

In 1950, his first short story, The Last Christmas, was published in American Vanguard. Due to his poor eyesight, the military did not let him undertake combat duties but made him a public relations officer stationed in Germany.

After graduating from the City College of New York, he joined the United States Army Air Forces in World War II. Many of his books draw heavily on this heritage. Puzo, along with other writers l Puzo was born in a poor family of Neapolitan immigrants living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York. At periods in the 1950s and early 1960s, Puzo worked as a writer/editor for publisher Martin Goodman's Magazine Management Company. After the war, he wrote his first book, The Dark Arena, which was published in 1955.

Puzo was born in a poor family of Neapolitan immigrants living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York.
