David Berkowitz's Real Name: David Berkowitz

Quick answer: The man widely known as Son of Sam is David Berkowitz. Encyclopaedia Britannica uses that name and dates his birth to June 1, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York. Encyclopedia.com's account of his 1978 trial independently records the same public name and the legal outcome of the case (Britannica; Encyclopedia.com).

Real name and early life

He is known to the public as David Berkowitz and, from letters sent to New York newspapers during the case, as Son of Sam. Britannica dates his birth to June 1, 1953, in Brooklyn. The trial article on Encyclopedia.com does not independently restate that birth date; it treats him as a New York defendant in a 1978 proceeding. Other fuller forms sometimes circulated online are not used in either of these sources.

Career highlights

Berkowitz's public identity is tied to a criminal case, not to a conventional career.

Legal outcome

Britannica says he was arrested on August 10, 1977, later confessed, and on May 8, 1978, pleaded guilty; in June he was sentenced to 365 years in prison. Encyclopedia.com dates the trial proceeding to May 8, 1978, records a guilty verdict, and says that on June 12, 1978, he was sentenced to the maximum term of 25 years to life for each of six murders, plus additional terms for assault and attempted murder, with the life terms to run consecutively. The two sources therefore agree on a May 1978 guilty plea or verdict and a June 1978 sentence, but they word the term differently: Britannica's "365 years" versus Encyclopedia.com's six consecutive 25-to-life terms plus additional counts. Encyclopedia.com notes that New York practice would still make him eligible for parole as if he had committed only one murder. Britannica says he became eligible for parole in 2002 but was repeatedly denied release. Encyclopedia.com also records that the case inspired New York's so-called Son of Sam law on proceeds from crime-related books or films, a statute later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991. Britannica notes later depictions including the film Summer of Sam (1999).

Name notes for searchers

David Berkowitz is the documented public name in Britannica and in Encyclopedia.com's trial account. Son of Sam is the moniker attached to the case. Searchers looking for the 1978 New York convictions are usually aiming at the same person.