I think we stopped drinking after thatshe did at least, according to Snuka. Adding to the controversy was that Snuka was married to another woman whom he had children with at the time of his relationship with Argentino. If he does, hes responsible., On the matter, Jim Cornette lamented, "The word started getting around. It adds, Given the uncertainty of the situation, the Company also identified headcount reductions and made the decision to furlough a portion of its workforce effective immediately.. Speculation has long swirled around McMahons involvement in the murder investigation, specifically his presence during Snukas last police interview, the contents of which unlike every other interview summary in the Whitehall file are notoriously not described in the report at all (a fact that then-Chief Frederic Conjour wrote off as nothing in the VICE documentary). If you missed it, the immediate things you need to know are that Argentino died of complications from a skull fracture; that Snuka initially told a variety of stories that involved pushing her, only to change his tune claiming she slipped and fell at the side of the road after she died; that the coroner ruled it a homicide in a report that wasnt made public; and that the case mysteriously stalled out after just three weeks. Snukas wife, Carole Snuka, told the producers of Dark Side of the Ring that her husband told her that McMahon came into town with his briefcase and told him it was done.. He writes in his book, Sharon and I fought all the time. Feel free to discuss this on the Pro Wrestling Stories Facebook and Twitter pages. Nothing we could do., And just before Argentinos life was taken, her sister said she had promised to be home for Mothers Day. , which aired April 12. Jimmy Snuka and the Death of Nancy Argentino. His wife maintains that her husbanddid not kill Argentino. Trying to prove that Jimmy Snuka was mentally and physically capable of standing trial, the prosecutors showed fliers from charity events that Snuka attended during times the psychologist said he showed signs of dementia. Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka wrestles on September 4, 1995 in New Hampshire. David Bixenspan is a freelance reporter who lives in Brooklyn. According to the complaint, the nurse described the hulkish beau as a tall man with a Hawaiian skirt who refused to go to the waiting room. Specifically, those other incidents of domestic abuse were that of Snuka hospitalizing his then-wife Sharon in September 1983 (no charges filed, but testified to by both Sharon and then-neighbor Debbie Rogers); and Snukas January 18, 1983 arrest for beating Argentino. She ended up driving him to wrestling matches and planning his schedule, which, in turn, may have put Argentino in harm's way. According to, the Sheriffs Department file for the case. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. He adds, "Sometimes being trapped with my thoughts can be more painful than any injury Ive suffered in the ring. Procanyn, meanwhile, was no longer available at a phone number that he had been giving out last year; neither the Lehigh Valley DAs office (where he worked more recently) nor the reporter who covered his retirement had updated contacts. She was going to come home for that weekend, Salome said. Some additional context is needed here to truly understand where both Snuka and McMahon stood at the time. Charges were not immediately pressed at the time against Jimmy Snuka though the case was left officially open. It also questions thecontroversial meeting between McMahon and authorities back in 1983, saying perhapsArgentino's death wasn't investigated properly because Snuka was an asset to the company. Muchnick is the author of Wrestling Babylon: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandaland the 1992 book JUSTICE DENIED: The Untold Story of Nancy Argentinos Death in Jimmy Superfly Snukas Motel Room. I remember Vince McMahon being what Vince McMahon has always been very effusive. Her daughter was dead. But if he did this, this should have been settled a long time ago.". Twenty-three year old Nancy Argentino found herself traveling the country with her new boyfriend, wrestling superstar Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. "Dark Side of the Ring" looks into the death of Nancy Argentino, and questions if it wasswept under the rug for thesake of Jimmy Snuka's career. I dont like confrontation.. When we got to the hotel right away I had to call because she wasnt feeling good, he said. Argentino, from Brooklyn, New York, was Snukas mistress and traveled alongside him on the pro wrestling circuit whenever Snuka found himself in the Northeast. The countys investigative grand jury found that Jimmy Snuka assaulted Nancy Argentino on May 10, 1983, then left her in a Whitehall Township motel room to die. In his autobiography, Superfly The Jimmy Snuka Story, written by Jon Chattman, he says that after coming back from the TV tapings, he was surprised to find her still sleeping, and thats when he called for help. For 30 years, Snuka continued with his life as if nothing had happened. The variety of stories (were not claiming theyre true or false) about what he did with Nancy Argentino or how she got injured could fill this whole page. https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/life-death-chris-benoit/, All of these wrestlers in the WWE have head trauma, they cant avoid it, its part of their job, Hamilton