I'm Rebecca Lavoie, and this is You Can't Make This Up.

You Can't Make This Up is the podcast where we uncover the true stories behind your favorite Netflix documentaries and films.

On today's episode, we take a closer look at the Netflix documentary series,

Conversations with a Killer, the Son of Sam Tapes.

It's a deadly and very complicated story of how a human mind spirals out of control

and becomes a lone gunman and mass murderer.

Today we're talking to director Joe Berlinger and executive producer Rachel Profilofsky.

In 1976 and 77, a string of shootings targeting couples and parked cars through New York

City into a panic. The killing spree of the so-called Son of Sam mobilized

an army of detectives, sold millions of newspapers, and forced a fearful public to stay home.

In the years after David Berkowitz was caught, the killer opened up to a journalist about his

life, dispelling some of the myths he himself had created. The Netflix documentary series, Conversations with a Killer, the Son of Sam Tapes,

features newly released recordings of Berkowitz talking about his troubled past and why he killed.

He admits on tape to fabricating some of the most sensational aspects of his criminal persona to build his legend.

But how much of what Berkowitz says is true,

and how much of it is him still trying to shape his own narrative.

The line is just between thinking about it and doing it.

But to cross the line, to me it was frightening, you know.

A feeling of powery.

I didn't enjoy it.

I just needed to do it.

I was going to do it. And I'm joined now by Joe Berlinger and Rachel Profilowski. Welcome to You Can't Make

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