|
David Richard Berkowitz (born Richard David Falco; June 1, 1953), also known as the Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer convicted of a series of shooting attacks that began in New York City in the summer of 1976, perpetrated with a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver. He killed six victims and wounded seven others by July 1977. As the toll mounted, Berkowitz eluded a massive police manhunt while leaving brazen letters that mocked the police and promised further crimes, highly publicized in the press. He terrorized New York and achieved worldwide notoriety. Berkowitz was arrested by New York City police in August 1977, and was indicted for eight shooting incidents. He confessed to all of them, and claimed to have been obeying the orders of a demon, manifested in the form of a dog ("Harvey") who belonged to his neighbor ("Sam"). Despite his explanation, Berkowitz was found mentally competent and incarcerated in state prison for murder. In the course of further police investigation, Berkowitz was also implicated in many unsolved arsons in the city. Intense coverage of the case by the media lent a kind of celebrity status to Berkowitz, and observers noted indignantly that he appeared to enjoy it. In response, the New York State legislature enacted new legal statutes, known popularly as "Son of Sam laws", designed to keep criminals from profiting financially from the publicity surrounding their crimes. Despite various amendments and legal challenges, the statutes have remained law in New York, and similar laws have been enacted in several other states. Berkowitz has been imprisoned since his arrest and is serving six life sentences consecutively. In the mid-1990s, he amended his confession to claim that he had been a member of a violent Satanic cult which orchestrated the incidents as ritual murder. He remains the only person ever charged with the shootings, yet some law enforcement authorities have questioned whether Berkowitz's claims are credible. A new investigation into the murders was launched in 1996, but was suspended indefinitely after inconclusive findings. ==Early life== David Berkowitz was born Richard David Falco on June 1, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York.〔Abrahamsen, p. 73.〕 His mother, Betty Broder, grew up in an impoverished Jewish family and married Tony Falco, an Italian-American Catholic. The couple ran a fish market together. They separated before Berkowitz's birth; Falco left for another woman, and Broder later had an affair with a married real estate agent, Joseph Kleinman. She became pregnant and Kleinman threatened to abandon her if she kept the baby, so she put the child up for adoption and listed Falco as the father.〔Leyton, p. 206.〕 Within a few days of his birth, the infant boy was adopted by Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz of the Bronx.〔Abrahamsen, p. 16.〕 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 began an infatuation with petty larceny and pyromania." Neighbors and relatives would recall Berkowitz as difficult, spoiled and bullying – his adoptive parents consulted at least one psychotherapist due to his misconduct – but his misbehavior never resulted in legal intervention or serious mention in his school records.〔Leyton.〕 Berkowitz's adoptive mother died of breast cancer when he was fourteen and his home life became strained in later years, particularly because he disliked his adoptive father's second wife. In 1971, at the age of eighteen, he joined the US Army and served in the United States and South Korea.〔Leyton, p. 217.〕 After an honorable discharge in 1974, he located his birth mother, Betty Falco. After a few visits, she disclosed the details of his illegitimate birth, which greatly disturbed him, particularly because his birth father was deceased.〔 Forensic anthropologist Elliott Leyton described Berkowitz's discovery of his adoption and illegitimate birth as the "primary crisis" of his life, a revelation that shattered his sense of identity.〔Leyton, pp. 187ff.〕 He later fell out of contact with his birth mother, but remained for a time in touch with his half-sister, Roslyn. He subsequently held several blue collar jobs, and at the time of his arrest he was working as a letter sorter for the U.S. Postal Service.〔Leyton, p. 192.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「David Berkowitz」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|