stated. Me, personallyif you ask me, Do you think Jimmy did it? No. Patreon: https://goo.gl/hFwQbF Many More Videos: https://goo.gl/p1cRZN My Twitter Page --- http://bit.ly/1Pes74s My Facebook Page --- http://on.fb.me/1U9C3o. Her sisters, Louise Argentino and Lorraine Salome, tell me that they believe that this was the first time Snuka had gotten violent, meaning that Argentinos resolve wouldnt necessarily be worn down yet. In 1985, they won a $500K wrongful death lawsuit against Snuka but he contended he was broke and never paid it, the Morning Call reported. The senator waited 10 hours until he reported the incident and claimed that his behavior had been "indefensible." Oh my, she looks terrible, Jimmy Superfly Snuka was heard crowing as he wept and strung his hand through Nancy Argentinos dark and dead locks. What the f***?". As the docuseries points out, there was another passenger in the car with them who doesnt recall any fall. To Snuka, Nancy Argentino was a willing mistress and he referred to her as his East Coast girlfriend. In his book the wrestler added that they were intimate. He even remembered telling her, Ill see you later, honey. The donation, though, was often conflated with the sentence as if they were related, and none of the articles contained actual details of what happened in the courtroom beyond the disposition. At this point, he began to yell that if she wants to leave[,] go ahead. According to a criminal complaint, there are photos and notes of these injuries taken by Debbie Rogers, the wife of Snukas manager at the time, the legendary Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. Ultimately, this legal matter will be decided by our judicial system. The Events of Nancy Argentino's Death. I dont know what happened. WWE ECW Relaunch | Where Did It All Go Wrong? He allegedly said she became lethargic and then unresponsive. Movies. In 1985, Nancy Argentinos family won a $500,000 judgment against the Superfly in a federal wrongful-death civil lawsuit; but after filing for bankruptcy the retired wrestler reportedly failed to fork over any restitution. Assistant District Attorney Richard Plochocki, citing Argentinos affidavit with regards to the assault on her person, and the potential negative effects on Snukas green card as a first-time offender, recommended a plea on a single charge of harassment. A Lehigh County judge has dropped homicide charges against Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka after viewing the former WWE wrestler's medical records. And he was an innovator, and he inspired so many people. Oh, and hed donate $1,500 his alleged purse for his return to Syracuse that same day to Sheriff John Dillons favorite charity, the, Reality is seemingly more complicated: Sparkes, Snukas lawyer, had suggested not just a deal based on the donation and a public apology, but a public apology, , at the Onondaga County War Memorial on April 7th, where he would leave tickets for the officers involved. According to The Morning Call based out of Allentown, Pennsylvania, "She was rushed out of Snukas George Washington Motor Lodge motel room now the site of Home Depot along MacArthur Road and Route 22 on May 10, 1983. How a Volcano Forced Big Changes, Jim Johnston The Man Behind Legendary WWE Theme Songs, Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahons Venomous 25-Year Feud, Marty Jannetty His Turbulent Life After The Rockers, Bret Hart and Tom Magee: Finding Wrestlings Holy Grail, Wrestler Nanjo Singh and His Wifes Brutal Murder. Documentary. On that night Snuka claims he was just drinking a lot of booze. He later noted he had been smoking some pot too. PHOTO GALLERY: The strange story of Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka and Nancy Argentino. As the episode showed, Snukas drug use had escalated so much by 1983 that his 22-year-old mistress, Argentino, also became his pseudo-manager as nobody else wanted to deal with his alleged reckless behavior. Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka wrestles in a match on September 4, 1995 in New Hampshire. The DAs office and the media certainly failed to do their jobs following Snukas first horrific assault. I woke her up, but she could hardly breathe.. Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka visits "The Opie & Anthony Show" at SiriusXM studios on January 9, 2013 in New York City. Vice's Dark Side of the Ring took on the death of Nancy Argentino in anewepisode, which aired April 12. According to the autopsy, Argentino was declared dead hours later at Lehigh Valley Hospital and died of traumatic brain injuries consistent with a moving head striking a stationary object. The memo was first published in Justice Denied, an ebook that Argentinos sisters collaborated on with Irvin Muchnick, who had been doing the seminal reporting on the case since 1992, as a benefit for a battered womens shelter. For over two decades investigative reporter and author Irvin Muchnick has been namechecking the former Leheigh County District Attorney William Platt (now a state judge) and the lead detective on Argentinos case for the Whitehall PD, Gerald Procanyn (who became a DAs investigator), as purposely bungling the case. If you bring up pro wrestling to someone from the Northeast whose fandom peaked around this time, theyll inevitably: 1) gush about Superfly being their favorite; and 2) reminisce about imitating him by jumping off their bed or dresser. In October 1983, Debbie Rogers, the wife