couldn't satisfy them. 758 00:41:52,176 --> 00:41:56,138 Their appetite was such that they hadn't eaten in a month. 759 00:41:56,222 --> 00:41:57,598 That's the way it was. 760 00:41:57,681 --> 00:42:00,059 [Jones] When Berkowitz realized 761 00:42:00,142 --> 00:42:03,437 the way that the newspaper stories were being played, 762 00:42:03,938 --> 00:42:07,107 he said, "Wow, that's me." 763 00:42:07,191 --> 00:42:10,236 "I'm doing things that are bringing 764 00:42:10,319 --> 00:42:14,532 a great deal of attention to this alternate personality of mine." 765 00:42:14,615 --> 00:42:17,117 But he wanted to control that narrative. 766 00:42:17,701 --> 00:42:20,287 He was always a character in search of an author. 767 00:42:21,789 --> 00:42:27,711 And Jimmy Breslin became the guy that sketched him in as the Son of Sam. 768 00:42:27,795 --> 00:42:30,756 You don't know what he looks like, what he sounds like, where he lives, 769 00:42:30,839 --> 00:42:32,508 don't know where he's gonna be tonight. 770 00:42:32,591 --> 00:42:33,759 Uh, we're helpless. 771 00:42:33,842 --> 00:42:38,681 Jimmy Breslin was the king of New York City tabloid journalism. 772 00:42:38,764 --> 00:42:40,266 He was a columnist. 773 00:42:40,349 --> 00:42:44,937 He was the most powerful journalist in New York City at the time. 774 00:42:45,020 --> 00:42:48,524 We've got 40,000 dead, remember them while you walk the streets. 775 00:42:48,607 --> 00:42:50,192 God bless you. Thank you. 776 00:42:50,276 --> 00:42:53,320 [Murphy] Jimmy Breslin was kind of the working man's columnist. 777 00:42:53,404 --> 00:42:56,115 He lived in Queens, and he was out on the beat. 778 00:42:56,198 --> 00:42:59,243 He wasn't afraid to go out and knock on doors. 779 00:42:59,326 --> 00:43:02,663 [Breslin] A walk around the convention floor at night is disheartening. 780 00:43:02,746 --> 00:43:08,043 But they are running a nearly all-white political party in the year 1968. 781 00:43:08,919 --> 00:43:12,381 [Belsky] There are people that bought the Daily News every day 782 00:43:12,464 --> 00:43:15,009 because they wanted to read Jimmy Breslin. 783 00:43:15,092 --> 00:43:18,512 [man] My father was known to care about the permanent underclass. 784 00:43:19,263 --> 00:43:21,807 And he used to tell me, "News travels east to west, 785 00:43:21,890 --> 00:43:23,684 and it begins in New York City." 786 00:43:23,767 --> 00:43:24,810 [camera shutter clicks] 787 00:43:25,561 --> 00:43:28,689 [Kevin] In the summer of '77, I was a student at New York University, 788 00:43:28,772 --> 00:43:31,650 I think I was 20, 21. I worked for the Daily News. 789 00:43:31,734 --> 00:43:34,403 I delivered newspapers. I was in the back of the truck 790 00:43:34,486 --> 00:43:37,031 throwing the bundles all over at newsstands. 791 00:43:37,656 --> 00:43:39,575 So it was part of our family business. 792 00:43:39,658 --> 00:43:41,785 Newspaper writing in our family, in the column, 793 00:43:41,869 --> 00:43:44,747 everybody had to contribute whether you liked it or not. 794 00:43:44,830 --> 00:43:47,833 My father was paying acute attention to the murders. 795 00:43:48,542 --> 00:43:52,254 He said to me, you know, "I want you to go to the Daily News, to my office, 796 00:43:52,755 --> 00:43:54,506 and I want you to check the mail." 797 00:43:54,590 --> 00:43:58,093 He had hundreds of letters coming in every day. 798 00:43:58,177 --> 00:44:00,596 I'm rummaging through, and I find this one letter. 