He believed that there was enough to take it to a grand jury as a murder case, but William Platt thought otherwise. Yeah, there was some excitement. Snuka, a cliff diver and bodybuilder with a vertical leap as impressive as his physique, was the WWFs newly minted top good guy. Argentino fell down on her own when they made a bathroom roadside pitstop on their way into Allentown. Smell of alcohol., To the hospitals chaplain, he said Argentino may have hit her head on the side of the chair or the bed.. I was devastated, he wrote. 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 attended by WWE CEO Vince McMahon, the Allentown Morning Call reported in 2013. However, one of the failings of the Lehigh County District Attorneys Office subsequent to Argentinos death reads more black and white. Charges were not immediately pressed at the time against Jimmy Snuka though the case was left officially open. Hours later, paramedics responded to their motel room where Argentino was found unresponsive. Eyes blood shot. I dont know what happened. Indeed, contemporaneous newspaper accounts all reported Snuka as pleading down to harassment, with some mentioning his one-year conditional discharge. Its hard because were talking about a human life that passed away. He was charged with second and third-degree assault, resisting arrest, and obstruction of governmental administration. After pulling over on the side of the road Snuka claims he sat in the car sipping something potent and somehow his girlfriend complained about her head. 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. More. What? Snuka does mention in his autobiography that the details are hazy but that he went with Vince McMahon to a court or a law office, and that Vince had a suitcase. 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. That night I felt very strange. She was going to come home for that weekend, Salome said. Pro Wrestling Stories - Your daily source of nostalgia and a peek behind the curtain wall of wrestlings past! June 21st, 2016: Prosecutors ask Judge Banach to force Snuka to undergo mental health treatment. This speculation, though, is now overshadowed by evidence that McMahon may have helped facilitate the cycle of abuse that kept Nancy Argentino in Jimmy Snukas company, and potentially gave Superfly the opportunity to kill her. Adding to the controversy was that . He didnt say anything to me. For the part of the retired members of the Onondaga County Sheriffs Department, Romanenko died last year, and Bronstad, who wasnt at the hospital, doesnt remember hearing about McMahon involving himself. All Ill say is I think his legacy is intact. I dont like confrontation.. My mom told her, Listen, Nancy, youre too pretty and too smart to put up with this. Jimmy Snuka and the Death of Nancy Argentino: Directed by Jason Eisener. I woke her up, but she could hardly breathe.. 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. 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. Photo credits to The Morning Call. 11:02, 2 Sep 2015; Mick Foley spoke about Snuka, a man who inspired him to pursue a career in wrestling. The Genius Cast with Lanny Poffo (2018-19), HOMAGE.com Our favorite in retro wrestling attire! All I remember is he had a briefcase with him. (In his notes from a phone interview conducted with Bronstad and Deputy Alex Romanenko four days after Argentino was killed, Detective Gerald Procanyn describes the initial call from the motel in Salina as an attempted rape, but based on Bronstads interview with me, that appears to reflect the managers mistaken assumpion more than anything else.). The stakes were high. Finally, I just kept looking at her and trying to talk to her and she didnt even respond like when I left. Jimmy Snuka, Argentino's boyfriend at the time, was investigated in the death but not charged or arrested until 2015. When we got to the hotel right away I had to call because she wasnt feeling good, he said. In a contemporaneous memo, addressed from a lawyer identified as DNZ to colleague SRW (Steven R. Waxman, according to filings from the civil case), the lawyer recounts what he learned from his discussions with Platt while going over the prosecutors file, which he wasnt allowed to copy. Argentino died in May 1983 of traumatic brain injuries consistent with a moving head striking a stationary object. We slept together each time, but we also hung out., But while he admits his marriage to his wife, Sharon, was terrible and that he was unfaithful, he seems to misremember how he put a brutal beating on her months after Argentino died. His wife maintains that her husbanddid not kill Argentino. I felt bad about it brother. But there were clear signs that her sisters love affair was rocky. [Argentino] was evidently beaten up and banged up and bruised upyou know, a couple of dozen bruises and cuts on her body, besides a fractured