The Italian Connection is a 1972 noir-thriller film directed and co-written by Fernando Di Leo; starring Mario Adorf, Henry Silva, Woody Strode, Adolfo Celi, Luciana Paluzzi, Francesca Romana Coluzzi, Sylva Koscina, and Cyril Cusack.

Fernando Di Leo was an Italian film director and script writer. He made 17 films as a director and about 50 scripts from 1964 to 1985.