799 00:44:01,597 --> 00:44:04,683 And I looked at it, and it was written with very cryptic, 800 00:44:04,767 --> 00:44:07,061 like the handwriting wasn't just normal. 801 00:44:07,144 --> 00:44:09,980 It was all, like, zigzaggy almost. 802 00:44:10,606 --> 00:44:13,192 I showed it to the secretary, she said, "Oh my God." 803 00:44:13,942 --> 00:44:16,070 "Take that home now. Your father wants it." 804 00:44:16,987 --> 00:44:19,365 So I raced out of the Daily News building, 805 00:44:19,448 --> 00:44:23,786 up 3rd Avenue, to get the E train to our home in Forest Hills. 806 00:44:23,869 --> 00:44:25,412 My father was in the bedroom. 807 00:44:25,496 --> 00:44:28,207 I brought it in. He said, "Let me see that thing." 808 00:44:28,290 --> 00:44:30,042 [suspenseful music playing] 809 00:44:30,709 --> 00:44:35,798 "Dear Mr. Jimmy Breslin, hello from the gutters of NYC, 810 00:44:36,340 --> 00:44:43,263 which are filled with dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine, and blood." 811 00:44:43,347 --> 00:44:46,266 "Hello from the cracks in the sidewalk of New York City, 812 00:44:46,350 --> 00:44:49,103 and from the ants that dwell in these cracks 813 00:44:49,186 --> 00:44:53,982 and feed on the dried blood of the dead that has seeped into these cracks." 814 00:44:54,066 --> 00:44:57,986 [Hopkins] "JB, I'm just dropping a line to let you know 815 00:44:58,070 --> 00:44:59,780 that I appreciate your interest 816 00:44:59,863 --> 00:45:03,992 in these recent and horrendous .44-caliber killings." 817 00:45:04,076 --> 00:45:07,621 [Grossman] "Tell me, Jim, what will you have for July 29th?" 818 00:45:07,705 --> 00:45:11,375 "You could forget about me if you like, because I don't care for publicity." 819 00:45:11,458 --> 00:45:14,753 "However, you must not forget Donna Lauria, 820 00:45:14,837 --> 00:45:17,673 and you cannot let the people forget her either." 821 00:45:17,756 --> 00:45:20,509 "She was a very, very sweet girl, 822 00:45:20,592 --> 00:45:23,053 but Sam's a thirsty lad, 823 00:45:23,137 --> 00:45:27,850 and he won't let me stop killing until he gets his fill of blood." 824 00:45:28,934 --> 00:45:29,977 "Upon my capture, 825 00:45:30,060 --> 00:45:34,189 I promise to buy all you guys working on the case a new pair of shoes 826 00:45:34,273 --> 00:45:35,983 if I can get up the money." 827 00:45:36,984 --> 00:45:38,235 "Son of Sam." 828 00:45:42,030 --> 00:45:43,490 That's crazy. 829 00:45:44,700 --> 00:45:46,785 [Breslin] The letter was very eerie. 830 00:45:46,869 --> 00:45:50,330 I mean, you know, then you know that he read something that you wrote, 831 00:45:50,414 --> 00:45:54,042 and that somewhere out there, he's reading again. 832 00:45:54,126 --> 00:45:56,670 The killer signs it, Son of Sam. 833 00:45:56,754 --> 00:46:00,007 In Borrelli's letter, he used that phrase in the body of the letter. 834 00:46:00,090 --> 00:46:02,801 So now that seals the deal. 835 00:46:02,885 --> 00:46:04,386 This killer is Son of Sam. 836 00:46:04,470 --> 00:46:07,347 He's really no longer the .44 Caliber Killer. 837 00:46:07,431 --> 00:46:09,808 And the Daily News now, they publish it. 838 00:46:10,309 --> 00:46:13,520 [Grossman] This menace, this terror, this phantom 839 00:46:13,604 --> 00:46:16,815 that had just been something abstract to most people, 840 00:46:16,899 --> 00:46:18,734 now all of a sudden had a name 841 00:46:18,817 --> 00:46:20,736 that caught on like wildfire. 