Does anyone know what ever became of John Wojtowicz? Real character from the movie Dog Day Afternoon?

Question

I am a big fan of the movie Dog Day Afternoon (1970's starring Al Pacino). It was based on a true story. I can not find any information of what became of John Wojotowicz? (Sonny in the movie.) He should be out of federal prison by now....huh? I know his partner in the bank robbery (in Brooklyn New York) was killed ..Sal Naturile. And that Sonny's (girlfriend Leon) aka Elizabeth in real life did get her sex change and died of AIDS in the 1980's. Just wondering if anyone knows of what became of John.....still in prison? Any books on the subject?? Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

He only served 7 years of his 20 year sentence, so he had been out of jail for quite some time.

He died almost a year ago, from cancer. There was a story about it in the Daily News at the beginning of the year.

'DOG DAY'S' JOURNEY INTO LEGEND. Robber, lover gone, but the flick is back

A SPECIAL anniversary edition of Al Pacino's classic 1975 film "Dog Day Afternoon" is out on shelves - but the man who inspired the movie by sticking up a Brooklyn bank to pay for his lover's sex change isn't around to see it. John Wojtowicz died a few months ago, with little mention, after cancer ravaged his body.

His fragile, elderly mother, Theresa, brought him from the hospital to their Flatbush apartment in December, and he spent his final few days delirious, dying on Jan. 2, just short of his 61st birthday .

"He wasn't mean or anything - he was very, very good to me," Theresa told the Daily News. "I feel God took him and I didn't want to see him suffer like that ...He suffered pretty bad, you know. I hope he's resting now."

At 2:50 p.m. on Aug. 22, 1972, Wojtowicz walked into a Chase Manhattan bank on Avenue P and E. Third St. with a rifle and held the employees hostage as he scrounged for cash to buy a sex-change operation for his male "wife."

The bizarre 13-hour standoff with cops saw thousands of cheering spectators gather outside the bank as Wojtowicz gave freewheeling news interviews by phone, took a pizza delivery and then boarded a limousine with his partner, Sal Naturale, and several hostages in a failed bid to escape.

Wojtowicz was finally apprehended at Kennedy Airport. Naturale was shot and killed by an FBI agent. A third accomplice took off before the heist got underway. None of the hostages were hurt.

The bungling Brooklyn bandit, who went by the nickname Little John, was sentenced to up to 20 years in federal prison. After his release, he was rearrested for violating parole.

His ex-wife, Carmen Bifulco, now lives in a Canarsie apartment with her boyfriend, two cats and a vintage cookie jar collection. At 58, she's a great-grandmother and spent 25 years working as an educator.

Bifulco wept when she heard about Wojtowicz's death from The News, but her life with him - which resulted in two kids and a divorce - was never, ever easy, she said.

"He made me not trust men - not trust anybody, really," she said. "He's the father of my kids and everything...But he wasn't a nice person."

The pair began dating after they met in March 1966 on a ski trip. He was demanding and bossy from the start: "'I'm The Boss, do what I say,'" was his refrain, she said. "I thought it was cute. Boy, was I wrong."

Bifulco wasn't the "wife" Wojtowicz was thinking of inside the sweltering bank. His mind was on Ernest Aron, the male lover he'd married in a church ceremony. Amid the standoff, cops brought Aron to the bank straight from the Bellevue Hospital psych ward he'd occupied since trying to kill himself.

Aron ultimately had his sex change - partly paid for with money Wojtowicz got from selling the rights to his story. Aron became Liz Debbie Eden and died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1987.

Bifulco appeared in "Based on a True Story," a 2005 Dutch documentary about Wojtowicz and the holdup. But Wojtowicz never granted an interview. Instead, the film is laced with recorded phone calls in which the failed robber - who insists on being addressed as "The Dog" - demands thousands of dollars for his precious time.

The couple's daughter, Dawn Wojtowicz, 37, remained somewhat close to her father after his release from prison. Although she knew about the robbery and her dad's motivation for it, "I tried to stay away from that scene and just know my father for who he was," she said.

Dawn laments that her father was cremated, not buried with the 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."

One of Wojtowicz's bank hostages, Josephine Tutino, said she was terrified during the ordeal, but bears her captor no ill will.

"I'm a Christian, and I believe in forgiveness," said Tutino, 76. "I believe he was young and he was all mixed up. These kind of people who do these things - they can't have it all together."

"He didn't change. You would think he might have repented, but I guess that was his whole life," she said. "He paid a high price for that."

Answer 2

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RE:
Does anyone know what ever became of John Wojtowicz? Real character from the movie Dog Day Afternoon?
I am a big fan of the movie Dog Day Afternoon (1970's starring Al Pacino). It was based on a true story. I can not find any information of what became of John Wojotowicz? (Sonny in the movie.) He should be out of federal prison by now....huh? I know his partner in the bank robbery (in...

Answer 3

John Stanley Wojtowicz

Answer 4

John Wojtowicz

Answer 5

Wojtowicz was also the subject of two documentaries, The Third Memory in 2000 and Based on A True Story in 2005. In 2001, the New York Times reported that he was living on welfare in Brooklyn.[1] He died of cancer on January 2, 2006.[2][3]

Answer 6

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died in 2006 of cancer I read an article about him a few years ago - apparently he was living on welfare in New York city after his release, which is a bit of a swiz hope that helps - I love that movie =) xx