‘Son of Sam’ Moves To Strip Lawyer of Profits From Book

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz wants to use the law written to prevent him from making money off his murders to strip profits from an author he says misled him about a book project, his lawyers said yesterday.

Berkowitz is making the claim in a civil lawsuit against Hugo Harmatz, a New Jersey criminal lawyer who wrote a book about letters written to Berkowitz in jail and is planning to write another book about the murderer. When he started the book project in 2002, Berkowitz was cooperative and gave interviews, Mr. Harmatz said in January. As he was nearing completion of the book, Berkowitz filed a lawsuit claiming he had been deceived and robbed, Mr. Harmatz said.

At Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday, Berkowitz’s lawyer, Mark Heller, told Judge Sherry Heitler that his client would accept nothing less than Mr. Harmatz signing over all the profit he makes off the books to the New York State Crime Victims Board. Mr. Harmatz had already agreed to return Berkowitz’s possessions – including an old typewriter, photographs of his bar mitzvah and his mother, and letters between him and his victims’ families – which he said had been given to him during the course of their interviews.

The general counsel for the Crime Victims Board, Everett Mayhew Jr., said the lawsuit’s aim was unprecedented.

“It will be the first time that there has been an attempt to invoke the law that way,” he said. “We haven’t had a situation where a noncriminal author has had that law attempted to be invoked by the perpetrator.”

In 1978, Berkowitz was sentenced to prison for six life sentences – one for each of his murders. During his trial, state legislators passed the “Son of Sam” law to prevent criminals from profiting off their crimes. The law, amended in 1991, allows the state to seize money made by a criminal from their notoriety and give it to the victim of the crime to the Crime Victims Board.

Mr. Harmatz’s lawyer, Kevin Conway, said he wasn’t authorized by his client to speak about the case yesterday.

With a trial now on the horizon, Judge Heitler has the task of deciding how to accommodate Berkowitz in court. He hasn’t entered New York City for more than a quarter of a century.

Another of Berkowitz’s lawyers, Michael Heller, said that for security reasons the lawyers don’t want him held in Manhattan’s Bernard B. Kerik Complex, better known as “the Tombs.”

“A lot of people want him dead,” he said.


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use