It is dangerous to relate too many brain thinking to religion or
else may end up like this crazy dude:-
David Richard Berkowitz (born Richard
David Falco; 1 June 1953), also known as Son of
Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an
American serial killer and arsonist whose crimes terrorized
New York
City from July 1976 until his arrest in August 1977.
Shortly after his arrest in August 1977, Berkowitz confessed to
killing six people and wounding seven others in the course of eight
shootings in New York between 1976 and 1977; he has been imprisoned
for these crimes since 1977. Berkowitz subsequently claimed that he
was commanded to kill by a demon who
possessed his neighbor's dog.
Berkowitz later amended his confession to claim he was the
shooter in only two incidents, personally killing three people and
wounding a fourth. The other victims were killed, Berkowitz
claimed, by members of a violent Satanic cult of
which he was a member. Though he remains the only person charged
with or convicted of the shootings, some law
enforcement authorities argue that Berkowitz's claims
are credible: according to John Hockenberry[1]
formerly of MSNBC and
NPR, many
officials involved in the original "Son of Sam" case suspected that
more than one person was committing the murders. Hockenberry also
reported that the Son of Sam case was reopened in 1996 and, as of
2004[update],
it was still considered open.
Early life
Berkowitz was born Richard David Falco in
Brooklyn,
New York. His mother, Betty Broder, was married to
Anthony Falco, with whom she had a daughter before the couple
separated without legally divorcing.
After this, she had an affair with the married Joseph
Kleinman,[2]
who fathered a son. Kleinman suggested she have an abortion, but she gave birth to a boy
and listed Falco as the father.
Before he was a week old, the baby was adopted by hardware store owners
Nathan and Pearl Berkowitz, who reversed the order of his first and
middle names in addition to giving him their own
surname.[2]
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."[3]
Berkowitz's adoptive mother died of breast cancer when he was thirteen,
and his home life became strained in later years, particularly
because he disliked his adoptive father's second wife. He later
claimed his new step-sister was interested in witchcraft, sparking an interest in
the occult he
would later pursue more actively.
In 1969, the 16-year-old Berkowitz attended the Woodstock
Festival. He joined the United States Army in 1971, and served
on active
duty until his honorable discharge in 1974. He served
in both the United States and South
Korea.
In 1974 Berkowitz located his birth mother, Betty Falco. After a
few visits, she disclosed the details of his illegitimate conception and birth, which greatly
disturbed him. They fell out of contact, but Berkowitz did stay in
touch with his half-sister, Roslyn.[2]
After leaving the Army, Berkowitz held several blue
collar jobs. At the time of his arrest, he was employed
by the U.S.
Postal Service.
Berkowitz claims that he joined a cult in
the spring of 1975. Initially, he said, the group was involved in
harmless activities, such as séances and fortune
telling. Gradually, however, Berkowitz claimed that the
group introduced him to drug use, sadistic pornography and violent
crime.
Berkowitz claimed that his first attacks occurred in late 1975,
when he attacked two women with a knife on Christmas Eve. One alleged victim was
never identified, but the other victim, Michelle Forman, was
injured seriously enough to put her in the hospital.[4]
Not long afterward, Berkowitz moved to an apartment in Yonkers.
At about 1:10 a.m. on 29 July 1976, Mike and Rose Lauria
returned to their apartment in Pelham Bay after dining out. Their
daughter Donna, 18, and her friend Jody Valenti, 19, were sitting
in Valenti's Oldsmobile, parked outside the
apartment, discussing their evening at the Peachtree, a New
Rochelle discotheque. As Valenti was about to
leave, Mike Lauria agreed to his daughter's suggestion that they
walk the family's dog together. Before he went inside to retrieve
the poodle, Lauria noticed a man sleeping in a yellow compact car parked across the street
and about sixty feet behind his own car. Neighbors would report to
police that an unfamiliar yellow compact car had been cruising the area
for hours before the shooting.[5]
After her parents were inside, Donna Lauria opened the car door
to depart, noticing a man quickly approaching them. Startled and
angered by the man's sudden appearance, Lauria said, "Now what is
this…"[5]
From the paper sack he carried, the man produced a handgun and,
crouching as he aimed, fired three shots. Lauria was struck in her
chest by one bullet that killed her almost instantly, Valenti took
a bullet in her thigh, and
the third missed both girls. The shooter turned and quickly walked
away.
