By Dan Murphy
David Berkowitz, aka the “Son of Sam” killer who scared the heck out of all of New York City and the metropolitan area for months in the summer of 1976 and’77, and who lived in Yonkers and was caught and arrested at his Pine Street apartment after killing six women and wounding another seven, was brought back into the news by a recent story in our newspaper about early parole for those over the age of 65 serving long prison terms for serious and heinous crimes. City Councilman Mike Breen submitted a resolution opposing the early parole bill and says he doesn’t want felons returned to the streets, regardless of their age.
Mario De Georgio, the republican nominee for Yonkers mayor, contacted Yonkers Rising after the story last week to talk about his personal experiences with Berkowitz. The two attend Columbus High School in the Bronx and are the same age.
“We took a lot of classes together and I was on the wrestling team with him,” said De Georgio. “They caught him around my birthday, Aug. 10, and my friend from high school called me and said, ‘They just arrested the Son of Sam and you’ll never believe who he is.’ When he said David Berkowitz from high school, at first, I couldn’t believe it… But he was always a real quiet kid and kept to himself. In high school, a lot of people made fun of him and gave him a hard time. He was bullied because he was different and never had any friends.”
De Georgio said he remembers Columbus High School as being a Jewish and Italian neighborhood in the 1970s.
“One thing I remember from the wrestling team is that he (Berkowitz) had a brute strength that I couldn’t believe,” said the candidate. “We both wrestled at 175 pounds, so we would practice against each other, and I never wanted to wrestle him. He had this quiet, calm strength when he wrestled. I never messed with him, and he was never physically bullied because of his strength. I tried to be nice to him but most students avoided him because he was a bit strange.”
De Georgio moved to Yonkers with his wife when he was 27, a few years after the Son of Sam. But he can remember the fear in the streets of the Bronx and all of New York City after one young woman after another was found dead.
“I was dating my future wife at the time and we were going to the clubs and we were nervous about who was out there doing this,” said De Georgio. “I think it’s interesting how we were two guys who went to the same high school but took different paths in life. I became a businessman who is active in my church and in politics. He took a different path.”
De Georgio was nominated by the Yonkers Republican Party as its candidate for mayor earlier this year. He has no opposition in the republican party and has interviewed with the Yonkers Conservative Party, who has yet to endorse a candidate for mayor.
“Everyone is holding back until the democratic primary,” he said. “But I have been attending interviews and speaking at local community events. I’m showing up and speaking to the voters now.” De Georgio said he is also waiting to see the results from the June 25 democratic primary for mayor between incumbent Mike Spano, Karen Beltran and Ivy Reeves.
“It’s a tough race in the democratic primary,” he said. “I’m lucky enough not to have a primary, but I’m up for the challenge no matter who the democratic nominee for mayor will be. I would like to see the unions and the minor parties make up their mind as soon as possible.
“I will be running a campaign to bring the city together and to unify all of the city,” said De Georgio. “I’m a retired businessman and not a career politician. Yonkers needs to be run like a business. We also need better security in our schools; I have three grandchildren in the Yonkers Public Schools.”
