The Son of Sam and Terror of New York essays

The Son of Sam and Terror of New York essays The Son of Sam and Terror of New York "At one a.m. on July twenty-ninth a man was cruising in the Bronx when he spotted two young women sitting in a parked blue Oldsmobile. He swung around a corner and abandoned his car, pushing the bag-covered pistol into the waistband of his trousers. With his characteristics gait he shuffled back toward the women, Donna Lauria, eighteen, a medical technician, and Jody Valenti, nineteen, a student nurse. They were parked in front on Lauria's home; her parents had just returned from a restaurant and had spoken to their daughter before going into the house. Donna had promised to follow in a minute. At 1:10 a.m., the man walked up to the passenger side of the Oldsmobile Cutlass, pulled his revolver from the paper bag, and assumed a semi-crouch. He pulled the trigger five times. (True Crime 1992, 164) As the car window shattered, Donna Lauria raised her hands to protect herself. One of the .44 caliber bullets struck her in the right side of the neck, killing her quickly. Another bullet hit Jody Valenti in the thigh. She screamed and fell forward, landing on the car horn. The man dashed back to his car and drove away"(True Crime 1992, 164) This was the start of a terrifying year for New York. A demon was among the city. This demon possessed the mind of a twenty-three-year-old pudgy Jewish man. The demon was a six thousand-year-old spirit, which communicated to him through his neighbor, Sam Carr's Labrador retriever. (Reicher 1996) Born Richard David Falco but better known now as the Son of Sam or the .44 Caliber killer had no real sense of identity from birth. The result of an affair between his mother and her married lover he was unwanted even before birth. As soon as he was born adoption papers had been filed. Unlike many children stuck in the system for years, the baby was adopted. Pearl and Nat Berkowitz, a Jewish couple, adopted him and changed his name to David Berkowitz...