Valenti, who survived her injuries, said she did not recognize
the killer. She described him as a white male in his 30s with a
fair complexion, standing about 5'9" and weighing about 160 lb
(73 kg). His hair was short, dark and curly in a "mod style."[5]
This description was echoed by Mike Lauria in his description of
the man who was sitting in the yellow compact car parked behind
Valenti and Lauria.
Detectives from the 8th Homicide precinct of the New York Police Department had little
in the way of evidence. Most importantly, they were able to
determine that the handgun used was a .44 caliber Charter
Arms Bulldog. A high-power, five-shot revolver intended for use in close
quarters, the .44 Bulldog was identified because the unusual
manufacturing process of its barrel left distinctive marks on each
slug.
Police followed two working hypotheses in the absence of further
evidence:
that the shooter was a spurned admirer of the popular Lauria or
that the shooting was a mistaken assassination attempt of the wrong
person. The neighborhood had seen recent mob activity, and police even hinted
that Mike Lauria, a member of the Teamsters union, might be involved in
organized
crime.
Berkowitz later claimed that he shot Lauria and Valenti, and
that several other cult members were involved in the crime, either
by surveillance of the victims, or by
acting as lookouts.[6]
In the early morning of 23 October 1976, another shooting
occurred, this time in Queens.
Carl Denaro, 25, and Rosemary Keenan, 38, were parked in a secluded
residential area in Forest Hills Gardens, Queens. Keenan
was driving her own Volkswagen Beetle, and Denaro was in
the passenger seat. At about 1:30 a.m., the car's windows seemed to
explode, and the duo dropped low in their seats as several bullets
struck the car. Denaro and Keenan did not realize someone was
shooting at them, even as Denaro was bleeding from a bullet wound
to his head. They panicked and Keenan drove to Peck's, a bar about
half a mile away. Keenan had only superficial injuries from the
broken glass, but Denaro eventually needed a metal plate to replace
a portion of his skull.
Neither victim had seen whoever had made the attack.
Police determined that the slugs embedded in Keenan's car were
.44 caliber bullets, but they were so damaged and deformed that
they thought it was unlikely that they could ever be linked to a
particular weapon.[7]
Denaro had shoulder-length hair, and police would later speculate
that the shooter had mistaken him for a girl. Keenan's father was a
20-year veteran police detective of the NYPD, spurring an in-depth
investigation. As with the Lauria-Valenti shooting, however, there
seemed to be no motive for the shooting, and police made little
progress in the case. Though many details of the Denaro-Keenan
shooting were very similar to the Lauria-Valenti case, police did
not initially suspect a connection, partly because the shootings
occurred in different boroughs of New York City and were
investigated by different local police agencies.
Berkowitz later claimed that, while he observed and helped plan
the crime, an unnamed female cult member actually shot
Denaro.[8]
The victims survived primarily, claimed Berkowitz, because the
shooter was unfamiliar with the powerful recoil of a .44 Bulldog.[8]
Late in the evening of 26 November 1976, Donna DeMasi, 16, and
Joanne Lomino, 18, had walked home from a movie, and were chatting
under a streetlight outside Lomino's home in Queens. A man
approached to within about ten feet of the girls. They later
described him as about 5'9", tall and slender, weighing perhaps
150 lb (68 kg) with straight, dirty blond hair and dark eyes.
He wore a slim, knee-length coat reminiscent of military surplus
gear.
Startled but not frightened by his sudden appearance, DeMasi and
Lomino suspected the man was lost and asking directions. In a
high-pitched voice he said, "Can you tell me how to
get,"[8]
then he produced a revolver. He shot each of the victims once, and
as they fell to the ground injured, he fired several more times,
striking the apartment building before running away. Having heard
the gunshots, a neighbor rushed from their apartment and saw the
blond shooter rush by, gripping a pistol in his left hand.
DeMasi and Lomino were hospitalized with serious injuries:
Lomino was ultimately rendered a paraplegic, but DeMasi's wounds were
less serious.
Based on the testimony of DeMasi, Lomino, and their neighbor,
police produced several composite sketches of the blond
shooter. Police also determined the gun was a .44, but the slugs
were so deformed that linking them to a particular gun was all but
ruled out.
