All language subtitles for Dark Side Of The Ring S02e05 Jimmy Snuka And The Death Of Nancy Argentino

Here he is, Jimmy Superfly Saluka.

Man, there was only one Superfly.

A wild man with the hair and then the
zebra trunks and his body. He was a

brilliant performer.

No one even comes close.

And he had freakish athletic talent.

Going up on the top rope, flying off and
crashing into your opponent. I mean,

that's awesome.

By 1983, Jimmy Superfly Snuka takes the
wrestling world by storm.

Everywhere was a sellout. All the
arenas, they were always packed.

Look around and see, you know, this
guy's going to make you money.

But fans are unaware of the events
surrounding the violent death of his

girlfriend, Nancy Argentino.

which raises disturbing questions about
who Jimmy really is.

Nancy was extremely into the
relationship. She was invested 100%. She

felt betrayed because this was the guy
she was in love with that was killing

her. I really don't know what really
happened that night.

I mean, rumors just started to spread
like fire.

Jimmy did that. Jimmy beat her up. She
died of brain injury.

He didn't get arrested, wasn't detained.

We don't think we really received
justice from the authorities.

They did nothing, keeping the case open,
but hoping that it would just go away.

30 years later, the case resurfaces with
shocking new information to challenge

the legacy and innocence of one of
wrestling's greatest performers.

Part of our goal was to figure out who
she was. This isn't just Jimmy Snuka's

story. This is Nancy Argentino's story.

Let's find out what happened.

Was it really an accident?

Was it his intention to kill her?

By the early 1980s, the World Wrestling
Federation explodes in popularity.

A key ingredient to its massive growth
has been in capitalizing on the star

power of its most charismatic
performers.

But the man fans love more than anyone
is the Superfly.

Jimmy Snuka.

From the moment he joins the WWF,
audiences are entranced with his high

acrobatics and wild -man persona.

He is the embodiment of a real -life
Tarzan.

His universal popularity led many to
believe his star would shine forever.

But they were wrong.

From the Isle of Tonga, weighing 225
pounds...

The Tonga Kid.

My name is Tonga Kid.

Real name is Sam Patu.

To be honest, you know, I wasn't
interested in wrestling.

I was this kid that was growing up in
San Francisco, got into a lot of

I did six months in juvie for hitting a
bus driver.

So, you know, I thought, oh, shit, you
know, I'm really going to get my ass

whooped now from my parents, right? And
my mom's brothers are Alpha and Zika.

So they sent me to Alpansika, and they
said, all right, this is what we need to

do with you. You're going to become a
professional wrestler.

I was 16 years old.

You're talking a young kid who just
started in the wrestling world, got

out there to the wolves. Somebody has to
protect me. And that was the Superfly,

Jimmy Snooker. From the Fiji Islands,
Jimmy Superfly!

Jimmy Snuka was a professional wrestler
from the island of Fiji.

He could do it all.

Could have been Hulk Hogan.

He'd have just, you know, kept his head
on, kept cool.

I'm Tom Morocco, Sunset Beach, Hawaii.

Started wrestling in 1970 and
unofficially retired about 1988.

Jimmy, he spent a lot of time in Hawaii.
He grew up almost homeless.

Where he slept, I have no idea, you
know. He had basically no home.

I think that's why he latched on to
professional wrestling, because it gave

a place, it gave him an identity, it
gave him a family.

Being accepted by crowd, being accepted
by people, being a hero, being somebody,

it meant the world to him.

Every time Jimmy went in the ring, he
kneeled down, and people don't know why

he'd do that.

It's almost like people need to kneel
down when you pray, right? Jimmy kneels

down and he does it to respect his fans.

That's why Jimmy did it.

In the early 1980s, Snooker enters the
World Wrestling Federation.

Owner Vince McMahon recognizes his star
power potential and soon makes Snooker

his number one attraction.

Snuka was the most popular performer in
WWE at that time. Bob Backlund was the

champion. They had some other stars, but
Snuka was on fire.

I'm Irv Muchnick. I'm the nephew of Sam
Muchnick, who is the legendary National

Wrestling Alliance promoter. I would say
35 years I've been obsessed with the

pro wrestling phenomenon with Snuka.

They brought him in originally. He was a
heel.

