‘Son of Sam’ killer was arrested 40 years ago this week
NEW YORK — For a year, David Berkowitz terrorized New York.
The papers called him the “.44 Caliber Killer.” In taunting notes to police and a journalist, he called himself “Mr. Monster,” the “Son of Sam.”
When the police finally got him, 40 years ago Thursday, the man behind the killings was unmasked as a schlubby civil servant with a boyish face and a dopey smile.
“I remember the courtroom was packed to the rafters. And it was almost like the air was taken out of the room when he walked in,” said Richard A. Brown, who was the judge who presided over Berkowitz’s first court appearance, the day after his 1977 arrest.