Bank Robber, Folk Figure. Being the son of a Polish father and an Italian-American mother, he grew up in the 1950's Italian side of town. He was drafted into the US Army and served in the Vietnam War. Wojtowicz made national news, when on August 22, 1972, he along with Salvatore Naturile and Robert Westenberg, attempted to rob the Gravesend, Brooklyn branch (located at 450 Avenue P), of the Chase Manhattan bank. Westenberg said he couldn't go through with it and walked out before the heist got fully underway. News cameras captured what would become a bizarre 14-hour hostage standoff with cops, which drew thousands of cheering spectators gathering outside the bank as Wojtowicz gave unfettered news interviews by phone and personally accepted a pizza delivery out front. During the standoff, it was broadcast on the news that John's motive was to get the money for the sex reassignment surgery for his male lover Ernest Aron (Elizabeth Debbie Eden), he'd married in an 1971 illegal (as John was still married to his first wife) and unsanctioned church ceremony. Amid the commotion, cops brought Aron to the bank, straight from the psych ward at Bellevue Hospital, which he had occupied since trying to kill himself. The long ordeal finally ended when John and his holdup partner, Sal Naturale along with their eight hostages, boarded a limousine and headed to Kennedy Airport. Sitting on the tarmac while they awaited an escape plane, Naturale was shot in the chest by an FBI agent (he soon died while in route to the hospital), and Wojtowicz was simultaneously subdued and apprehended on the spot. Amazingly, none of the hostages were hurt or killed. In 1975, just three years after the bungled bank robbery attempt, "Dog Day Afternoon" was released. The Sidney Lumet directed film received six Oscar nominations and an Academy Award for Frank Pierson's screenplay. In the meantime, John had been sentenced to a total of 20 years in Lewisburg Penitentiary, but eventually only served near six, after receiving an early release in 1978, accomplished with the help of George Heath, his jailhouse attorney and reported third "wife." For most of his post-prison life, Wojtowicz lived with his mother in Brooklyn and, like so many ex-cons, he struggled to find steady employment. Often returning to the "scene of the crime" to sell his own autographs and take pictures. Finally, after cancer had ravaged his body, his fragile, elderly mother, Theresa, brought him home from the hospital. Where he spent his final few days in their small Flatbush apartment, dying just short of his 61st birthday. His daughter lamented that her father was cremated, not buried with the military honors he wanted after serving with the Army in Vietnam. "He wanted to have the military funeral," she said. "He wanted them to fold the flag and give it to me."

Bank Robber, Folk Figure. Being the son of a Polish father and an Italian-American mother, he grew up in the 1950's Italian side of town. He was drafted into the US Army and served in the Vietnam War. Wojtowicz made national news, when on August 22, 1972, he along with Salvatore Naturile and Robert Westenberg, attempted to rob the Gravesend, Brooklyn branch (located at 450 Avenue P), of the Chase Manhattan bank. Westenberg said he couldn't go through with it and walked out before the heist got fully underway. News cameras captured what would become a bizarre 14-hour hostage standoff with cops, which drew thousands of cheering spectators gathering outside the bank as Wojtowicz gave unfettered news interviews by phone and personally accepted a pizza delivery out front. During the standoff, it was broadcast on the news that John's motive was to get the money for the sex reassignment surgery for his male lover Ernest Aron (Elizabeth Debbie Eden), he'd married in an 1971 illegal (as John was still married to his first wife) and unsanctioned church ceremony. Amid the commotion, cops brought Aron to the bank, straight from the psych ward at Bellevue Hospital, which he had occupied since trying to kill himself. The long ordeal finally ended when John and his holdup partner, Sal Naturale along with their eight hostages, boarded a limousine and headed to Kennedy Airport. Sitting on the tarmac while they awaited an escape plane, Naturale was shot in the chest by an FBI agent (he soon died while in route to the hospital), and Wojtowicz was simultaneously subdued and apprehended on the spot. Amazingly, none of the hostages were hurt or killed. In 1975, just three years after the bungled bank robbery attempt, "Dog Day Afternoon" was released. The Sidney Lumet directed film received six Oscar nominations and an Academy Award for Frank Pierson's screenplay. In the meantime, John had been sentenced to a total of 20 years in Lewisburg Penitentiary, but eventually only served near six, after receiving an early release in 1978, accomplished with the help of George Heath, his jailhouse attorney and reported third "wife." For most of his post-prison life, Wojtowicz lived with his mother in Brooklyn and, like so many ex-cons, he struggled to find steady employment. Often returning to the "scene of the crime" to sell his own autographs and take pictures. Finally, after cancer had ravaged his body, his fragile, elderly mother, Theresa, brought him home from the hospital. Where he spent his final few days in their small Flatbush apartment, dying just short of his 61st birthday. His daughter lamented that her father was cremated, not buried with the military honors he wanted after serving with the Army in Vietnam. "He wanted to have the military funeral," she said. "He wanted them to fold the flag and give it to me."

Bio by: Jay Lance