842 00:46:22,404 --> 00:46:24,406 [ominous music plays] 843 00:46:26,825 --> 00:46:29,286 Why did you choose Breslin to send stuff to? 844 00:46:29,369 --> 00:46:32,331 [Berkowitz] I selected Breslin, the reason was because he… 845 00:46:32,414 --> 00:46:35,542 He ran a few columns about the earlier crimes. 846 00:46:35,626 --> 00:46:39,880 He expressed more interest than any one reporter 847 00:46:40,464 --> 00:46:42,090 from the other papers, you know? 848 00:46:42,174 --> 00:46:43,258 So I wrote to him. 849 00:46:44,802 --> 00:46:48,096 [Edmunds] Berkowitz knew that if he could get Breslin, 850 00:46:48,180 --> 00:46:52,518 now the Son of Sam was world-famous. Now the Son of Sam was Jack the Ripper. 851 00:46:53,018 --> 00:46:54,812 He will be remembered forever. 852 00:46:55,521 --> 00:46:59,358 [Jones] Did you get the idea for this kind of writing… 853 00:47:00,234 --> 00:47:01,944 [Berkowitz] From the Jack the Ripper book. 854 00:47:02,027 --> 00:47:03,737 [Jones] So the Jack the Ripper book, okay. 855 00:47:03,821 --> 00:47:05,906 [Berkowitz] It said in the book that there was 856 00:47:06,698 --> 00:47:12,788 a great many of these so-called killers that have a need to flaunt their crimes 857 00:47:12,871 --> 00:47:15,874 and write the news media or the police and things. 858 00:47:15,958 --> 00:47:17,251 I got it right from that 859 00:47:17,334 --> 00:47:20,045 because I had that book even before the shooting started. 860 00:47:21,797 --> 00:47:26,301 [Kevin] Several days after that letter went in, my father wrote the column… 861 00:47:26,385 --> 00:47:28,387 [clacking] 862 00:47:28,971 --> 00:47:30,764 …for the killer to give himself up. 863 00:47:30,848 --> 00:47:32,850 [suspenseful music plays] 864 00:47:32,933 --> 00:47:35,060 [Edmunds] The page one story afterwards was, 865 00:47:35,143 --> 00:47:39,356 "Give yourself up! It's your only way out. Breslin to the killer." 866 00:47:40,566 --> 00:47:43,569 [Grossman] Berkowitz loved the attention that he was getting. 867 00:47:44,069 --> 00:47:47,573 He played with the media. He toyed with the media. 868 00:47:48,198 --> 00:47:51,159 David liked the response, and he answered it. 869 00:47:51,243 --> 00:47:52,578 [slide projector clicking] 870 00:47:53,745 --> 00:47:55,747 [suspenseful music plays] 871 00:47:58,625 --> 00:48:00,586 [Murphy] On June 26th, 1977, 872 00:48:00,669 --> 00:48:04,172 just weeks after Jimmy Breslin gets a letter from the Son of Sam, 873 00:48:04,256 --> 00:48:08,135 just over two months after the sixth shooting in the Bronx, 874 00:48:08,677 --> 00:48:11,430 another young couple in Bayside, Queens, 875 00:48:12,014 --> 00:48:16,018 Judy Placido, who's 17, Sal Lupo, who's 20, 876 00:48:16,518 --> 00:48:18,896 they are at a disco, and it was called Eléphas. 877 00:48:18,979 --> 00:48:21,815 [electronic music plays] 878 00:48:21,899 --> 00:48:25,235 This was during the disco craze, and people wanted to go out and dance, 879 00:48:25,319 --> 00:48:29,615 even though we have a killer on the loose, some people still wanted to go out. 880 00:48:29,698 --> 00:48:30,782 [clicking] 881 00:48:32,701 --> 00:48:37,331 [Lupo] I arrived at Eléphas somewhere around 11, 12 o'clock. 882 00:48:38,081 --> 00:48:39,333 Had a few drinks. 883 00:48:39,875 --> 00:48:42,085 Met a girl, Judy Placido. 884 00:48:43,086 --> 00:48:47,716 Danced a little bit, I went outside, got some air… 885 00:48:47,799 --> 00:48:49,801 [mysterious music plays] 886 00:48:50,302 --> 00:48:54,222 They just, you know, get along and click up that night, 887 00:48:54,306 --> 00:48:57,517 and they end up in the bouncers' Cadillac. 