Mario Gianluigi Puzo (October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was an American author known for his fictional books about the Mafia.

Puzo was born into a poor family of Sicilian immigrants living in the "Hell's Kitchen" neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Many of his books draw heavily on this heritage. He joined the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and was stationed in Asia and Germany. His first book, The Dark Arena was published in 1955.

His most famous work, The Godfather, was first published in 1969 after hearing anecdotes of Mafia organizations during his time in pulp journalism.

The Godfather was later developed into a trilogy of popular and highly acclaimed films directed by Francis Ford Coppola released in 1972, 1974 and 1990. In addition to co-writing the screenplay with Coppola, Puzo also wrote the first draft of the script for the 1974 disaster film Earthquake, which he was unable to continue, due to his work on " Part II." Puzo also wrote 1978's The Movie.

Puzo never saw his last book Omertà published, but the manuscript was finished, and thus it became his last work. In a review originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Jules Siegel, who worked closely with Puzo at Magazine Management Company, expressed doubts that he actually ever finished the novel, and that it might have been completed by "some talentless hack".

Puzo died July 2, 1999, at home in Bay Shore in Long Island, New York.

Complete List of Books

Fiction

• The Dark Arena (1955)
• The Fortunate Pilgrim (1965)
• The Runaway Summer of Davie Shaw (children's book) (1966)
• The Godfather (1969)
• Fools Die (1978)
• The Sicilian (1984)
• The Fourth K (1990)
• The Last Don (1996)
• Omertà (2000)
• The Family (2001)

Nonfiction

• The Godfather Papers & Other Confessions (1972)
• Inside Las Vegas (1977)

See also

• List of bestselling novels in the United States

External links

• FreshAir Interview - Audio interview from Fresh Air. Originally broadcast July 25, 1996
• Mario Puzo at the Internet Movie Database
• Mario Puzo biography
• The Official Mario Puzo Library
• "Saying Goodbye to Mario Puzo", an affectionate recollection of Mario Puzo written by his friend Jules Siegel on being notified of his death.

American novelists | Organized crime writers | American World War II veterans | United States Army soldiers | Italian-Americans | Columbia University alumni | People from Manhattan | 1920 births | 1999 deaths | Superman writers

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