f*****g skull in a wrestlers hotel room that had just been previously arrested, in the f*****g same state I believe, about 6 months beforehand by eight cops and two police dogs for beating up the same girl!, Cornette continued, Even in Snukas book, he wrote that Vince [McMahon] came to represent him at the meeting, which everyone agrees on, but Vince was carrying a briefcase! I dont think you erase him from memory, Chattman said. Nancy Argentino, seen in a family photo, was a 23-year-old from Brooklyn, N . She was staying in a motel room with Jimmy Snuka in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania. Some outlets inexplicably found humor in it: The Associated Press wire story, for example, glosses over the underlying domestic violence, choosing to frame Snuka violently resisting arrest in joking terms like a pro wrestling match, using phrases such as the match was on and a nine-deputy tag-team. Local media wasnt much better, with a short Syracuse Post-Standard item running with the headline, Police, Dogs Win Round.. (According to a letter in the Onondaga County file, he left the sentence up to Justice Herman Harding.). Nancy Argentino, in happier times. I could not understand why the district attorney could not see it., 30 years later, the case was still unsolved, but an opportunity for the case to be re-opened presented itself. Detective Procanyn was a former Whitehall detective on the scene at the motel when Argentino was rushed to the hospital in 1983. And in the ring Snuka remained true to his native island roots by swearing off wrestlings regalia of boots, opting to go barefoot instead; as well as donning a distinct headband and leopard-printed garb as odes to his on-screen idol Tarzan. Thirty years later, Nancy Argentino's death remains unsolved. "We never saw a dime, but money was . [Photo: Patriotpost.us]As told to The Daily Beast, Muchnick, while researching the incident, says that Detective Procanyn never told him that they didnt have enough evidence to indict Snuka. ), A year after Argentino was killed, with her family having retained lawyers from Schonwald, Schaffzin & Mullman, one of the lawyers on the case travelled to Allentown, Pennsylvania, to meet with Lehigh County District Attorney William Platt. I would never use full force. Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka arrives for the second day of a competency hearing at the Lehigh County Courthouse on Wednesday, May18, 2016. There is nothing in the historical record to suggest that the autopsy report had never been committed to paper before the May 1984 visit with Platt. In addition, Mihalikis absolutely, find, bruises, lacerations or other indications of a beating or prior injuries. Over two dozen, to be more specific, to the point that the report states that they could suggest mate abuse., But the revelation that if we take Procanyns contemporaneous interview with Bronstad and Romanenko at face value Vince McMahon may have been one of these failures is something that, in 2020, casts her death in a different light. 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., It stated that the furlough of some employees is expected to be temporary in nature.. The findings showed that she had more than two dozen cuts and bruises a possible sign of mate abuse on her head, ear, chin, arms, hands, back, buttocks, legs, and feet. , an ebook that Argentinos sisters collaborated on with, , who had been doing the seminal reporting on the case. He drove his Oldsmobile Delmont 88 off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, which is near Marthas Vineyard. Then another call came and it was the motel owner saying that there was a guy running after her. Snuka took his hostage girlfriend into the room and refused to open the door when deputies arrived. And he was an innovator, and he inspired so many people. Snuka told her to hurry up as she jumped across the grass onto the road she slipped and fell backwards and hit her head. Other than Snukas constantly shifting story of what happened, the autopsy report, and even his 2012 autobiography helped put pressure on authorities to delve into the case once more. As those in the center of the true crime/wrestling fan Venn diagram will likely be aware, VICE TV's pro wrestling documentary series, Dark Side of the Ring, recently explored the May 11, 1983, death of Nancy Argentino, the then-girlfriend of then-top WWF (now WWE) star "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. "Unfortunately, the death of Nancy Argentino is inextricably entwined in the life story of Superfly Jimmy Snuka, making the celebration of his life and career so much more difficult. The coconut was supposed to be shaved thin on one end, to crack like an egg, the psychologist explained, but Piper hit Snuka with the wrong end. These changing stories and the official manner of death werent known publicly until 