They quickly figured out that they had
to convert him into a babyface because

was just too popular. And Buddy Rogers
became his manager, and he did the

switch. We've failed. We've got what it
takes to win.

It all came together in New York. He was
money. He was their biggest star.

Zucker was at the peak of his drawing
power.

Jimmy also fully embraces the grueling
lifestyle of a wrestler on the road.

We'd go to clubs every night, party
every day.

It's a lot, man. You know, it was tough.

Go to the matches, go to sleep, work
out, repeat, repeat.

Being on the road by yourself can be
very damn boring sometimes, you know? I

think it's good to have somebody on the
road to travel, you know, with you on

the road sometimes, you know?

And Jimmy had his girlfriend on the
road. I don't remember her name right

the bat, but yeah.

Are you talking about Nancy?

Yes.

Yes, I'm talking about her. Yeah.

My name is Lorraine Salome. I'm the
older sister of the late Nancy

My younger sister and I always say that
Nancy was the favorite because she never

gave my mother a hard time.

Nancy was a very intelligent girl. She
had a lot of friends because people were

drawn to her. She was a hard worker. You
know, she always had a job.

And she took great pride in her clothes
and her makeup and her hair. She always

wanted to look good.

Nancy was very innocent.

Even though we lived in a big city, she
lived a sheltered life.

That changes when Nancy is introduced to
the world of professional wrestling at

Madison Square Garden, the premier venue
for the WWF.

Nancy had a childhood friend named Ellen
that they grew up together.

Ellen was engaged to a wrestler named
Johnny Rod.

So Nancy got into the habit of going
with Ellen to go to Madison Square

to see the wrestling matches.

Afterwards, she'd go backstage, and
they'd wait for Johnny, and then she met

Superfly Snooker.

You know, she really liked him, and it
seemed to be a somewhat serious

relationship right away.

At the beginning, we were all like, oh,
yeah, that's great, Nancy's happy, and

we didn't really understand him that
much.

He was really strange because we tried
to make him feel comfortable, but he

would sit in the corner, and he wouldn't
talk to anybody except occasionally to

Nancy. He isolated himself.

She told my mother that she was in love
with him, and she took care of him when

they were on the road because Buddy
Rogers didn't really want to travel with

anymore, like drive him from place to
place.

Buddy Rogers' role extended far beyond
an in -ring manager for Jimmy.

He would also become his handler and
chaperone on the road.

He said Jimmy was a sweet guy, but he
was hooked on cocaine and other

junk, and he was totally uncontrollable.

And it reached a point where Rogers told
Vince McMahon he couldn't be in the car

with Snooka anymore because he would
snort cocaine brazenly while they were

driving.

So they talked to my sister Nancy, and
all of a sudden, that was her job.

She would map out the places.

She'd drive the car.

She'd make sure Snooker got to the
matches on time. She was his girlfriend,

she also had a job to do.

My mother liked him, even though he
wasn't, like, super friendly.

And I always got the feeling that my
stepfather, Ralph, had his doubts about

him. As Jimmy and Nancy's relationship
grows, her family begins to see the

cracks hiding behind Jimmy's quiet
facade.

It was not that many times that I met
him.

I'm Louise.

I'm Nancy's sister. I grew up with her.
We were close. The whole family was

close. My parents were away on a
weekend, and I came home, and they were

and they had brought home Chinese food,
and I sat down to eat with them, and I

was just my bubbly.

just yakking and chatting and saying,
oh, how are you, blah, blah, blah.

And he didn't like how I was acting, and
he just looked over me, and he put his

hand, like, up to my throat, and he
said, I could.

And he gave me that wrestling face.

I backed up, and I said, wow.

And I looked at my sister.

I said, I don't want to eat.

And I went upstairs.

And then when she came upstairs, I got
her in the bathroom, and I said, Nancy,

you need to get rid of him.

And she was all apologetic. Like, she
looked kind of, like, timid. Not what I

was just seeing in her.

And she said, oh, no, no, no, no. He's
just tired. He's been working hard.

It's okay.

He felt bad that he treated me that way.

He said, here, here, I want to give you
something. And I looked, and in my hand

was, like, cocaine. I think it was
cocaine.

And Nancy was upset.

She just said, don't do that. Don't do
that.

She doesn't need that.

