Real Life Mafia Story Behind “Dog Day Afternoon” Movie

Phillip Crawford Jr.
5 min readJul 13, 2020

On August 22, 1972 John Wojtowicz and his 18-year-old partner-in-crime Sal Naturale — a “slender, fair-haired youth” with a long history of juvenile delinqency and barbituate abuse — robbed a Brooklyn branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank which became the basis for Dog Day Afternoon starring Al Pacino as Wojtowicz and John Cazale as Naturale.

Phillip Crawford Jr.

The Mafia and the Gays, Railroaded: The Homophobic Prosecution of Brandon Woodruff for His Parents’ Murders, Queer Joints, Wiseguys and G-Men & Jersey Queens.