Today in History - August 22: When bank robbery failed, he got the money he needed from a Hollywood studio
What was meant to be a simple bank robbery turned into a 14-hour siege in New York on August 22, 1972.
John Wojtowicz (pictured), Bobby Westenberg and Salvatore Naturile went to a Chase Manhattan bank in Brooklyn after watching The Godfather.
The trio handed a teller a note reading: "This is an offer you can't refuse."
The robbers seized thousands in cash before Westenberg "chickened out" and fled.
Minutes later, police arrived and the spooked remaining robbers took the staff at the bank hostage.
Soon a crowd of thousands surrounded the bank, alternately booing or cheering for Wojtowicz as he negotiated with police.
And in the bank itself, the hostages formed an unusual bond with the robbers.
"I'm supposed to hate you guys, but I've had more laughs tonight than I've had in two weeks," the manager told Wojtowicz.
Wojtowicz robbed the bank because he wanted to pay for his wife's gender affirmation surgery.
Wojtowicz had married his trans partner Elizabeth Eden in a non-legal ceremony a few years earlier.
Wojtowicz and Naturile negotiated a limousine to take them and their hostages to the airport, and a plane to take them out of the country.
But when they arrived at the airport, their driver, an FBI agent, shot Naturile in the chest.
Wojtowicz surrendered immediately after.
Their story inspired the movie Dog Day Afternoon, released soon after.
The movie omitted the real-life connection to The Godfather, because both films starred Al Pacino.
With the money he was given for his biographical rights from the movie-makers, Wojtowicz was able to pay for his wife's surgery.
She had left him and remarried by the time Wojtowicz left prison five years later.
He unsuccessfully applied for a job as a security guard at the same bank he robbed.
A deadly 11-day siege in a mountainous region of the United States began on August 22, 1992.
The standoff in northern Idaho left a 14-year-old boy, his mother and a federal agent dead and sparked an expansion of radical right-wing groups across the country that continues today.
The gunfight at Ruby Ridge occurred when agents approached Randy Weaver's property near the Canadian border looking for a place to arrest the military veteran on gun charges. They had been investigating him for possible ties to white supremacist and anti-government groups.
Weaver, his daughters and a friend holed up in the family's cabin for 11 days before surrendering on August 31, 1992.
Later he was acquitted of the most serious charges against him. He and his three daughters filed a wrongful death lawsuit, and the government paid them $US3.1 million in 1995.
Just months later federal agents laid siege to the Waco, Texas, compound of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect.
An assault was launched, and a fire destroyed the compound and killed more than 70 people.
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