And I think I gave it back to him. And I
said, no, no, no, keep it.

And I said goodbye to him.

And I thought, wow, that's like a real
change in her personality all of a

sudden.

Despite her family's deep concern, 22
-year -old Nancy Argentino is now

constantly on the road with her
boyfriend, wrestling superstar Jimmy

Snuka. I didn't have a relationship with
her because Jimmy was very protective

with that, especially when it comes
around all these crazy shark wrestlers,

know what I mean?

I don't think anybody had a relationship
with her, you know, because they knew

who Jimmy was, you know, they knew who
she was with.

So did you ever meet Nancy?

I met her, yeah. She didn't seem to
really like me.

Maybe it was because he and I were arch
enemies, or maybe it was because she

knew I was friends with his wife,
Sherry. At any point in time, did you

that he was married?

I think Nancy told me, and I said, what
are you, crazy?

I said, he's married.

She said, well, he's not with his wife.
He's separated.

How could he be with anyone else if he
was with Nancy? It never crossed our

minds because they were always together.

Jimmy and his wife Sharon are still
living together with their four children

North Carolina.

Time on the road has allowed him to live
two separate lives, but his secrets

can't stay hidden forever.

My name is Kevin Ammerman. I'm a
journalist. I work for the Morning Call.

newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

So it's January 1983.

Jimmy Snuka is at Howard Johnson in
Salina, New York. He's there with Nancy

Argentina.

Apparently, other guests are calling the
front desk saying, it sounds like a man

is beating a woman.

I was in my apartment sleeping, and I
got a phone call at 2 o 'clock in the

morning from Nancy.

She was screaming into the phone,
Lorraine, you have to help me. I have to

out of here.

I said, what's wrong? She said, he's
chasing me.

And then the phone went dead.

So police respond. Police claim that
Jimmy Snuka has Nancy Argentina by the

hair. And he's dragging her across the
wall and across the floor by her hand.

So police attempt to intervene.

And they're met with almost superhuman
strength by Jimmy Snuka. And he starts

resisting arrest and manhandling the
police.

There were also police dogs who
responded.

While he's fighting the police, he's
also apparently fighting the dogs as

It was unbelievable.

I didn't know what to do because I
didn't know where she went. So I waited.

And finally, early in the morning, she
called me back. I said, Nancy, what

happened last night? And she just said,
oh, nothing. Just a big

misunderstanding.

Arrested on charges of assault and
harassment, Snooker is able to avoid

time with help from Nancy.

Right here is...

A copy of Nancy's affidavit signed by
her.

I'm Adam Clark. I'm a journalist who
wrote the 30 -year anniversary story

Jimmy Snuka and Nancy Argentino.

One of the charges pending against Jimmy
S. Snuka is that of assault in the

third degree. This charge is said to be
as a result of an assault upon me by

Jimmy Snuka.

I wish to state that he never struck me
or intentionally harmed me in any way on

January 18th, 1983, nor at any other
time in the past.

You know, she really was in love with
Jimmy Snuka.

So after Jimmy Snuka was charged, he
ended up pleading guilty to a minor

of harassment and then donates $1 ,500
to a local Ronald McDonald house.

And, you know, he basically walked away.

Then she just went back on the road with
him.

They were counting on Nancy at that
point to get him places because nobody

wanted to deal with him. He was
unpredictable.

He was high a lot.

So they really put everything on my
sister to make sure that he got to the

match. Back on the WWF circuit, Jimmy
and Nancy traveled from town to town

across the Northeast.

So one of their regular stops was Egg
Hall in Allentown.

Every three weeks, the WWF shot
syndicated television in Allentown for

-show, which was called Championship
Wrestling.

The WWF was important to Allentown. It
had an economic impact.

It wasn't uncommon to see Andre the
Giant hanging out somewhere at a bar or

a big star hanging out at the George
Washington Motor Watch. At that exact

moment in May, I believe, of 1983, they
were shooting some of the big angles in

his feud with Don Morocco.

Oh, we had the strap matches, chain
matches, and cage matches.

And it was looking good. Snowball was
just starting to roll.

In the early hours of May 10th, 1983,
Jimmy and Nancy arrive in Allentown to

tape an episode of Championship
Wrestling.

Jimmy Snuka leaves the George Washington
Motor Lodge and goes to film wrestling.

