Mario Puzo - Definition and Overview

Mario Puzo (October 15, 1920 - July 2, 1999) was an author who is famous for his fictional books about the Mafia.

Puzo was born into an immigrant family, "Hell's Kitchen", New York. He joined the United States Airforce in WW2 stationed in Asia and Germany His first book, Dark Arena was published in 1955.

His most famous work The Godfather was first published in 1969 after hearing anecdotes of Mafia organisations during his time in Pulp Journalism. It was developed into a trilogy of films co-written with Francis Ford Coppola, the first of which appeared in 1972.

Omertà (2001) was his last novel.

Complete List of Books

Fiction

• The Dark Arena
• The Fortunate Pilgrim
• The Godfather
• Fools Die
• The Sicilian
• The Fourth K
• The Last Don
• Omertà
• The Family
• The Runaway Summer of Davie Shaw (children's book)

Nonfiction

• The Godfather Papers & Other Confessions
• Inside Las Vegas

External links

• FreshAir Interview (http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgDate=10-Dec-2004&prgId=13) - Audio interview from Fresh Air. Originally broadcast July 25, 1996
• Mario Puzo (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0701374/) at the Internet Movie Database
• The Official Mario Puzo Library (http://www.MarioPuzo.com/)