2013, when the, discovered the autopsy report and a Snuka police interview transcript both previously unavailable due to the case still being open in court records from the Argentino familys later wrongful death lawsuit against Superfly. That, and other provable incidents of domestic abuse. Argentino, from Brooklyn, New York, was Snukas mistress and traveled alongside him on the pro wrestling circuit whenever Snuka found himself in the Northeast. Her defiled face was on display in an open casket during a wake at a funeral parlor in her hometown of Flatbush, Brooklyn. When Argentino was killed, the WWF had been bringing its TV tapings to Allentown which borders Whitehall every three weeks for several years, making the company key to the local economy. Muchnick considers that to be "a blatant lie." Dattilio testified Snuka was unable to recall many of the debilitating injuries that led to his head trauma but did recount the shocking incident mentioned above, which he says left him dizzy and disoriented. Due to COVID-19 and current government mandated impacts on WWE and the media business generally, the Company went through an extensive evaluation of its operations over the past several weeks,, from the company reads. Senior Deputy District Attorney Craig Sheetz pointed to medical records showing that Snuka had an appointment with a concussion specialist on January 29, 2014. 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. This was a week after District Attorney Jim Martin announced he was re-opening the case. Unlike Chris Benoit, the "Superfly" has not been erased from WWEs history books as of yet. The most detailed story, by Jeanne Bednarski in the Syracuse Herald-Journal, was failed by an editor who gave it the headline, Judging by Bare Facts It Was Quite a Match. Worse, it was accompanied by a cartoon mocking the ordeal. His wife maintains that her husbanddid not kill Argentino. I dont know what happened. I was stonewalled at every turn, Cushing said. He instead told him that Snuka told one story, and it was perfectly consistent every time. The hospital received a call for an ambulance from Snuka when he came back to the motel. Ultimately, this legal matter will be decided by our judicial system. Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka (center) arrives with his wife Carole (right) for day four of his competency hearing at the Lehigh County Courthouse in Allentown on June 1, 2016. At one point Argentino hopped over a stream before she lost her footing. Indeed, at the hospital, Argentino signed a release form to share her medical records with the Sheriffs Department. But according to newly uncovered police records, Vince McMahon himself may have played a larger role in the events that led to Argentinos later death. She said, "Justice suffers after 30 years because everything decays.". Most of the information was gathered from articles by The Morning Call, who, with several different writers, covered the Jimmy Snuka and Nancy Argentino case from when it was revived in 2013 to his hearings and until his passing in 2017. Accident is accident brudda., To the responding police officer, according to the complaint, Snuka said they were fooling around outside [sic] room door when he pushed her and she fell striking her head. That same night Snuka told a paramedic that the couple got carried away in horseplay. Complicating matters is Snukas alien file, obtained from U.S. By. In 1985, Nancy Argentino's 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. I didnt know him as a person, but hes a professional cohort. We are hopeful that justice will prevail.. It is a deterioration of brain tissue and function and was discovered in 2004 at the Allegheny County medical examiners office after performing an autopsy on former Pittsburgh Steelers player, Iron Mike Webster. David Bixenspan is a freelance reporter who lives in Brooklyn. 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. She had a headache but no blood. However, the, for the investigation of her murder from Pennsylvanias Whitehall Township Bureau of Police which I obtained from the same lawsuit appendix that included the New York file points to one possible reason. In 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy left a party near midnight with Kopechne. The docuseries noted that police documents prove that the meeting took place and lastedan hour but there are no notes to indicate what was discussed duringthat meeting. That might change as prosecutors announced on Tuesday that a grand jury will review the case which has long cast suspicion on Snuka. Friday, May 10, is the 30th anniversary of the controversial but little-discussed death of Nancy Argentino, Jimmy Snuka's girlfriend at the time. If I was guilty of anything, it was cheating on my wife, and that was it Nancy was a good girl.
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