Frank Joseph Coppola was born on February 25, 1944, in Portsmouth, Virginia, as the youngest of three children to Vincent Anthony Coppola and Mary Rose Coppola. He was raised in a lower-middle-class neighborhood and served as an altar boy at St. Paul's Catholic Church. Tragedy struck early in his life with the death of his older sister in 1954 and his father in 1957. Coppola graduated from St. Paul's Catholic High School in 1963.

In August 1965, he joined the Portsmouth Police Department but faced multiple disciplinary issues, including submitting false statements and insubordination, leading to his resignation in 1967. Post-law enforcement, Coppola held various jobs, including car salesman and co-owner of a drive-in restaurant. He married twice and had two sons from his first marriage. Financial struggles and a back injury from a 1975 car accident added to his personal challenges. In 1971, he was convicted of burglary and served time in prison, being released in 1973. ​

On April 22, 1978, Coppola, along with accomplices Joseph Miltier, Donna Mills, and his wife Karen Coppola, planned a robbery targeting the home of Payton and Muriel Hatchell in Newport News, Virginia. Mills posed as a delivery woman to gain entry, and once inside, the group bound Muriel with Venetian blind cords. Coppola then brutally beat her, repeatedly slamming her head into the floor, demanding money. When Payton Hatchell returned home, he was also assaulted. The assailants fled with $3,100 in cash and some rings. Muriel died from blunt force injuries complicated by aspiration, while Payton survived but sustained severe injuries.

All four perpetrators were apprehended and tried. Coppola was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death on September 26, 1978. He waived his appeals, expressing a desire to control his fate. On August 10, 1982, Coppola was executed by electrocution at the Virginia State Penitentiary. The execution was botched; it took two 55-second jolts, during which his head and leg caught fire, filling the chamber with smoke. This incident sparked debates over the humanity of the electric chair.