August 21, 2007
Summer of Sam, Again
"Hello from the gutters of N.Y.C., which are filled with dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine, and blood," these were the opening lines in a letter written by David Berkowitz to columnist Jimmy Breslin thirty years ago.
It seems Berkowitz has the writing bug again, as last week amNewYork received a two-page letter from the one and only Son of Sam. This one postmarked from the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, NY - where he is serving six life sentences.
The letter was apparently in response to an interview request, as he begins declining and saying he'd like to put the past behind him. He continues on to say: "I am deeply sorry for the pain and grief I have brought to many families through my criminal acts. I would give my own life if I could undo the tragic past." It was typed, and his real name was signed in pen - a new signature since the 1977 letter he sent to Captain Joseph Borrelli signed: "Yours in murder - Mr. Monster". The two pages are posted here and here, but the images are too small to read and amNewYork hasn't publish the text in its entirety anywhere.
To get more insight, prisoner No. 78A1976 does keep an online journal on his website www.ariseandshine.org, where he's apologized and recapped his personal timeline, stating:
I got out of the service in 1974 to start life again as a civilian. All my friends that I knew before had either married or moved away. So I found myself alone and living in New York City.Creepy. However he claims to have moved past all that, and back in his letter to amNewYork he writes about his prayers for those close to the victims in the Newark shooting and also voices his criticisms about America becoming a place of crime and bloodshed. An expert the paper talks to states that "denouncing violence is merely a ploy by Berkowitz, 54, to retain the public attention he so craves. Part of a killer's needs are satisfied just by reading about himself in the press. It's not the same as being out there and killing, but in some form Berkowitz is being gratified by reliving that violence at a distance."In 1975, however, I met some guys at a party who were, I later found out, heavily involved in the occult. I had always been fascinated with witchcraft, satanism, and occult things since I was a child. When I was growing up I watched countless horror and satanic movies, one of which was Rosemary’s Baby. That movie in particular totally captivated my mind.
Well, this summer was supposed to be a look-back at the Summer of Love, but so far it's all been about the Summer of Sam. So either he's right and the country is crime-minded, or he's satisfied knowing that documentaries like NY77 are introducing him to a whole new generation.
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Prisoner No. 78A1976 is a a rabid animal and should be dragged into the yard and shot...
I'm also pretty happy to see hard my hard earned tax dollars supporting h is website.
Fukcin' A!
I think Berkowitz is a very interesting case. I'm surprised the post doesn't mention his born-again conversion, which seems to inform his entire website and his apology. I think I've read that anti-psychotic medications have played heavily into his rehabilitation as well.
His parole's been denied a few times, and that's probably the right call, but his seems to me a better outcome than most raving, lunatic murderers. Perhaps cold comfort to victims' families, but better, I think, than a lethal injection or an unrepentant raving, lunatic convicted murderer.
BTW, edEx, how do you know his website is funded by tax dollars?
It is definitely not better than lethal injection by a long shot.
What a nice Jew. and, I mean that.
Glad he's doing OK.
Is he gay? He looks way too pleased with himself there..
He looks better now than in 1977.
I was born and raised in NYC and turned 7 the year this idiot went crazy through NY. My simple world revolved around my family and I spent my summer vacation doing things I loved, like playing with my dolls and brushing and styling my long brown hair that I took such pride in...
I was innocent to crime & evil in the world until I heard about this guy one summer afternoon in 1977-- and this guy had a penchant for killing young girls with long dark hair.
I hate you Berkowitz, for helping end my childhood early and making me afraid. I hope you rot in jail forever.
How come no one ever mentions his participation in a satanic cult? Oh yeah, it includes hihgh levels judges and pols and rich people whose names must not be known.
I don't think he's gay, but he's definitely a sexually frustrated guy who got off on the power he had over his victims.
According to retired F.B.I. profiler, John Douglas' book, "Obsession," Berkowitz would, as a teenager, set fires to garbage cans and abandoned buildings. Then, as the firefighters worked to extinguish the flames, and seeing the crowds gather, he would watch from a distance and masturbate, knowing he caused this commotion.
Later, during his murderous reign of terror, he would return to the locations of the murders, and masturbate to the memory of causing these people's deaths.
He's also a liar. The whole "Son of Sam" identity, and excuse for killing people because of a dog was a fabrication to cover up the real motive to kill.
That's why I agree with the expert, Robert D. Keppel in the amNY article. Berkowitz just wants to draw attention to himself and doesn't deserve any sympathy.
#2...
i do not know that tax dollars fund his website, they may not... but i know for a fact that my tax dollars and yours fund his ability to even use the internet at all... he's an animal, a rabid, sick, pyschotic and whether he's on anti-psycotics or not or reborn doesn't even make me blink—he should be locked in a cage.
I want my tax dollars to work me—killers: no fun-time, no rights, nothing... i want them to have nothing... that's all they are is nothing, that's all they should receive—nothing.
if you kill someone or several people (unless it's involuntary) you deserve to rot for life in a cage—cut-off from society.
haha He does look better today - a la "Richard Starkey"
edEx,
Yours is one theory of punishment. But if you believe that I think you might as well execute them and stop paying the tax dollars. If you are going to keep them alive, I think prison is better used as a rehabilitative mechanism, even if that person never sees the light of day again. What is better for society? A rotting, hateful prisoner or humanely treated, repentant prisoner?