He films a couple sessions, comes back
to the motel, and then leaves again.

He leaves in the afternoon, and he comes
back about 9 p .m.

Jimmy heads to his room where Nancy has
been all day.

Just a few hours later, the motel's
other occupants are awoken by a

outside.

What woke me up was the sirens.

My room was not far from Jimmy's room.

There was an ambulance that had been
sitting outside of Snooker's room.

So what's going on over there?

I can see the police cars and the
ambulance and roped off into some yellow

And snooker leaning up against the cop
car.

Jimmy looked pretty scared.

It was bad.

It was very bad.

On the night of May 10th, 1983,
emergency responders arrive at the

Washington Motor Lodge in Allentown,
Pennsylvania.

where Jimmy Snuka and his girlfriend,
Nancy Argentino, have been staying with

several other wrestlers.

It was between 11 .30 and quarter to 12
that we had gotten called to an

unconscious female.

My name is Shirley Reeve, and I was a
paramedic in 1983.

We drove up to the scene, and the room
door was open.

Jimmy was standing there along with the
detective.

She was in bed, covered up with a seat,
and examined her.

Her pupils were fixed and dilated, and
it's more indication of a head injury.

And I'm like, well, she's in bed, not on
the floor, not outside.

He was just touching the feet, and I had
to basically drag things out of him.

And he just said that they must have
wrestled a little bit too much the night

before when he pushed her over, and she
had hit her head.

She came inside.

They went to bed.

He went to his wrestling match the next
morning, came back.

She was still conscious, but I guess was
becoming a little bit lethargic or

sleepy. So he just said, well, you know,
I'm going to go to my match. I'll come

back and check on you later on. So when
he came back later on, then she wasn't

responding.

She was having difficulty breathing, and
that's when he called the ambulance.

I did do an intubation, put an airway
in. We started a line. We gave her some

drugs and just took her in.

Wild Snook is at the hospital, and
they're trying to revive Nancy.

He's starting to tell person after
person what happened.

And at that point in time, when police
interview all of these witnesses in the

ER, they all say that Snookum mentioned
some sort of conflict, either shoving,

striking, that somehow he physically
pushed or struck Nancy, and she fell

and hit her head.

I was in my room, dead asleep.

It was about 3 .30, 4 o 'clock in the
morning, and the phone rings.

I pick it up, and they say, this is the
Lehigh Valley Hospital.

Can I speak to Caroline Argentina?

So I get up, and I go in my mother's
room, and I wake her up. I said, Ma, the

hospital's on the phone. And she comes
to my bed, and I hear her say, is she

going to be all right?

And then I hear her say, dead?

Dead?

So Jimmy, he got on the phone, and as
far as I can recall, he started, like,

blubbering and saying that, oh, it was
an accident, it was an accident. She

and hit her head.

She hung up the phone.

She went and told my father, and then my
sister Lorraine.

It was like we were all walking around
like zombies because we were in shock.

just couldn't believe it. We never
thought that it would end up like that.

And then we just called all the family
members and all of our friends, and I

cried on the phone with them.

We were all in shock.

In the early morning hours, Snooker
returns to the motor lodge and is

by police.

He introduces yet another conflicting
account of events.

The next morning, police come to the
hotel to interview Jimmy Snooker, and

start asking him about what happened.
And this is critical because at this

in time, Snooker has already told
multiple people at the hospital that he

some involvement in her fall.

He says that they stopped alongside the
road when they were coming to Allentown.

Nancy had to go to the bathroom.

He says she gets out. There's a lot of
trucks driving by. So he hollers at her,

come on, hurry up.

And as she's trying to come back, she
slips.

She hits her head on the side of the
road.

And that's what caused the injuries.

By now, the news of Nancy's death has
made its way to WWF headquarters and

Snooker's boss, Vince McMahon.

I got on the phone.

and got a hold of Vince Jr.

Vince says, have you heard anything
about Snooker and his girlfriend?

I said, as a matter of fact, here I am
with Lieutenant so -and -so, and I put

him on the phone to Vince.

McMahon informs police that Snooker will
continue to cooperate with the

investigation, and his star performer is
released without charge.

At what point did you guys as a
family...

start to feel like maybe this isn't an
accident?

