This story originally aired on Aug. 11, 2017. It was updated on Aug. 2, 2025.

David Berkowitz terrorized New York City by killing six people and wounding seven others in seemingly random shootings from July 1976 to July 1977. In 2017, in his first major TV interview in a decade and his only interview about the 40th anniversary of his arrest, Berkowitz, who is serving six consecutive life sentences, spoke out to CBS News' Maurice DuBois about what led him to kill, his life before he turned into a murderer, and what his life is like in prison today.

NEW YORK MAYOR ABRAHAM BEAME [press conference]: We ready?

CBS NEWS ANCHOR ROGER MUDD: That's a question New Yorkers have been asking themselves a lot lately. Are we ready? For another blackout, or a bus hijacking, or a bombing or another murd

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