TCA: ID and Smithsonian Channel Revisit the Horror of the Son of Sam

Itamp8217s not shocking that weamp8217re seeing Berkowitzamp8217 doughy blank face again this summer amp160The documentary genre understandablyamp160embracesamp160anniversaries giving filmmakers the distance necessary to put events in perspective amp160During Wednesdayamp8217s Investigation Discovery session a criminologist a detective who worked the case one of Berkowitzamp8217 victims and a New York Post columnist took the stage to reflect on those dark daysThough Carl Denaro who was shot by the killer believes Berkowitz was in a cult Steve Dunleavy a New York Post columnist disagrees but notedamp160that was a going theory amp160amp8220I really believe that he acted alone in this terrible terrible oneman reign of terror of one man against the cityamp8221 Dunleavy said amp160amp8220And the city virtually had a massive nervous breakdownamp8221That breakdown was understandable as people were reeling amp160The shootings amp160six people dead seven others critically wounded including Denaro had the city in a panic that summer a tension the documentaries relayThe news clips included in Smithsonian39s Lost Tapes may not have been seen since 1977 but many of us have never forgotten them amp160As it happens Berkowitz and I went to the same Bronx high school Christopher Columbus now closed amp160He was a few years ahead of me amp160Until his arrest the schoolamp8217s most famous alum had been Anna Maria Louisa Italiano better known as Anne BancroftEschewing reenactments Lost Tapesamp160features interviews of the everyday outerborough New Yorkers whose lives were torn up by those times amp160It also brings back the endless conversations around kitchen tables ashtrays overflowing as we all tried to figure out who was doing this why and how the city had become so terrifyingI remember sitting at one of those tables as a friendamp8217s eyes filled talking about her classmate Valentina Suriani amp160Valentina 18 had been murdered along with her 20yearold boyfriend Alexander EsauEven now my friend doesn39t want to revisit the day or have her name used amp160amp8220Valentinaamp160was such a sweet girl such a good girlamp8221 she said then and nowBeing sweet and good had nothing to do with any of it as we soon learned amp160Being a brunette seemed to be enough for a killer who carried a 44 caliber gun and stalked girls with long dark hair amp160a description which covered many of the young women in New York City back then amp160The documentary shows us their faces frozen in midamp821770s photos forever full of promiseThough I had recently moved downtown my family and friends were still in the Bronx amp160One late afternoon I got off the bus to CoOp City happy to see Ralphie amp8220Buddahamp8221 Bortugno sitting in his car amp160I opened the door and slid in amp160My friend was furious amp160Always fiercely protective amp160he once pulled a felon off me amp160he couldnamp8217t believe how stupid I was being amp160Son of Sam stalked people in parked cars amp160I had long dark hair amp160What was I thinking Ralphie drove me home and walked me upstairs to my parentsamp8217 apartmentOf course as the documentary shows Son of Sam was just the latest threat to New Yorkers who already felt under siege amp160For another look at how harrowing parts of New York City could be at the time watch the new HBO drama The Deuce in Septemberamp160amp160Thugs didnamp8217t just demand your wallet they punched you in the face first took your moneyamp160and then kicked you for good measure amp160The subway was like a rollercoaster ride through hell Abandoned tenements burned amp160Garbage filled the streets amp160Then a blackout on July 13 plunged the city into two days of darknessBut it wasnamp8217t just electricity we lost that nightThe next morning I walked Fordham Road amp160Looters had destroyed one small store after another amp160Shards of glass littered the busted pavement while a second shift of thieves grabbed whatever the first ones had left behind It felt postapocalyptic law and order gone neighborhoods destroyed and a madman on a murderamp160spreeFear hung over the city throughout that endless summer caught in headline after headline amp160Newspapers as the film reminds us still reigned amp160None mattered more than the New York Daily News and its star columnist Jimmy Breslin whom Son of Sam wrote toLost Tapes really makesamp160you feel the urgency of those days and nights of the blackout and soon after when Son of Sam struck again amp160There are closeups of the crumbling faces of sobbing parents parents burying teenagers who had just graduated high school amp160Thereamp8217s Geraldo Rivera in all his 1977 glory long hair hands on hips swaggering toward the camera quoting from one of Son of Samamp8217s letters amp8220Samamp8217s a thirsty lad and he wonamp8217t let me stop until he has his fill of bloodamp8221With people everywhere calling for the killeramp8217s blood the city put 75 detectives and 225 patrol officers on a special task force amp160All they knew was that the guy was white neatly groomed used a 44 caliber gun and judging by his letters had a tenuous grasp on reality amp160The Sam issuing orders turned out to be his neighboramp8217s dog though he later said the dogamp8217s name was HarveyEventually it was a parking ticket that ended it Berkowitz had left his car in front of a hydrant while stalking his twelfth and thirteenth victims amp160The police tracked him down and 378 days after the first murder arrested him in front of his Yonkers apartment amp160The documentary quickly revisits the grim details amp160the squalor of his surroundings his bland expression as police led him awayBerkowitz confessed and was sentenced to 275 years amp160Worry about a possible memoir or movie deal spurred the New York legislature to pass the socalled amp8220Son of Sam lawamp8221 forbidding felons from profiting from their crimes amp160Any profits it mandated would go to victims or their families amp160Today Berkowitz remains in Shawangunk Correctional Facility a maximumsecurity prison in Ulster County serving six life sentences amp160Now a bornagain Christian he refers to himself as amp8220the Son of Hopeamp8221 amp160Ironic considering that for many of us he represented the end of hope or at least innocenceThe Lost Tapes Son of Sam will be telecast July 30 on Smithsonian Channel amp160Son of Sam The Hunt for a Killer will be telecast August 5 on Investigation DiscoveryClick on the social tiles buttons above or below to share this content with friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBiz Net Inc management or associated writers

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TCA: ID and Smithsonian Channel Revisit the Horror of the Son of Sam

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Jacqueline Cutler

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TCA: ID and Smithsonian Channel Revisit the Horror of the Son of Sam

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Jacqueline Cutler

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