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David Berkowitz Essay

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David Berkowitz was one of the most feared killers in New York City in the 1970's. His crimes caused the death of six people, and the injuries to seven others. His crimes became legendary because of the bizarre content in the letters that he wrote to the police and the media and his reasons for committing the attacks. David Berkowitz, better known as Son of Sam, is a man with a troubled childhood and upbringing. From his many “Parental Figures” to believing that dogs were telling him to kill. During his reign of killing the police felt the pressure to catch David. "Operation Omega" was formed, which was comprised of over 200 detectives – all working on finding the Son of Sam before he killed again. …show more content…

In 1971, he suffered another psychological blow when his father decided to remarry. David now had a stepmother and a 25 year old step sister. This is when he joined the army. He enlisted because he wanted to “die for a cause”. The Vietnam War was going on at the time, and he said he was “fanatically patriotic”. But he eventually got stationed in Korea and hadn’t seen any combat. His attitude quickly changed, and it became to him not having much of a future in the army. He did learn one skill that he would use later in life though: the use of deadly weapons. He got the ranking of marksman, the basic designation for shooting proficiency. He had buddies in the military, but no close friends. His barracks mates called him Wolf, on the count of all of his body hair. He would later brag about being with Korean prostitutes, and excessive experimentation with LSD, marijuana, mescaline, and amphetamines. But the truth seems to be that his main sexual activity throughout his entire life was masturbation.
In January 1973 his unit was sent back to Fort Knox, KY and with the move, his military career seem to disappear. Also with the move, he had a spiritual rebirth, and began attending services at Beth Haven Baptist Church in Louisville and soon changed from a Jew to a Christian.
In May of 1974 he took the ritual of full immersion in

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