Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz looks to Anne Frank for inspiration, views himself as ‘father figure’ to other inmates
A demonic dog inspired him to kill, but now he’s driven by a diary.
Son of Sam serial killer David Berkowitz compared his decades behind bars to Anne Frank’s “inspirational” writings — days before the self-proclaimed “father figure” is set to face the parole board.
“My favorite book is the Holy Bible. But the most inspirational book for me throughout my years of incarceration is ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl,’” Berkowitz told The Post this week.
“Young Anne wrote her diary while in captivity. She shared her heart within its pages,” the 70-year-old wrote from the maximum-security Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill.
“Little did she know the influence her life and her writings would have in the future,” Berkowitz added about the Jewish teen author, whose diaries detailing life hiding from the Nazis were published around the globe after her death during the Holocaust.
“She impacted the lives of millions,” Berkowitz said. “Little Anne changed the world with a pen. So I ask myself, what can I do with my trusty typewriter? Maybe I can change lives, too, with my message of hope in God?”
The notorious serial killer — whose reign of terror left six dead, seven wounded and a city paralyzed by fear — spoke with The Post as he’s scheduled to appear before the parole board for the 12th time this week for murders in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
His terrifying spree began on July 29, 1976, when the curly-haired Berkowitz, then 23, emerged from the shadows with a .44-caliber Bulldog revolver on a quiet Bronx street and walked up to a car where 19-year-old Jody Valenti sat with her friend Donna Lauria, 18.
He opened fire, killing Lauria and wounding Valenti.
Less than three months later, Berkowitz struck again — wounding Carl Denaro, 20, as he sat with a date in his Volkswagen Beetle in Flushing, the gunman apparently having mistaken the long-haired victim for a woman.
Over nine months, the deranged killer attacked several more times, with the press dubbing him “The .44-Caliber Killer.”
Then, on April 17, 1977, he left behind a note after killing couple Alexander Esau, 20, and Valentina Suriani, 18.
“I am a monster. I am the Son of Sam,” bragged Berkowitz.
“I love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game tasty meat,” he said of his prey, who were young women with long, dark hair and couples sitting in cars.
Panic spread through the Big Apple, as women cut their hair and wore wigs while discos were left empty and locals braced for the madman to strike again.
The killer taunted the authorities in the tabloids as the NYPD launched a massive manhunt.
“Hello from the gutters of NYC, which are filled with dog manure, vomit, stale wine, urine and blood … Sam’s a thirsty lad and he won’t let me stop killing until he gets his fill of blood,” he wrote to Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin.
Police finally cracked the case after Berkowitz was ticketed for parking his car near a fire hydrant on the night of his last murder, leading cops to his Yonkers home.
When Berkowitz emerged from his building on Aug. 10, 1977, cops swooped in.
“I am Sam. David Berkowitz,” he told police.
“What took you so long?”
Berkowitz later told psychiatrists the bloodbath was ordered by neighbor Sam Carr’s black Labrador retriever.
In June 1978, he was sentenced to 547 years in prison.
Behind bars, Berkowitz found God.
“Jesus has allowed me to survive and thrive,” he told The Post.
For years, he’s worked as a chaplain’s clerk and preaches “forgiveness, redemption and hope,” while acting as a “father figure” to wayward inmates.
“Yes, I have a life sentence to do, but I choose to do it well. I always try to help and encourage the younger guys,” he said.
“Over the years I’ve become something of a father figure or an older brother to the younger men.”
In 2002, Berkowitz became eligible for parole, with a board deciding his fate every two years since.
He’s skipped out on some appointments and knows he has no shot at release, but plans on facing the board this time.
“To not attend a hearing can be viewed as being defiant towards authority, and that’s not me,” Berkowitz said.
“Most of all, I attend in order to openly apologize for my past crimes and to express my remorse,” he added.
“And I also attend so that I may share my faith in God, and how He can forgive, heal and restore even the ‘worst’ of offenders.”
