Incendiary
The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber, and the Invention of Criminal Profiling
Michael Cannell
- Long
- before
- the
- specter
- of
- terrorism
- haunted
- the
- public
- imagination,
- a
- serial
- bomber
- stalked
- the
- streets
- of
- 1950s
- New
- York.
- The
- race
- to
- catch
- him
- would
- give
- birth
- to
- a
- new
- science
- called
- criminal
- profiling.Grand
- Central,
- Penn
- Station,
- Radio
- City
- Music
- Hall—for
- almost
- two
- decades,
- no
- place
- was
- safe
- from
- the
- man
- who
- signed
- his
- anonymous
- letters
- “FP”
- and
- left
- his
- lethal
- devices
- in
- phone
- booths,
- storage
- lockers,
- even
- tucked
- into
- the
- plush
- seats
- of
- movie
- theaters.
- His
- victims
- were
- left
- cruelly
- maimed.
- Tabloids
- called
- him
- “the
- greatest
- individual
- menace
- New
- York
- City
- ever
- faced.”In
- desperation,
- Police
- Captain
- Howard
- Finney
- sought
- the
- help
- of
- a
- little
- known
- psychiatrist,
- Dr.
- James
- Brussel,
- whose
- expertise
- was
- the
- criminal
- mind.
- Examining
- crime
- scene
- evidence
- and
- the
- strange
- wording
- in
- the
- bomber’s
- letters,
- he
- compiled
- a
- portrait
- of
- the
- suspect
- down
- to
- the
- cut
- of
- his
- jacket.
- But
- how
- to
- put
- a
- name
- to
- the
- description?
- Seymour
- Berkson—a
- handsome
- New
- York
- socialite,
- protégé
- of
- William
- Randolph
- Hearst,
- and
- publisher
- of
- the
- tabloid
- The
- Journal-American—joined
- in
- pursuit
- of
- the
- Mad
- Bomber.
- The
- three
- men
- hatched
- a
- brilliant
- scheme
- to
- catch
- him
- at
- his
- own
- game.
- Together,
- they
- would
- capture
- a
- monster
- and
- change
- the
- face
- of
- American
- law enforcement.
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