Berkowitz later claimed that while he helped plan the
DeMasi-Lomino shooting, the actual perpetrator was cult member John
Carr, and that a Yonkers police officer, also a cult member, was
involved in the crime.[8]
The new year brought more shootings in Queens. In the early
morning of 30 January 1977, an engaged couple, Christine Freund,
26, and John Diel, 30, were sitting in Diel's Pontiac
Firebird, preparing to drive to a dance hall after
having seen the motion picture Rocky.
Three gunshots penetrated the car at about 12:40 a.m. In a
panic, Diel drove away for help. He suffered minor superficial
injuries, but Freund was shot twice. She died several hours later
at the hospital. Neither victim had seen their attacker(s).
Police determined the shooter had again used a .44 Bulldog. Police made the first public
acknowledgment that the Freund-Diel shooting was similar to the
earlier cases, and that the crimes might be connected: the earlier
victims had been struck with .44 caliber bullets, if not confirmed
Bulldog revolvers, and the shootings targeted young women with
long, dark hair and/or young couples parked in cars.
NYPD
sergeant Richard Conlon stated that
police were "leaning towards a connection in all these
cases."[9][10]
Composite sketches of the black-haired Lauria-Valenti shooter and
the blond Lomino-DeMasi shooter were released, and Conlon noted
that police were looking for multiple "suspects", not just
one.[9]
Berkowitz later claimed that while "at least five" cult members
were at the scene of the Freund-Diel shooting, the actual shooter
was a cult associate nicknamed "Manson II", who was brought in from
outside New York due to a special motive of which Berkowitz claimed
to know no details.[8]
At about 7:30 p.m. on March 8th, 1977, Columbia
University student Virginia Voskerichian, 19, was
walking home from school. She lived about a block from where
Christine Freund was shot. The Voskerichian shooting differed from
the other Son of Sam crimes in many respects. All the other victims
were couples, and were shot on weekends in the late night or early
morning.
There were no direct witnesses to the Voskerichian murder, which
happened on the victim's own street. In a desperate move to defend
herself, Voskerichian lifted her textbooks between herself and her
killer, only to have the makeshift shield penetrated, the bullet
striking her head and killing her.
Moments after the shooting, a neighborhood resident who had
heard the gunshots was rounding the corner onto Voskerichian's
street. He nearly collided with a person he described as a short,
husky boy, 16 to 18 years old and clean-shaven, wearing a sweater
and watch cap, who was sprinting away from the crime scene. The
neighbor said the youth pulled the cap over his face and said, "Oh,
Jesus!" as he passed by, sprinting.[11]
Other neighbors claimed to have seen the "teenager," and another
matching Berkowitz's description, loitering separately in the area
for about an hour before the shooting.[11]
In the following days, the media repeated police claims that this
"chubby teenager" was the suspect in the shooting.[11]
Berkowitz later claimed that he was at the Voskerichian murder
scene, but the actual shooter was a "woman from Westchester."[12]
Additionally, Berkowitz claimed the Voskerichian shooting was
partly designed to confuse police by seeming to change the
modus
operandi established in earlier cult shootings.
In a March 10th, 1977 press conference, NYPD officials and
New
York City Mayor Abraham
Beame declared that the same .44 Bulldog revolver had
fired the shots that killed Lauria and Voskerichian.[13]
Official documents would later surface, however, saying that while
police strongly suspected the same .44 Bulldog had been used in the
shootings, the evidence was actually inconclusive.[13]
The same day, the Operation Omega task force made its public debut.
Charged solely with investigating the .44 Caliber shootings, the
task force was led by Deputy Inspector Timothy J. Dowd, composed of
over 300 police officers. Police speculated that the killer had a
vendetta against women, perhaps due to chronic social rejection, and also
declared that the "chubby teenager" was regarded as a witness, not
a suspect in the Voskerichian shooting. The police regarded the
taller, black-haired male shooter in the Lauria-Valenti case as the
shooter in all of the .44 Caliber murders.
The crimes earned considerable mass media publicity, with television,
newspapers and radio publishing every detail and speculation of the
case. Australian publisher Rupert
Murdoch had recently purchased the New York
Post, and the paper offered perhaps the most
sensational coverage of the crimes, as a result vaulting from
near-bankruptcy into profitability. Mayor
Beame, meanwhile, helped funnel unprecedented amounts of money to
the NYPD to help solve the case. In many cases serial
killers such as Berkowitz draw additional pleasure and
power from this type of media
response. The feeling of control over the media, law enforcement,
and even entire populations provides a source of social power for
them [14].
