Criminal Profile of
David Berkowitz
Luke Bowen
Background
• David Berkowitz was born Richard David Falco on June 1,
1953 in Brooklyn, New York.
• His mother, Betty Broder, grew up in an poor Jewish
family and his father, Tony Falco, an Italian-American
Catholic. They separated before Berkowitz's birth.
• However, Falco isn’t really his father. His mom Broder
had an affair with a married real estate agent, named
Joseph Kleinman. She became pregnant and Kleinman
threatened to abandon her if she told anyone about the
baby. She listed the baby as Falco’s son.
• Kleinman was his true father.
• He was adopted by Pearl and Nathan Berkowitz, a
Jewish-American couple. They reversed the order of his
first and middle name, added their last name and David
Richard Berkowitz came to be.
Background (cont.)
• David’s early child life was somewhat troubled. He was referred to as
difficult, spoiled and a bully.
• At one point he was consulted by a therapists.
• At 14, Berkowitz's adoptive mother died of breast cancer. Life became
hard because he disliked his adoptive father's second wife.
• In 1971, he joined the US Army and served in the United States and
South Korea at only the age of 18
• In 1974, he was honorably discharged.
• He relocated his birth mother, Betty Falco and discovered the details
of his birth, which greatly disturbed him
• It was said that this is what changed his life forever because now he
had a sense of lost identity.
• He later held quite a few blue collar jobs, and at the time of his
arrest he was working as for the U.S. Postal Service
Crimes and Sentences
It was in the mid 1970’s
when his life of crime
began. His first crime was a
murder attempt with a
knife against Michelle
Forman. However he was
never charged or convicted
of this. After this attempt
with the knife, he decided
to switch to a gun for it
would be more effective.
Crimes and sentences most
recently
• Murder of Donna Lauria
• Attempted Murder of Jody Valenti-wounded
• Attempted Murder of Carl Denaro-wounded
• Attempted Murder of Rosemary Keenan-unwounded
• Attempted Murder of Donna DeMasi-wounded
• Attempted Murder of Joanne Lomino-wounded
• Murder of Christine Freund
• Attempted Murder of John Diel-unwounded
• Murder of Virginia Voskerichian
• Murder of Valentina Suriani
• Murder of Alexander Esau
• Attempted Murder of Salvatore Lupo-wounded
• Attempted Murder of Judy Placido-wounded
• Attempted Murder of Bobby Violante-wounded
• Murder of Stacy Moskowitz
These crimes are the crimes
he is most known for as the
character we all know as the
Son of Sam. He was convicted
for 6 accounts of 2nd degree
murder and 9 accounts of 2nd
degree attempted murder.
However, from all these
convictions, David was
sentenced to 6 life terms.
Evidence of the crime
• Berkowitz had quite a bit of evidence against him most
of it being forensic.
• The police used the letters he had sent to them and
compared it to his handwriting. Of course it was a
match.
• There was a parking ticket given to Berkowitz’s car on
the night of one of the murders only 1 street away from
the scene.
• At his arrest they found in his car a .44 caliber revolver.
It was taken into custody and matched to all the crimes
connected tot the Son of Sam and many others.
• Finally, with his arrest, Berkowitz confessed to all the
crimes that he was being charged with.
Quotes
• “I didn’t want to hurt them. I only wanted to
kill them.”
• “ I am a monster. I am the Son of Sam. I love
to hunt.”
Cultural References
This is the most recent
depiction of the killings of
David Berkowitz. The film was
made in 2008. It focuses on
the satanic and cult like ideals
of David in his urges to kill.
There are some other
examples such as the Summer
of Sam from 1999 and many
more.
Sociological Theory
• The Sociological Theory of Deviance that best represents my criminal and his
deviant behavior is the Differential-Association Theory. This theory is when
peoples behavior is largely determined by the company they keep. David
Berkowitz was directly affected by those who surrounded him and they are what
led him to his path of destruction.
• David did not have the greatest influence as a child. At birth, David was adopted
into the Berkowitz family for they could not conceive a child of their own so
David was their only child. They spoiled him, many described him growing up to
be difficult and a bully as well. When he was given everything he wanted it gave
him the mindset that whenever he wanted something he could get it. He was
above-intelligence but lost an interest in school and learning early. In this point,
since he didn’t like school and never payed attention and began to look for
things to occupy his time, illegal things. He began to misbehave but nothing to
the point where there was legal intervention or a record on file. Soon his
adoptive mother died and since the adoptive father did not like him, David
began his search for his real mom. When he found her he learned of his
illegitimate birth. This greatly disturbed him because now the man he believed
to be his father was not even his father but it was another man. It was even
more troubling to hear his real father was dead. Now David at this point isn’t
surrounded by anyone who truly cares for him he is on his own. All in all David
was surrounded by many who had little to few values and was taught that he
could get anything he wanted to receive. When he didn’t enjoy school anymore
he began doing things with the wrong type of people to occupy his time and they
influenced him greatly. Also as he grew up less and less people began to care for
him so by the time he was 18 he was on his own.
Criminal Terms
• Convicted-to be guilty of a criminal offense by the
verdict of a jury or decision of a judge in court.
• Murder-killing of one human by another
• Attempted Murder-attempted killing of one human
by another.
• 2nd degree murder and attempted murder- an
intentional killing or attempt to kill that is not
planned
• Forensic-the application of scientific methods to
the investigation of crime.