Mugshot of John Wojtowicz who unsuccessfully tried to rob a bank in 1972 to pay for his wife Eden’s gender reassignment surgery.
Apparently, Wojtowicz had based his plans on the movie, The Godfather (1972), which he had watched earlier that day. His robbery attempt failed and he was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison of which he served five.
His story was later turned into a movie called Dog Day Afternoon (1975) starring Al Pacino and John Cazale, both of whom, interestingly enough, had starred in The Godfather. For the rights to his story, Wojtowicz was paid $7,500 and 1% of the movie’s net profits, which he gave to Eden. After her operation, she married someone else before dying of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1987. Wojtowicz attended her funeral and delivered a eulogy.
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Text: History Cool Kids.
Photo: BBC.
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