888 00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:03,815 [Murphy] They're in a car outside Eléphas, and Judy Placido had long, dark hair. 889 00:49:05,317 --> 00:49:07,569 [Lupo] I lit a cigarette. She lit a cigarette. 890 00:49:08,362 --> 00:49:09,488 [paper singeing] 891 00:49:09,571 --> 00:49:11,573 [mysterious music continues playing] 892 00:49:11,657 --> 00:49:13,283 [Lupo] I put my arm around her. 893 00:49:14,326 --> 00:49:17,621 We were mentioning about, you know, the Son of Sam being around. 894 00:49:18,622 --> 00:49:20,749 So anyway, just as I put my arm around her, 895 00:49:20,832 --> 00:49:24,962 I see a face by the passenger side window. 896 00:49:26,088 --> 00:49:28,090 [ominous music playing] 897 00:49:30,008 --> 00:49:32,886 There was, um, a first shot. 898 00:49:32,970 --> 00:49:34,972 -[gun shots] -[shattering] 899 00:49:35,347 --> 00:49:38,058 Went through the window, hit my wrist, hit her. 900 00:49:39,309 --> 00:49:40,727 I slid down. 901 00:49:41,228 --> 00:49:43,021 And then, two more followed after that. 902 00:49:43,105 --> 00:49:44,481 [gun shots] 903 00:49:46,024 --> 00:49:49,486 It was loud. You didn't really… You know, your ears were ringing. 904 00:49:51,446 --> 00:49:53,281 I tried to get out and get help. 905 00:49:53,907 --> 00:49:57,911 [Murphy] They're actually talking about the Son of Sam, this elusive killer, 906 00:49:57,995 --> 00:50:02,791 and then gunfire, and they both get hit, Sal Lupo got hit in the arm. 907 00:50:03,417 --> 00:50:06,211 [Grossman] Judy Placido is actually grievously wounded. 908 00:50:06,294 --> 00:50:08,714 She is shot in the head. 909 00:50:08,797 --> 00:50:12,134 The bullet traveled, hit her skull, and didn't penetrate it, 910 00:50:12,217 --> 00:50:15,262 and really, by all accounts, should have been mortally wounded. 911 00:50:15,345 --> 00:50:16,805 She survived. 912 00:50:17,848 --> 00:50:21,226 [D.A.] Did you give a description to the police for them to draw a sketch? 913 00:50:21,309 --> 00:50:24,938 [Lupo] No, they never… an artist really never came. 914 00:50:25,022 --> 00:50:25,897 You know? 915 00:50:25,981 --> 00:50:28,191 'Cause they kept showing me lots of pictures, 916 00:50:28,275 --> 00:50:30,027 and all it was doing is jamming my head up. 917 00:50:30,110 --> 00:50:31,820 I couldn't think who… you know. 918 00:50:32,362 --> 00:50:33,822 I couldn't really think. 919 00:50:33,905 --> 00:50:35,157 [recorder clicks off] 920 00:50:35,240 --> 00:50:38,702 Nothing that we received at the scene of the last incident will, uh, 921 00:50:38,785 --> 00:50:42,080 enable us to get a further description of his facial qualities. 922 00:50:42,164 --> 00:50:44,958 [ominous music plays] 923 00:50:45,042 --> 00:50:47,002 [Edmunds] The hysteria at that point 924 00:50:47,085 --> 00:50:52,049 was that everybody was extremely afraid to even go out. 925 00:50:52,132 --> 00:50:55,719 It was like Jack the Ripper, you just didn't leave home after dark. 926 00:50:55,802 --> 00:50:59,181 One thing that I really don't do anymore is sit in parked cars. 927 00:50:59,264 --> 00:51:01,183 I think I'm moving outta here. 928 00:51:02,225 --> 00:51:04,936 [Zonghetti] The police said they were trying to put a net over the city 929 00:51:05,020 --> 00:51:08,231 to catch this guy, but they didn't have a lot to go on. 930 00:51:09,524 --> 00:51:12,152 [Borrelli] We're kind of searching for straws. 