In the early morning of April 17th, 1977, Alexander Esau, 20,
and Valentina Suriani, 18, were in the Bronx, only a few blocks from the
scene of the Lauria-Valenti shooting. At about 3:00 a.m., they were
each shot twice and killed. Suriani died at the scene, and Esau
died in the hospital several hours later without being able to
describe his attacker(s).
In the days afterwards, police repeated their theory that only
one man was responsible for the .44 murders: the chubby teenager in
the Voskerichian case was still regarded as a witness, while the
dark-haired man who shot Lauria and Valenti was considered the
suspect.[15]
Berkowitz later claimed that he was responsible for the
Esau-Suriani shootings.[12]
In the street near the Esau-Suriani shooting, a police officer
discovered a hand-written letter. Written mostly in block capital
letters with some lower-case letters, it was addressed to NYPD
Captain Joseph Borrelli.[16]
In full, with misspellings intact, it read:
I am deeply hurt by your calling me a wemon [sic] hater! I am not. But I am a
monster. I am the "Son of Sam." I am a little brat. When father Sam
gets drunk he gets mean. He beats his family. Sometimes he ties me
up to the back of the house. Other times he locks me in the garage.
Sam loves to drink blood. "Go out and kill," commands father Sam.
Behind our house some rest. Mostly young — raped and slaughtered — their blood
drained — just bones now. Papa Sam keeps me locked in the attic
too. I can't get out but I look out the attic window and watch the
world go by. I feel like an outsider. I am on a different
wavelength then [sic]
everybody else — programmed too [sic]
kill. However, to stop me you must kill me. Attention all police:
Shoot me first — shoot to kill or else keep out of my way or you
will die! Papa Sam is old now. He needs some blood to preserve his
youth. He has had too many heart attacks. "Ugh, me hoot,
[sic] it hurts, sonny boy." I miss
my pretty princess most of all. She's resting in our ladies house.
But I'll see her soon. I am the "Monster" — "Beelzebub" — the
chubby behemouth. [sic] I
love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game — tasty
meat. The wemon [sic] of
Queens are prettyist [sic] of
all. It must be the water they drink. I live for the hunt — my
life. Blood for papa. Mr. Borrelli, sir, I don't want to kill
anymore. No sur, [sic] no
more but I must, 'honor thy father.' I want to make love to the
world. I love people. I don't belong on earth [sic]. Return me to yahoos. To the
people of Queens, I love you. And I want to wish all of you a happy
Easter. May God bless you in this life and in the next. And for now
I say goodbye and goodnight. Police: Let me haunt you with these
words: I'll be back! I'll be back! To be interpreted as — bang bang
bang, bank, bang — ugh!! Yours in murder, Mr. Monster[16]
Though discovery of the letter was an open secret, the contents
were not made public. Only a few hints were leaked: police
speculated that the letter-writer might be familiar with Scottish
English. The phrase "me hoot, it hurts, sonny boy" was
taken as a Scots-accented version of "my heart, it hurts,
sonny boy"; and the police also hypothesized that the shooter
blamed a dark-haired nurse for his father's death, due to the "too
many heart attacks" phrase, and the facts that Lauria was a medical
technician and Valenti was studying to be a nurse.[17]
On July 28, New York Daily News columnist Jimmy
Breslin alluded to the "wemon" quirk and referred to the
shooter watching the world from "his attic window."[18]
After consulting with several psychiatrists, police released a
psychological profile of their suspect
on May 26th, 1977. He was described as neurotic and probably suffering from
paranoid
schizophrenia and believed himself to be a victim of
demonic
possession.[18]
Police questioned the owners of 56 .44 Bulldog revolvers legally
registered in New York City, and forensically tested each weapon,
ruling them out as the murder weapons. Among other unsuccessful
ideas, police created traps with undercover officers posed as
lovers parked in isolated areas, hoping to lure the shooter.
On May 30th, 1977, columnist Jimmy Breslin of the New York
Daily News received a hand-written letter from
someone who claimed to be the .44 shooter. The letter was
postmarked early on May 30 in Englewood, New Jersey. On the reverse
of the envelope was hand-printed a precisely centered quatrain:
Blood and Family/Darkness and Death/Absolute
Depravity/.44
The letter read:
Hello from the gutters of N.Y.C. which are filled with dog
manure, vomit, stale wine, urine and blood. Hello from the sewers
of N.Y.C. which swallow up these delicacies when they are washed
away by the sweeper trucks. Hello from the cracks in the sidewalks
of N.Y.C. and from the ants that dwell in these cracks and feed in
the dried blood of the dead that has settled into the cracks. J.B.,
I'm just dropping you a line to let you know that I appreciate your
interest in those recent and horrendous .44 killings. I also want
to tell you that I read your column daily and I find it quite
informative. Tell me Jim, what will you have for July twenty-ninth?