Well, Nancy's funeral was so disturbing.

Traditional Italian funerals in those
days, you were laid out for three days,

and then you had a mass, and then you
were buried.

The second day, Buddy Rogers walks in
with snooker, and he's wearing flip

and these really, really short shorts
and some kind of tank top.

Buddy Rogers was leading him around,
pretty much.

Then he went over to the coffin, and he
started crying on the coffin and

touching her, and my father had to pull
him off the coffin.

I asked my mother, did he say anything
to you? Did he say how sorry he was?

And she said no. He said, she looks
terrible.

Now that was a pretty weird thing to
say.

You know, of course she looks terrible.
She's dead.

The undertaker came over to my
stepfather.

And he said, you know, I have to tell
you, this is disturbing because we had a

hard time getting her to look good
because she had a huge bruise around her

and she had multiple cuts and abrasions
all over her body.

Then I think, you know, my stepfather
knew that something was terribly wrong

about the way she died.

The tragic death of 22 -year -old Nancy
Argentino seems to have done little to

slow the career of Jimmy Superfly
Snooker. Look what I got next to me. In

summer of 1983, and just a few weeks
after her passing, Snooker is back,

continuing his storyline with adversary
Don Morocco.

When Snooker flies, Morocco dies.

So was there like a part of you that was
thinking like something might happen to

Jimmy? Selfishly, I was worried, yeah.

Just out of my own selfish motivation,
you know, I didn't want to lose my

goose because there's a lot of money
down the road to be made.

Their feud culminates in a legendary
cage match at Madison Square Garden,

becomes the career -defining moment for
the Superfly.

People are lining up all over the
country to see this match.

We just set the place on fire.

Holy hell.

Jimmy was such a star, and people wanted
to see him jump off the top cage on me

and splash me.

I'll never forget that night, because I
was there when he came off of the cage.

I mean, whoo!

And just rocked New York.

Jimmy, he tried things that people never
tried before.

He was a high flyer. He probably spent
more time off the mat than on the mat.

I'm Carol Snuka.

I was married to Jimmy Snuka.

I was with Jimmy for 20 -some years.

Sometimes, every now and then, somebody
would make a comment and said something

about, I know what you did, Jimmy. I'm
going to be waiting for you.

fans congregating outside the stage
exit, and Snooka comes out, and there's

woman who yells to Snooka, hey, Snooka,
you goddamn murderer, when are you going

to kill another girl?

He's always said to me, I know what I
did. Let the other people think what

want, okay? If they want to think I did
that, that's them.

That's in their mind. That's not my
mind.

I know what I did in my mind, and my God
knows, and that's all I have to worry

about. They want to talk?

They want to do that? That's fine.

Doesn't bother me.

While Snuka's career in the WWF is
reaching new heights, authorities in

Allentown continue their investigation.

The challenge that they faced in trying
to prosecute this case was they had a

dead body, they had a woman who clearly
had injuries, but they had no other

witnesses, they had no confession.

The fact that somebody just...

Tells different stories is certainly not
enough evidence to charge anybody with

a crime.

My name is Frederick Conjor. I was the
police chief in Whitehall Township,

Pennsylvania in 1983.

The lieutenant in charge of the
investigation, I never had any reason to

that he wouldn't do the best he could to
investigate the case, and I think he

did.

Although they didn't drive Snooker
around to try to find the place where

had supposedly fallen, they did go to
the trouble of sending two Whitehall

officers 100 miles from Allentown to the
family house in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Detective Procanon sat in my living
room, sitting there, saying, you know,

sorry, but we're going to rule this as
an accident that she fell by the side of

the road.

At that time also, Snooker's promoter
kept calling the house.

My mother got on the phone, and I heard
him say to her, Mrs. Argentino, I'm so

sorry for your loss.

Do you think like $25 ,000 would help
you?

At that time, my mother knew what was
going on. She said, do you think that my

daughter's life is worth $25 ,000?

And hung up.

Unable to bring criminal charges against
Snooker, Nancy's family pursued them in

a wrongful death lawsuit, arguing his
behavior was negligent on the day she

died. He let her go to sleep, and he
went off to his matches. He didn't come

back for like eight hours later, and by
then, she was pretty much, she was dead.

