Son of Nebbish

When I was in high school, the real life bogeyman was the serial killer David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam." He'd kill young couples who were making out in cars.

Although he never killed anyone on LI, during his spree our lover's lane activities were severely retricted. I was even ticketed at Cedar Creek Park by a zealous Nassau County cop. He jumped out of the bushes at my date and I, in my car, and said "Dumb ass --don't you read the news???!!!"

I did after that, and followed the arrest and trial of the psychopath, who supposedly took orders from a labrador retriever. He was the embodiment of all the slasher movies we saw --a true menace.

This morning, I read a piece in the Times about a sleazy NY lawyer named Mark Heller --a real credit to my profession. But that's another story. The story had a link to a prison interview with the evil Son of Sam, as Heller apparently represented him at the initial trial, and later in a case involving the selling of the killer's property. The interview was on video.

I prepared to see Hannibal Lector on camera, or at least some slick talker like Ted Bundy. Instead, Berkowitz looked like a retired mailman --bald and paunchy, and totally un threatening!

The reporter talked casually to him in a room, and the only sign of a guard was a sweet looking middle aged black lady who miked Berkowitz for sound.

Berkowitz was lucid, and talked of his Christianity, and how he took it as a sign from God that the sleazy lawyer helped him with his case.

It reminded me of the time I deposed a man who had admitted to murdering 7 people, when he was a member of the Temple of Love cult. The killer, Robert Rozier, was articulate, charming, and glib, as he causually answered my civil suit questions about hunting down "white devils" in suburban Miami, stabbing them, and then cutting off their ears to bring home as trophies.

But -- at least Rozier was physically menacing --he was a former Cal and NFL linebacker, and I was comforted that 3 US Marshalls, each looking like Nebraska offensive lineman, sat at his side as he was deposed.

Berkowitz, in appearance? The middle aged lady guard could have kicked his ass!

I guess it's just the example of the banality of evil. Monsters can be, often are, nebbishes.

The young people the creep shot aren't any less dead, given their murderer is such a schlemiel. I wonder about this justice thing...