You can forget about me if you like because I don't care for
publicity. However you must not forget Donna Lauria and you cannot
let the people forget her either. She was a very, very sweet girl
but Sam's a thirsty lad and he won't let me stop killing until he
gets his fill of blood. Mr. Breslin, sir, don't think that because
you haven't heard from me for a while that I went to sleep. No,
rather, I am still here. Like a spirit roaming the night. Thirsty,
hungry, seldom stopping to rest; anxious to please Sam. I love my
work. Now, the void has been filled. Perhaps we shall meet face to
face someday or perhaps I will be blown away by cops with smoking
.38's. Whatever, if I shall be fortunate enough to meet you I will
tell you all about Sam if you like and I will introduce you to him.
His name is "Sam the terrible." Not knowing the what the future
holds I shall say farewell and I will see you at the next job. Or
should I say you will see my handiwork at the next job? Remember
Ms. Lauria. Thank you. In their blood and from the gutter "Sam's
creation" .44 Here are some names to help you along. Forward them
to the inspector for use by N.C.I.C: [sic] "The Duke of Death" "The
Wicked King Wicker" "The Twenty Two Disciples of Hell" "John
'Wheaties' – Rapist and Suffocator of Young Girls. PS: Please
inform all the detectives working the slaying to remain. P.S: [sic]
JB, Please inform all the detectives working the case that I wish
them the best of luck. "Keep 'em digging, drive on, think positive,
get off your butts, knock on coffins, etc." Upon my capture I
promise to buy all the guys working the case a new pair of shoes if
I can get up the money. Son of Sam[19]
Underneath the "Son of Sam" was a logo or sketch that combined
several symbols. The writer's question, "What will you have for
July 29?" was taken as an ominous threat: July 29 would be the
anniversary of the first .44 Caliber shooting.
Breslin notified police, who thought the letter was probably
from someone with knowledge of the shootings. Sophisticated in its
wording and presentation, especially when compared to the crudely
written first letter, police suspected the Breslin letter might
have been created in an art studio or similar professional location
by someone with expertise in printing, calligraphy, graphic design or architecture.[20]
Based on the "Wicked King Wicker" reference, police arranged a
private screening of The Wicker Man, a 1970s horror film.
A week later, after consulting with police and agreeing to
withhold portions of the text, the Daily News published
the letter, and Breslin urged the killer to turn himself over to
authorities. Reportedly, over 1.1 million copies of that day's
paper were sold.[21]
The letter caused a panic in New York, and based on references
in the publicized portions of the letter, police received thousands
of tips, all of which proved baseless.[20]
As all the shooting victims so far had long, dark hair,
thousands of women in New York cut or dyed their hair, and beauty
supply stores had trouble meeting the demand for blond
wigs.[22]
Despite being one of the hottest summers on record, people stayed
indoors at night, ignoring the longstanding tradition of spending
sultry evenings outdoors.
On June 26th, 1977, there was another shooting. Sal Lupo, 20,
and Judy Placido, 17, had left the Elephas discotheque in the Bayside section of Queens. The young
couple was sitting in their car at about 3:00 a.m. when three
gunshots blasted through the car.
Both were struck by slugs, but their injuries were relatively
minor, and both survived. Neither Lupo or Placido had seen their
attacker(s),[23]
but witnesses reported a tall, stocky, dark-haired man sprinting
from the area, and a blond man with a mustache who drove from the
neighborhood in a Chevy
Nova without turning on its headlights. Police
speculated the dark-haired man was the shooter, and that the blond
man had observed the crime.[23]
Berkowitz later claimed that cult member Michael Carr shot Lupo
and Placido.[24]
Additionally, Berkowitz claimed that cult members had long wanted
to shoot someone at the Elephas disco,
thinking the site significant in light of their interest in the
work of noted 19th century occultist Eliphas Levi.[24]
It was near the one-year anniversary of the first .44 caliber
shootings, and police set up a sizable dragnet, focusing on past hunting
grounds of Queens and
The
Bronx. However, the next .44 shooting was in Brooklyn.