931 00:51:12,235 --> 00:51:14,529 We're doing everything you can think of. 932 00:51:14,613 --> 00:51:18,283 What else can we do? You know, that was a big topic. 933 00:51:18,366 --> 00:51:21,286 [Hopkins] Some of the guys were coming up with different ways 934 00:51:21,369 --> 00:51:22,788 of drawing this guy out. 935 00:51:23,747 --> 00:51:25,874 [Borrelli] We did some unusual things. 936 00:51:25,957 --> 00:51:28,001 We were going to set up a decoy unit, 937 00:51:28,627 --> 00:51:31,671 put a female mannequin and a male detective, 938 00:51:31,755 --> 00:51:33,256 and put them in lovers' lane. 939 00:51:34,508 --> 00:51:37,677 Everybody out, all over, Queens and the Bronx. 940 00:51:39,638 --> 00:51:42,307 After a while, the detectives came to me and said, 941 00:51:42,390 --> 00:51:45,685 "It's not working, there's no movement." 942 00:51:45,769 --> 00:51:47,854 "Even if he was looking at us, 943 00:51:48,396 --> 00:51:53,860 all he had to do was spend five minutes and realize there was a dummy in the car." 944 00:51:54,861 --> 00:51:58,406 So we borrowed some wigs, female wigs. 945 00:52:01,326 --> 00:52:04,746 And we put the female wigs on the male detectives. 946 00:52:05,247 --> 00:52:07,582 And that made the couple in the car. 947 00:52:08,166 --> 00:52:11,837 [Hopkins] Pretending to be lovers in a lovers' lane, 948 00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:15,423 is it putting their lives in jeopardy? Sure. Definitely. 949 00:52:16,424 --> 00:52:20,137 [Borrelli] You get driven, you know, I mean, you want it to end. 950 00:52:20,220 --> 00:52:23,056 You want it so badly that you'll do anything, you know. 951 00:52:23,140 --> 00:52:24,808 It was one hell of a mess. 952 00:52:25,725 --> 00:52:27,686 [slide projector whirs] 953 00:52:28,478 --> 00:52:29,479 [clicks] 954 00:52:29,563 --> 00:52:33,233 His anniversary's coming Friday. And, you know, if they… 955 00:52:33,316 --> 00:52:37,904 People just don't realize these things don't end until they catch this guy. 956 00:52:37,988 --> 00:52:40,782 You still got to be cautious. I mean, this guy's a nut. 957 00:52:41,867 --> 00:52:44,786 [woman] I'm supposed to go to a party Friday night and I'm not going. 958 00:52:44,870 --> 00:52:47,330 -How come? -I'm scared. It's crazy. 959 00:52:47,414 --> 00:52:50,333 He's killing all these people. I'd be stupid to go out. 960 00:52:50,417 --> 00:52:52,544 So if you think New York City is in a bad way, 961 00:52:52,627 --> 00:52:54,337 with a serial killer on the loose, 962 00:52:54,421 --> 00:52:56,965 a financial crisis, a pretty bad crime rate, 963 00:52:57,048 --> 00:52:58,508 now the first anniversary 964 00:52:58,592 --> 00:53:00,927 of the first Son of Sam shooting is approaching. 965 00:53:02,053 --> 00:53:06,057 [Belsky] Everybody is geared up to, "Okay, he's gonna hit again." 966 00:53:06,141 --> 00:53:08,935 Son of Sam alluded to that in the letter to Jimmy Breslin, 967 00:53:09,019 --> 00:53:12,147 "What will you have for the 29th?" And everyone's worried. 968 00:53:13,356 --> 00:53:15,275 [Klausner] And now Jimmy Breslin 969 00:53:15,358 --> 00:53:20,113 decided to write a challenge to the killer. 970 00:53:20,906 --> 00:53:27,746 On July 28th, the Daily News headline, "To the .44-Caliber Killer… 971 00:53:28,872 --> 00:53:31,249 on his first deathday." 972 00:53:32,959 --> 00:53:36,296 Holy crow. Is that yellow journalism? 