The true-crime cult classic that inspired the Netflix docuseries The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness and a companion podcast, The Ultimate Evil follows journalist Maury Terry’s decades-long investigation into the terrifying truth behind the Son of Sam murders.
On
August 10, 1977, the NYPD arrested David Berkowitz for the Son of Sam
murders that had terrorized New York City for over a year. Berkowitz
confessed to shooting sixteen people and killing six with a .44 caliber
Bulldog revolver, and the case was officially closed.
Journalist
Maury Terry was suspicious of Berkowitz’s confession. Spurred by
conflicting witness descriptions of the killer and clues overlooked in
the investigation, Terry was convinced Berkowitz didn’t act alone.
Meticulously gathering evidence for a decade, he released his findings
in the first edition of The Ultimate Evil. Based upon the
evidence he had uncovered, Terry theorized that the Son of Sam attacks
were masterminded by a Yonkers-based cult that was responsible for other
ritual murders across the country.
After Terry’s death in 2015, documentary filmmaker Josh Zeman (Cropsey, The Killing Season, Murder Mountain)
was given access to Terry’s files, which form the basis of his
docuseries with Netflix and a companion podcast. Taken together with The Ultimate Evil,
which includes a new introduction by Zeman, these works reveal the
stunning intersections of power, wealth, privilege, and evil in
America—from the Summer of Sam until today.
