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View information about David Berkowitz's arrest and mugshot here on famouslyarrested.com David Berkowitz. You can view information about David Berkowitz's arrest and other celebrity arrests. You can view by name or by category. We also have included David Berkowitz mugshots.
David Berkowitz
- David Berkowitz
- Criminal
- August 10, 1977
- Murder
- Life Imprisonment
The arrest of David Berkowitz:
He conducted a reign of terror in New York City from the summer of 1976 until his arrest in the summer of 1977, under the nickname "Son of Sam".
David Berkowitz was born Richard David Falco and was adopted by a Bronx couple as an infant. He had a somewhat troubled childhood, even though he was judged to have above-average intelligence. David had problems stemming from petty larceny and starting small fires.
Berkowitz joined the Army in 1971and gained honorable discharge…
Berkowitz also sought out his birth mother, Betty Falco. When she told him the story of his early life, it bothered him a lot and left him with a major identity crisis.
He was working as a letter sorter for the U.S. Postal Service when his crime spree began. He claims his first assault involved a Christmas Eve stabbing in 1975. But his nickname "the .44 caliber killer" stemmed from a series of shootings at lover's lanes and assaults on young women walking in the streets of residential neighborhoods in New York City.
He taunted authorities with letters to the media and police had little luck finding him.
Until the morning of July 31, 1977 when the final shootings took place. Police tracked down Berkowitz through a parking ticket issued in the area and arrested him a couple of weeks later.
He quickly confessed and said a neighbor's dog made him do it.
And in July, 1978 Berkowtz was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for his murders, served consecutively. He's spending the rest of his days at the New York Supermax prison, The Attica Correctional Facility, where he became a born-again Christian.
Here he is in an interview by the American Bible Society.
Because of him, the so-called "Son of Sam" laws were passed in New York State, to prevent criminals from profiting from their crimes by selling book and movie rights