973 00:53:37,130 --> 00:53:39,841 I don't know. I wouldn't have written it. 974 00:53:40,508 --> 00:53:42,052 They egged the killer on. 975 00:53:43,678 --> 00:53:46,723 [Kevin] News sells. So my father was not a fool. 976 00:53:46,806 --> 00:53:48,808 It's his job to keep up a story. 977 00:53:48,892 --> 00:53:52,270 You don't bail on a story, especially when they haven't caught a killer 978 00:53:52,354 --> 00:53:54,439 who wrote to you and the whole city, 979 00:53:54,522 --> 00:53:56,775 and it's a significant day, the anniversary. 980 00:53:57,275 --> 00:53:58,610 You have to write to him. 981 00:53:58,693 --> 00:54:01,863 And other journalists, of course, were irate over this. 982 00:54:01,947 --> 00:54:03,198 Well, that's too bad. 983 00:54:03,281 --> 00:54:05,784 Is that like taunting the guy into action? 984 00:54:06,451 --> 00:54:08,036 No, I don't think it was taunting. 985 00:54:08,119 --> 00:54:11,456 This man had been going out looking to kill at all times. 986 00:54:11,539 --> 00:54:13,083 And where did it begin? 987 00:54:13,166 --> 00:54:16,670 It started with him writing about it, the 29th. 988 00:54:16,753 --> 00:54:18,672 He was the one that brought up the date. 989 00:54:19,172 --> 00:54:22,092 [Berkowitz] You know, that's how I got attention from them. 990 00:54:23,927 --> 00:54:26,972 Not so much to stir something up, but the idea to feel important. 991 00:54:27,555 --> 00:54:30,892 They just see the letters as a guy terrorizing. Yeah, well… 992 00:54:31,434 --> 00:54:35,272 Immediately all their attention is directed towards me, you know… 993 00:54:35,355 --> 00:54:38,942 All the press and all the media people from New York City went there. 994 00:54:39,025 --> 00:54:41,528 All I had to do was sit back in my own home. 995 00:54:41,611 --> 00:54:43,655 I saw everything right from the TV set. 996 00:54:44,823 --> 00:54:47,659 [Klausner] He was watching the press. He was reading it. 997 00:54:48,618 --> 00:54:51,371 And every word meant something to him. 998 00:54:52,539 --> 00:54:55,041 The press became the filter agent 999 00:54:55,125 --> 00:54:58,837 of what would get to the killer and what the killer would respond back. 1000 00:54:59,796 --> 00:55:01,715 The anniversary is approaching. 1001 00:55:03,216 --> 00:55:07,679 They're waiting for what he's going to do. What life is he going to shatter? 1002 00:55:08,430 --> 00:55:10,807 [reporter] Officially, police say they're confident 1003 00:55:10,890 --> 00:55:13,935 they will catch the killer, that it is just a matter of time. 1004 00:55:14,019 --> 00:55:18,440 However, privately, some say they fear that someone else's time may run out 1005 00:55:18,523 --> 00:55:20,025 before the killer's does. 1006 00:55:21,443 --> 00:55:23,737 [Berkowitz] New York City is awfully big. 1007 00:55:23,820 --> 00:55:27,073 And the cops were looking all over the city for me. 1008 00:55:27,157 --> 00:55:28,742 [suspenseful music plays] 1009 00:55:28,825 --> 00:55:30,493 [Berkowitz] Waiting for the Grim Reaper. 1010 00:55:31,119 --> 00:55:32,537 [tape recorder clicks] 1011 00:55:34,039 --> 00:55:36,041 [suspenseful music playing] 1012 00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:44,074 1013 00:55:53,892 --> 00:55:55,894 [suspenseful music continues playing] 1014 00:56:46,236 --> 00:56:48,238 [suspenseful music fades] 1014 00:56:49,305 --> 00:57:49,374 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm