The 1970s were especially harsh on New York City. Crime was on the rise. Tourism was on a downward spiral. The subway was deemed “a graffiti-covered nightmare where muggings were just part of the ride,” according to a documentary about life at the time. Pedestrians walked quickly, hyper aware of their surroundings, and carried “mugger money,” a few dollars to placate angry thieves.
This gritty environment bred a crime that New Yorkers—and the nation—were transfixed on because it embodied much of the frustration citizens were feeling.
A bank robbery gone wrong morphed into a mini revolution that would be televised. Some saw the thief as a modern-day Robin Hood; Others viewed him as a hopeless romantic. The LGBTQ+ community was split on whether he was their new folk hero or an impediment to their movement.
The crime resulted in a Hollywood film that earned six Oscar nominations and one win for best screenplay. It may have also saved the life of a despondent transgender woman.
John Wojtowicz Takes Two Wives
John Wojtowicz once said that it was love at first sight when he saw Carmen Bifulco in 1966. They were both working at a Chase Manhattan Bank and began dating. That same year, he was drafted and served in Vietnam. That’s where he experienced his first gay encounter. Wojtowicz returned stateside in 1967, transformed from a Goldwater Republican to gay peacenik, by his own account.
Despite his newfound sexual awakening, Wojtowicz married Bifulco on October 21, 1967, and they had two kids. After two years together, he walked out of the relationship.
Following a brutal police raid on June 28, 1969, of gay bar Stonewall Inn—which, led to an uprising that is often considered the birth of the LGBTQ+ rights movement—Wojtowicz became involved in advocacy and immersed himself in the gay community. In June 1971, he met Elizabeth Eden, a trans woman born Ernest Aron, at a street festival. It was love at first sight, according to Wojtowicz. The courtship was swift. Wojtowicz proposed marriage at a time when gay weddings were unheard of. Eden said, “Yes.” In an unofficial ceremony, they got married on December 4, 1971, at which point Wojtowicz was still legally married to Carmen.
Eden wanted gender-affirming surgery, which Wojtowicz opposed. The constant fighting over the subject led to a breakup by April of 1972, according to a documentary about the robbery called The Dog.
A Comedy of Errors
On August 19, 1972, Eden tried to commit suicide. Wojtowicz stopped by to visit Eden at Kings County Hospital. He saw how miserable his partner was feeling due to the gender limbo. It was then and there that Wojtowicz decided to raise money for Eden’s surgery by any means necessary.
Two days later, with the help of Salvatore Naturile and Robert Westenberg, Wojtowicz started casing banks around town. When they arrived at the first bank they considered, a shotgun fell out of their car and discharged. They left.
As they were preparing to start the heist at a second bank, a friend of Westenberg’s mom recognized and greeted him. They left.
The would-be robbers tried a third bank. In the process of a practice run at escaping, the driver hit another vehicle. They left.
For inspiration, the trio stopped to see The Godfather. Wojtowicz subsequently wrote the ransom note to read: “This is an offer you can’t refuse.”
Lufthansa Heist Murders: How Paranoia and Greed Led to the Deaths of 6 Mobsters and Associates
The December 11, 1978 Lufthansa heist by the Lucchese crime family, which took place at New York's JFK airport, was the most infamous caper in U.S. history.
The December 11, 1978 Lufthansa heist by the Lucchese crime family, which took place at New York's JFK airport, was the most infamous caper in U.S. history.
Crime, In the Name of Love
Wojtowicz and company drove to the Chase Manhattan Bank on Avenue P in Brooklyn. They waited until closing time.
What Wojtowicz expected to be a five-minute operation turned into a 14-hour ordeal. Shortly after entering the bank, Westenberg had a change of heart. In The Dog, Wojtowicz recalled Westenberg saying, “I can’t do it.” He left before police arrived. The trio became a crime duo, and they had eight hostages as leverage in negotiations with police.
Wojtowicz listed his demands. He wanted food for the hostages, a plane to leave the country, a vehicle to transport him to John F. Kennedy International Airport—and one very special request.
When speaking to a radio journalist over the phone two hours into the robbery, Wojtowicz told them, “I want them to deliver my wife here from Kings County Hospital. His name is Ernest Aron. He’s a guy. I’m gay.”
In The Dog, Wojtowicz said, “We’re gonna fly him to Denmark and get him the sex change operation.” The problem was, Eden refused to meet with Wojtowicz after arriving on the scene.
As the hours dragged on, the hostages grew weary. They were hot, tired, hungry and scared. One form of relief arrived: pizza. When the delivery arrived, Wojtowicz paid by tossing out $2,000 in bank money. It caused a public frenzy. The crowd of 2,000 people cheered him on.
At about 3 a.m., a vehicle arrived to take the robbers and hostages to the airport. Wojtowicz had to leave without his beloved. Unbeknownst to them, the driver was an FBI agent. A caravan of some 40 patrol cars followed closely.
Authorities were concerned that Naturile was dangerously volatile. He had been locked up before and was determined not to go to prison. Upon arriving at the airport, the driver shot Naturile, killing him instantly. Wojtowicz immediately surrendered.
Dealing with the Aftermath
Wojtowicz was sentenced to 20 years in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania.
Soon enough, Hollywood came calling. Wojtowicz was paid for the film rights. He gave the money to Eden for the gender-affirming surgery.
When Dog Day Afternoon was released in 1975, Wojtowicz received a private screening while incarcerated. He submitted his own review of the movie to The New York Times, which declined to run it. While he was impressed with the acting, especially Al Pacino’s portrayal of him, Wojtowicz called the film “a piece of garbage” and estimated it “to be only 30% true.”
Wojtowicz said he was assaulted by fellow inmates who were envious of his fame. A prisoner named George Heath befriended him and recalled in The Dog, “They were getting ready to kill John.”
Heath was considered a tough guy. Since Wojtowicz fell under Heath’s protection, the other prisoners stopped bothering him. Heath and Wojtowicz got married in a non-legally binding prison ceremony in 1974.
Heath was a “jailhouse lawyer,” a term for prisoners who brush up on the law well enough to help fellow inmates. He got Wojtowicz a reduced sentence and was out by 1978, the same year Heath was released. Barring a couple of parole violations, Wojtowicz has lain low since his release.
Even though he didn’t succeed in robbing the bank, Wojtowicz claimed he beat the system. “I didn’t lose. I won,” he proclaimed in The Dog, noting that Eden got gender-affirming surgery after all.
Wojtowicz later got cancer but refused treatment. He died January 2, 2006, at age 60.
