Salvatore Naturale

Salvatore Antonio "Sal" Naturale, also known as Donald Matterson (c. 1953/1954– August 23, 1972) was an American bank robber who, along with John Wojtowicz, inspired the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon. In the film he is portrayed by actor John Cazale.

Little is known about Naturale's background except for criminal acts he committed and that he lived in Manhattan, in the same neighborhood as John Wojtowicz. As a child, growing up in Keansburg, New Jersey, he had been picked up and arrested on many charges of truancy, grand larceny, burglary and dangerous drugs. He spent most of his teen years in and out of state reform schools, and within the three months before the fatal robbery attempt, Naturale had been charged with possession of burglary tools and possession of narcotics. As a youth while incarcerated in prison he was victim to numerous acts of sodomy from older, stronger inmates.

In the novelization of the crime by Patrick Mann, it is suggested that Naturale had connections with the Italian mafia in New York City, but he in fact had no known associations with organized crime. He sported a faint blond mustache and crude tattoos on his arms and thighs and lived mostly as a drifter, but a The New York Times article stated that he remained in contact with and occasionally lived with his mother. Naturale and Wojtowicz met at Danny's, a gay bar on Seventh Avenue South, where Wojtowicz initially claimed that a bank executive from Chase Manhattan had suggested they rob the bank. A middle-aged man named Wallace Hamilton, who told reporters that he was a friend of Naturale's, identified Naturale's corpse at the city morgue following the robbery.

On August 22, 1972, Naturale attempted to rob a branch of the Chase Manhattan bank at 450 Avenue P in Gravesend, Brooklyn; the robbery was led by John Wojtowicz and Robert Westenberg. The robbers entered the bank armed with a .38 caliber handgun and carrying a box which contained a shotgun and a rifle; all three weapons were purchased by Wojtowicz. Westenberg was to provide the demand note to the bank manager but was unnerved by a police car on the street and fled the scene before the robbery was announced. Wojtowicz and Naturale then held seven Chase Manhattan bank employees hostage for fourteen hours. Wojtowicz, a former bank teller, had some knowledge of bank operations, however, he had apparently based his plan on scenes from the movie The Godfather, which he had seen earlier that day.

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