The Argentino family won a $500 ,000
default judgment against Snuka, who

didn't show up. And his lawyers then did
a filing with the court.

Snuka hadn't paid them. The family never
collected a dime of that half -million

-dollar judgment.

Jimmy's family and Jimmy didn't do
anything about it. They never went. They

never showed up. They didn't do
anything.

I don't know who advised him on that,
but... I feel it was the wrong decision.

think it should have been handled right
then and there.

My mother just gave up. She threw in the
towel. You know, she had a very hard

time dealing with it, very hard. We all
were so disgusted with the whole thing.

We just had to get on with our lives.

His drug problems got worse at that
point, and then he became unreliable

altogether in WWF.

slash wwe had no use for him and i think
the half -life of jimmy snooker's

career and his decline owes to guilt
over exactly what happened with nancy

argentino is pure speculation but it
couldn't have helped and so he did the

descent of the wrestler and went to the
awa went to finally the indie circuit

and finally you know the autograph shows
you're not doing anything except

signing your name for people who
remember you when.

As the years pass, Nancy's story is
nearly forgotten by everyone except her

family. Then in 2011, interest in
solving her mysterious death was

renewed. I was sitting in my apartment
in 2014, and I get a call from Adam from

the morning call, and he said, oh, hi,
we're doing an article about the 30

cold case death of your sister Nancy
Argentino.

It clearly was a mystery there, and it
seemed that there was a story that was

really ripe for us to dive into and
figure out, one, what the hell happened,

two, what can we bring to light that
nobody's ever seen before and that

talking about?

In 2013, I was working for The Morning
Call. My editor was a big wrestling fan,

and he just thought it would be
something interesting to revisit on the

anniversary of it.

One of the first things I did in my
reporting was try to find the autopsy

report. So I called over to the
Whitehall Township Police Department to

get the file.

I called the coroner's office.

He said he wasn't allowed to turn it
over because the case was still

open. So really, it was up to us to find
another way to go get that document.

And then we came across the wrongful
death lawsuit.

Within that lawsuit, there was tons of
information.

That's where things really picked up.

Unlike the files from the criminal case,
the documents contained within the

family's lawsuit are unsealed.

Surprisingly, it includes Nancy's never
-before -released autopsy report.

This is the autopsy report that nobody
had seen publicly until our story came

out. It says the pattern of her injuries
is consistent with a moving head

striking a stationary object. It is not
consistent with a single, simple fall.

in view of the other injuries that she
has, scalp, facial, and bodily bruises

and abrasions. It says that the
magnitude of the injuries may even be

of meat abuse.

The last sentence of this document is
really the bombshell that came out of

health officer report.

And it says, I believe that the case
should be investigated as a homicide

proven otherwise.

And it's signed by Dr. Malekas.

30 years after Nancy Argentino's
mysterious death, a newly discovered

report suggesting a potential homicide
raises questions about the 1983 police

investigation.

Mahalika says here, I personally checked
the clothing that Ms. Argentino was

wearing at the time of her injury and
found no evidence of dirt or tears in

fabric. It's the first time I've seen
that report, but I could tell you if I

were a defense attorney, I'd say,

Well, of course they didn't have any
deterrent or anything because he took

back to the hotel room. She laid down in
bed. Then she was put on the ambulance.

Well, this was brought up in the case
years and years later. I believe the

should be investigated as a homicide
until proven otherwise.

And we're back to it was investigated as
best as it could be investigated, I

guess. So, you know, did everything that
was conceivably possible.

So as I'm working on this story, of
course, Jimmy Snuka has no clue that

a reporter in Allentown, Pennsylvania,
who's investigating this case. And while

we're working on the story, his book
comes out.

Published in December 2012, Snuka's
autobiography marks the first time he

publicly addresses the events in
Allentown, as well as the meeting he had

McMahon and local authorities.

So these are the original police
documents.

It is the most complete record that
anyone has ever seen.

So this is the only record we have of
that final meeting.

Unlike all of the other interviews that
were done in this case, there is no

detailed transcript of what was said
over an hour.

And we do know that after that meeting,
the case effectively went cold. The

police interviews stopped.

There was nothing else in that file.

Vince McMahon would have great reason to
defend Jimmy Snuka. Let's say at the

time he is charged with murder in 1983.

That would be a terrible thing for the
WWF.