Early on July 31st, 1977, Stacy Moskowitz and Robert Violante,
both 20, were in Violante's car, which was parked under a
streetlight near a city park. They were kissing when a man
approached to within about three feet of the passenger side of
Violante's car, fired several gunshots into the car, striking both
victims in the head, before running into the park. Moskowitz died
several hours later in the hospital. Violante survived, though one
of his eyes was destroyed and he retained only very limited vision
in the other eye. With her short, curly blond hair, Moskowitz was a
departure from the other female victims. Based on telephone calls
to police within seconds of the shooting, the crime occurred at
2:35 a.m.
The Moskowitz-Violante crime produced more witnesses than any of
the other Son of Sam murders, notably the only direct eyewitness
who was not an intended victim. During the shooting, Tommy Zaino,
19, was parked with his date in a car three car lengths ahead of
Violante's. Moments before the shooting, Zaino saw a peripheral
glimpse of the shooter's approach and happened to glance in his
rear view mirror just in time to see the crime occur. Due to the
bright street light and full moon, Zaino clearly saw the
perpetrator for several seconds, later describing him as 25 to 30
years old, of average height (5'7" to 5'9") with shaggy hair that
was dark blond or light brown — "it looked like a wig",
Zaino said.[25]
About a minute after the shooting, a woman seated next to her
boyfriend in his car on the other side of the city park saw a
"white male [who was wearing] a light-colored, cheap nylon wig"
sprint from the park and enter a "small, light-colored" auto, which
drove away quickly.[25]
"He looks like he just robbed a bank," said the woman, who wrote
what she could see of the car's license plate: unable to determine the
first two characters, she was certain the others were either 4-GUR
or 4-GVR.[25]
Other witnesses included a woman who saw a light car speed away
from the park about 20 seconds after the gunshots,[25]
and at least two witnesses who described a yellow Volkswagen driving quickly from the
neighborhood with its headlights off.[26]
A neighborhood resident given the pseudonym Mary Lyons heard the
gunshots and Violante's calls for help, and glancing from her
apartment window, she saw a man she later positively identified as
Berkowitz, who was walking casually away from the crime
scene as many others were rushing towards the scene to
render aid.[27]
Shortly after 2:35 a.m., a man given the pseudonym Alan Masters was passing
through an intersection a few blocks from the park. Masters was
nearly struck by what he described as a yellow Volkswagen
Beetle that sped through the intersection, against the
red light and without headlights, with the driver holding his door
shut with his arm as he drove. Angered and alarmed, Masters
followed the Volkswagen at high speed for several minutes before
losing sight of the vehicle. Masters described the driver as a
white male in his late 20s or early 30s, with a narrow face; dark,
long, stringy hair; several days growth of dark whiskers on his
face; and wearing a blue jacket.[28]
Upset, Masters neglected to note the Volkswagen's license plate
number, but he thought it might have been a New Jersey rather than a New York plate. Violante encountered a
very similar man as he and Moskowitz were in the park shortly
before the shooting, describing him as a "grubby-looking hippy" with whiskers, wiry hair over
his forehead, dark eyes, and wearing a denim jacket.[29]
Berkowitz would later claim that the shooter in the
Moskowitz-Violante case was a friend of John Carr, who had arrived
from North
Dakota for the occasion.[30]
Additionally, Berkowitz would claim that after his Ford
Galaxie, license plate 561 XLB, received a parking
ticket at 2:05 a.m. for being parked too close to a
fire
hydrant near the city park, he tried to persuade two
other cult members at the scene to postpone or relocate the
crime.[31]
Berkowitz claimed his suggestion was overruled, and he was ordered
to remain in the area to make sure no police were nearby.
Police didn't learn of the Moskowitz-Violante shooting until
about 2:50 a.m., and Dowd didn't think it was another Son of Sam
shooting until an officer at the scene reported that large-caliber
shells had been used.[32]
About an hour after the shooting, police set up a series of
roadblocks, stopping hundreds of cars to question drivers and
inspect vehicles. Based on extended interviews of Masters and
others who described a Volkswagen speeding from the crime scene,
police now suspected that the shooter owned or drove such a
vehicle. In subsequent days, police determined there were over 900
Volkswagens in New York or New Jersey, and they made plans to track
down each of these cars and their owners