Killer’s ‘peace’
Son of Sam wishes evil of 40 yrs. ago would ‘fade’
FOUR DECADES after his arrest calmed a jittery city’s nerves, the Son of Sam says he’s uncomfortable about his violent past — and certain about his bleak future.
“It was so long ago,” Berkowitz told the Daily News in a prison interview Thursday — the 40th anniversary of his arrest for a yearlong bloodbath that left six dead and seven wounded on the city streets.
“I thought (the notoriety) would eventually fade away,” Berkowitz says of his days as the .44-Caliber Killer — a frontpage fixture in the tabloids and pen pal of columnist Jimmy Breslin.
“Why is it always about the dark time when there’s so much good happening?” the 64-yearold killer mused as tears formed in his eyes. “It never goes away . . . I have to make peace (with it).”
Berkowitz looks his age: He is mostly bald, with a bit of shortcropped gray hair and glasses. He grows animated when discussing his work counseling fellow inmates and serving as assistant to the minister at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County.
As a kid, Berkowitz recalls, he rock-climbed in nearby New Paltz. But he views the past as the life of a different man, one who was deeply troubled and under the influence of “demonic influences.”
“I was overcome,” he says now. “I don’t expect anyone to understand.”
He insists his ties to the late Breslin were overblown despite their letter-swapping, and has no recollection of one oft-quoted letter to the columnist.
“Hello from the gutters of N.Y.C., which are filled with dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine and blood,” began the handwritten rant.
The NYPD, taunted by Berkowitz during his rampage through Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, finally put the cuffs on the Son of Sam on Aug. 10, 1977.
They were steered to his Yonkers apartment by a parking ticket put on Berkowitz’s car near the scene of his last murder: The July 31 killing of Stacey Moskowitz, 20, in Brooklyn.
“NAB MAILMAN AS .44 KILLER,” blared the front page of The News.
The killer, now serving six life sentences, says he expected the cops to kill him rather than cuff him. Berkowitz said discussion of his gruesome deeds at this point is “excruciating.” And while he once considered parole a possibility, he now considers death behind bars a near certainty.
“I don’t believe I can redeem myself,” Berkowitz said. “But I do believe that God can redeem me.”
The Son of Sam has also emerged as a father figure to younger inmates born long after the killings stopped.
To the convicts born long after his arrest, he’s known as “Pop” — a good listener who’s free with good advice.
Berkowitz is most passionate about his website postings and interactions with his followers.
“I wish I could write fulltime,” he said.