Vince McMahon is a businessman, and no
matter what business you're running, if

one of your top employees is being
investigated for murder, that's bad for

business.

Timmy talked to me a lot about Vince. He
called him Brother Vinny.

And Jimmy felt very close to Vince, and
he trusted him 100%. He didn't read or

write English. He didn't understand it.
You know, with his contracts, with

everything, he trusted the people. He
actually said to me one time, people

come to him before a match, and he'd
say, Vince said sign this or you won't

paid after the show. He would sign
papers, and he had no idea what they

And I've tried to find out what happened
in that room back in 83, and nobody

knows.

Jimmy said to me, Vince came down with
his briefcase and said to him, it's

don't worry about it, it's done. And he
thought it was done.

There's no transcript of the meeting.
It's the only interview there's no

transcript of. And then seemingly the
investigation stopped there. And there's

been a lot of speculation on what could
have happened in that meeting. I haven't

a clue. I mean, I don't see that that
makes any difference.

I would only say there wasn't anything
significantly said or done, so that's

there's no record of it.

The meeting with McMahon and law
enforcement isn't the only section of

to stir controversy, but also the way he
portrays his relationship with Nancy.

And obviously he covered the situation
with Nancy in there as well.

Right, because he couldn't do a book and
not.

I had said to him, are you sure you want
to put that in there? And he said,

definitely. He said, that's my book.
It's my life.

It's got to be in there.

And in there, he talks about, oh, yeah,
Nancy was a nice girl, but Nancy ruined

his life. When we read that, we were
like, Nancy ruined his life?

When I got to the part about my sister,
I was furious.

He kind of insinuated she was a once -in
-a -while girlfriend.

Oh, and he denied that he ever hurt her.
He never touched her. Why would he do

that? So he totally denied that he ever
laid a hand on her.

So the version that Jimmy Snuka tells in
his book is very similar to what he

told in 1983, but it's not exactly the
same. And that was one issue over the

years as he talked about this in radio
interviews and other accounts. It was

always just slightly different with some
of the details.

So she got out and went to use the
bathroom, pulled over to the side.

I guess after she got done, she came
back over like a stream that was there.

She jumped and slipped and banged her
head.

For decades, Snooker has maintained
Nancy's injuries occurred en route to

Allentown, with no mention of any other
passengers in the car.

I understand that, you know, you were at
the George Washington Hotel on May 10,

1983. Yes, I was.

I was there at the George Washington
Hotel in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Yep. We drove to Allentown,
Pennsylvania, me, Jimmy, and her.

We jumped into the car and drove there.
Okay, so you and Jimmy and Nancy drove

together to Allentown? Yep.

And what do you remember from that ride
all over?

Oh, it was fun. I was in the back seat.
We had the Elvis going, and Jimmy had

some nice, beautiful cologne on. He
always loves cologne. It smells good.

just talked and chopped it all up, you
know, going to Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Yep. As soon as we arrived there, the
Allentown, Jimmy and Nancy went their

their room, and I went my way to my
room. And that's when all that stuff

place, when the lady got, when Nancy
got.

When Nancy got killed that night.

Do you recollect what kind of his story
was that he had told about what had

happened with Nancy? I don't really know
what Jimmy told the police.

Yeah, it was basically that they were
driving, coming into Allentown, and she

had to use the restroom.

And so she walked outside the car, and
she fell while she was using the

outside the car.

Do you remember that story at all? No.
No, I don't remember that story.

Did you ever have any personal
interactions with Snooker yourself or

Not that I recall that I actually, no.

Well, here's the thing. The only reason
I'm mentioning that is because the

person that was just in this house
before you.

Oh.

Said he was in the car? Said he was in
the car.

So, and he's never told a story before.
And so.

So had you ever heard that there could
have been a third person in the car?

When you ask me about that, you know,
somehow I had heard

that. But, I mean, if you pinned me down
and said, what day, time, who was this

person? But there was never any
contradiction

to Snooker's story.

Yeah, we're talking 30 years ago.

So I did talk to Sam Fatu, and I think
that might be confused because he's

told me that.

But, you know, the wrestlers, they're
not lying. It's just they don't remember

the whole thing.