of Snukas manager, Buddy, took photos and notes of injuries to Sharon as a result of her beating by Snuka and her hospitalization, according to a criminal complaint. It was 4 a.m and I was already up. Without more details, its still uncertain whether Snuka really copped a plea for assaulting Argentino (since there were still witnesses), or received a reduced charge for hitting Bronstad. Snuka definitely says he saw Argentino hit the ground. I moved to the other side of the doorway and saw a woman on the bed against the north wall of the room lying down crying and huddled in a fetal position, added Bronstad, in his own affidavit. The Argentinos have provided high-resolution copies of all four pages to me: It contains some information that wasnt reported in the 1980s, but its importance becomes more clear in light of the paragraph that discusses Argentinos autopsy. It was a very worrisome case. In 1985, they won a $500K, wrongful death lawsuit against Snuka but he contended he was broke and never paid it, the, report obtained by Morning Call journalists at that time showed that the medical examiner wrote that they believe that the case should be investigated as a homicide until proven otherwise, the. I dont know if he gave Nancys family money or anything., Procanyns single line about McMahon while recounting the interview about the New York investigation, though, is the first time evidence of McMahons presence in the New York case has been offered in the public domain. George The Animal Steele His Double Life and Turnbuckle Fetish. It was 1983 and only days after Nancy Argentino was found barely breathing, oozing yellow fluid from her mouth and nose while laying almost lifeless, while holed up in Room 427 at the George Washington Motor Lodge in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Wrestling Babylon: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal, JUSTICE DENIED: The Untold Story of Nancy Argentinos Death in Jimmy Superfly Snukas Motel Room, Dino Bravo | His Shocking Death and Why He Was Murdered by the Mob, Bruiser Bedlam The Insane Crime Life of Wrestlings Ion Croitoru, Ludvig Borga The Surreal, Shocking Life of Tony Halme, https://popcultureretrorama.wordpress.com/author/javierojst/, Disclaimer, Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Disclosure. , an ebook that Argentinos sisters collaborated on with, , who had been doing the seminal reporting on the case. It should also be noted that Snuka allegedly regularly abused his wife Sharon physically and sent her to the hospital five months after Argentinos death. Does [Snuka] understand whats going on? It also chillingly recontextualizes something that, , McMahon told the Argentino familys initial attorney, Richard Cushing, in 1983. That was a blatant lie, said Muchnick. They do not want a public apology and would not be a part of it, replied Lieutenant Paul Zemenz, the officers supervisor, in a letter sent back to Sparkes. Something went on, and something got covered up. He didnt say anything to me. . The stakes were high. An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon. Reality is seemingly more complicated: Sparkes, Snukas lawyer, had suggested not just a deal based on the donation and a public apology, but a public apology at the next local WWF event, at the Onondaga County War Memorial on April 7th, where he would leave tickets for the officers involved. Snuka, a native of Fiji who lives in Waterford Township, New Jersey, was charged last year in the death of 23-year-old Nancy Argentino, whose body was found in their Whitehall Township hotel. Snukas attorney, Robert J. Kirwan, argued that the fliers and videos did not prove anything about Snukas competency. Argentino died in May 1983 of traumatic brain injuries consistent with a moving head striking a stationary object. Its impossible to discern causality, too whether the explanation is simply innocent, lazy reporting, or something more sinister. In a televised speech, he firmly denied it was alcohol-fueled. Even a movie was made in 2018 about the Chappaquiddick scandal where many people believe the senator got away with murder. Snuka, a married man, had returned from a World Wrestling Federation taping at the Allentown Fairgrounds to find Argentino gasping for air and oozing yellow fluid from her mouth and nose.". With regards to the actual events witnessed and lived by deputies at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge, although the newspaper articles accurately describe the melee between Snuka and the Sheriffs Department, the deputies had much more to say than the papers reported. Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. This episode looks at the mysterious death of Nancy Argentino, a young woman who Jimmy Snuka dated in the early 80's at the height of his wrestling popularity. I want to make clear that I only pushed her away to keep her from hitting me. Then there were Snukas shifting renditions of what led to Argentinos demise. Other doctors in 2010 said they also noticed developing signs of dementia. In real time, though, all her sisters knew was that she went from calling late at night in a panic, saying Snuka was chasing her, to saying the next morning that nothing had happened beyond a misunderstanding. Author Irvin Muchnick's 1992 article about the incident (later collected in his 2007 book WRESTLING BABYLON) is the most authoritative account of what happened. 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