David Berkowitz, infamously known as the Son of Sam serial killer, recently stirred controversy by proclaiming he anticipates going to heaven—a statement that has incensed one of his surviving victims, who believes he deserves a far different fate.
“My home is in heaven, not in the Bronx,” wrote Berkowitz, now 72, in an email sent Saturday night to The Post. He is currently serving time at the maximum-security Shawangunk Correctional Facility located in Ulster County.
For nearly five decades, Berkowitz has been incarcerated, during which he claims to have embraced Christianity following a horrific killing spree that resulted in six deaths and terrorized New York City for over a year.
Unconcerned with ever leaving prison, Berkowitz even skipped a parole hearing earlier this month, insisting he feels “already free” and that his sole focus is on the afterlife, where he expects to “be with the Lord.”
This assertion has deeply angered Robert Violante, now 68, who was left with a head injury from Berkowitz’s attack in 1977, an incident that tragically claimed the life of his date, Stacy Moskowitz.
“That takes some pair of balls to say the least,” Violante remarked in a Tuesday interview, expressing his disbelief and anger.
“I sincerely doubt he is going to heaven. He is lucky he is not already in hell.”
The killer’s prediction came as he was set to face the parole board for the 13th time since 2002.
But he admitted that “I am not seeking parole” after his 12th attempt at freedom failed.
“I opted not to attend. Right now, I have other things to do, which I feel are more meaningful.”
Berkowitz said he believes a higher calling brought him to prison, where he oversees a thriving congregation and preaches the gospel to troubled inmates.
“My work is in prison where God has His people confined,” he wrote. “These men need guidance, help, and encouragement.
“I’m an elder, and this is my calling,” he added.
His sentiment is a far cry from when Berkowitz terrorized New York City between 1976 and 1977, shooting six strangers dead and leaving seven wounded.
He claimed he was inspired to kill by a demonic dog that belonged to his neighbor, Sam Carr.
His murderous spree started on July 29, 1976, when a schlubby Berkowitz, then 23, emerged from the darkness and targeted Jody Valenti, 19, and pal Donna Lauria, 18, with a .44 caliber Bulldog revolver as they sat in a car.
Lauria was killed, and Valenti was wounded.
Within 12 months, Berkowitz struck several more times, leaving a trail of bodies in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens, with the press dubbing him “The .44 Caliber Killer.”
After killing couple Alexander Esau, 20, and Valentina Suriana, 18, the deranged killer left a note at the crime scene.
“I am a monster. I am the Son of Sam,” Berkowitz boasted.
“I love to hunt. Prowling the streets looking for fair game tasty meat.”
Discos were left empty as panicked New Yorkers were too afraid to go out at night. Terrified women cut their hair and bought blonde wigs when it emerged the maniac had a penchant for young women with long, dark locks.
The loon even taunted the NYPD — who began a massive manhunt — in the tabloids.
Then on July 31, 1977, Berkowitz struck for the final time, sneaking up and pumping bullets on Violante, then 20, and Moskowitz, 19, as the pair sat in a Buick Skylark after seeing the Martin Scorsese film “New York, New York.”
Violante blacked out and woke to blood-soaked horror.
“When I came to, I couldn’t see anything. My face was covered in blood,” he recalled to The Post in 2006. “The first thing I remember was Stacy moaning because she was shot in the head.”
Moskowitz died the next day.
Violante was shot in the eye and estimated Tuesday that 90% of his vision is gone because of Berkowitz.
While he prowled that night, Berkowitz finally slipped up, receiving a parking ticket near the crime scene and eventually leading enterprising detectives to his Yonkers home.
“I am Sam. David Berkowitz,” he admitted to police.
Berkowitz, a post office worker in the Bronx, was sentenced to 547 years in prison, where he converted to evangelical Christianity
In front of the parole board in 2024, he said he made a “pact with the devil” during his rampage, according to a transcript obtained by The Post.
“It sounds just so ridiculous now looking back at it, but I was thoroughly enmeshed in that mindset, and I was on a mission for human sacrifices, and I’m ashamed of that.”
Asked by The Post what he’d do if he received freedom, Berkowitz said, “I’m already free. Jesus, who is my lord and Messiah, has already set me free from the power of sin and Satan.”
But Violante, who retired years ago from working at a Brooklyn post office, thinks otherwise.
“He is only going to go to hell one day,” he raged. “And that’s it.”