After the autopsy report is uncovered,
the Lehigh County Attorney's Office

responds to intense public pressure and
announces Nancy Argentino's death is

being officially reinvestigated.

The main difference in how the district
attorney's office handled the case in

1983 versus how the district attorney's
office handled the case in 2013 was the

district attorney's office in 2013
ultimately put it to the people. We are

to put this in front of a grand jury.

Sure enough, the grand jury thinks there
should be charges filed in this case.

Jimmy Snuka should be charged with
murder.

On September 1st, 2015.

Jimmy Snuka is arrested and charged with
third -degree murder.

He's now 72 years old, and only a month
earlier had announced he was suffering

from stomach cancer.

There's a few articles that we saved
over the years, this being one of them.

It's really happening.

After all these years, better late than
never.

When I started working on this, I never
thought that just a couple years later,

this story, my story, would become...

A headline everywhere.

It was one of the biggest stars in the
history of professional wrestling being

arrested and being charged with murder
because of a story in the local

newspaper. That just doesn't happen, and
it was surreal then, and it's still

surreal now.

Jimmy's health during the trial was
really bad.

He didn't understand anything at that
point. He had too much brain damage.

Honestly, I think it was a blessing
because when he went through the court,

didn't know what it was about.

And I think if he had known what it was
about, it would have been devastating to

him. They had a series of hearings.

And all of a sudden, Snuka's lawyer
said, he has brain damage because he

many blows to the head. So he is not
capable of standing trial.

His attorney had argued that his
dementia was so bad that he didn't even

what was going on. And the judge
basically ruled that he was unfit to

trial, and specifically she felt that he
was mentally unfit to stand trial.

For Nancy's family, seeing Snooker
confronted with his past in a courtroom

the only justice they'll ever get.

Everybody was talking about it. They
knew what he did. So we were happy that

got somewhat...

of punishment for Nancy's death, so.

It hurted me bad because I know what
type of person he is.

I can't see Jimmy hurting anyone.

That's just what I believe.

The family, you know, was still felt
delighted.

Somebody lost a daughter. They're
certainly, you know, have to be saddened

hurt.

The one shame about this case is that
there was no true final resolution.

The event occurs in 1983.

We go 30 years before charges are filed.

Charges are filed. But then a judge
ruled that Jimmy Snuka is incompetent to

stand trial.

So he never gets to fully clear his
name. The Argentinos never get to fully

a prosecution. There was no final
resolution on the case. And that's why

continue to debate it.

Ten days after the ruling on January 15,
2015, Lucas becomes to his cancer

and dies.

It was devastating for me. It was sad.

I was pretty depressed, you know. He
lost a good

man, a good person, you know.

Until today, I'm still angry about it.

I'm angry that the man passed, and I'm
angry what people say about him.

It's sad.

All the way around, it was sad on both
parties.

I loved Jimmy a lot.

There's no doubt that Jimmy Snuka was a
great professional wrestler, one of the

biggest stars of his time, a talented
wrestler, well -respected for his craft.

But at the same time, you can't overlook
his personal life. You can't

overlook... What happened with Nancy,
you can't overlook the violence that's

been brought up over the years. So it's
a complicated legacy. It's a legacy that

will always be clouded by his personal
life. There is no more separation of the

ring and outside of the ring.

What happens outside of the ring is just
as influential these days as what

happens in the ring.

Jimmy Superfly Snuka stands as one of
the most iconic professional wrestlers

history, a daredevil acrobat far ahead
of his time.

but his legacy will never escape the
events in Allentown.

For Nancy's family, her memory lives on
while justice remains out of reach.

Lorraine and I really want to share this
story because we don't feel like

we've gotten justice.

We feel like Nancy just keeps calling
out to us in some way or another to seek

justice.

There's no closure for anybody, you
know, no closure. I've never met Nancy

anyone in her family. I feel really bad
for them. They lost their daughter.

Okay, something should have been done.

I think letting it go for 32 years
caused a lot of damage.

I think too often stories of domestic
violence, and especially when they

powerful men, center around the men, and
the women are reduced to just... the

victim, and you don't know anything
about them except this is the person who

attacked by someone. This is the person
who was the victim.

As you can see, she was filled with
life, and she had so much hope for her

future. She was 19 here, and she died
when she was 23.

Her life was just cut down too briefly.

It's a great picture of her.