All language subtitles for Dark Side of the Ring s02e05_English

[Announcer] Here he is...
Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka!

Man, there was
only one Superfly.

A wild man, with the hair and
the zebra trunks, and his body.

- He was a brilliant performer.
- No one even comes close.

He had freakish
athletic talent.

Going up on the top rope,
flying off and

crashing into your opponent,
I mean, that's awesome.

[Narrator] 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 guys' gonna
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 probably 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 a 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

because 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

the Superfly... Jimmy Snuka.

From the moment
he joins the WWF,

audiences are entranced with
his high-flying 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.

[Announcer]
From the Isle of Tonga,

weighing 225 pounds,
the Tonga Kid.

My name is Tonga Kid.
Real name is Sam Fatu.

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 trouble.

I did six months in juvie
for hitting a bus driver so,

you know, I thought, oh, shit,
you know, I'm really gonna

get my ass whooped now
from my parents, right.

And, my mom's
brothers are Afa and Sika.

So, they send me to Afa
and Sika and they said,

"Alright, this is what
we need to do with you.

You're gonna become a
professional wrestler."

I was 16 years old.
You're talking a young kid

who's just started
in the wrestling world,

got thrown out there
to the wolves.

Somebody has to protect me,

and that was the Superfly
Jimmy Snuka.

[Announcer]
From the Fiji Islands...

Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka!

Jimmy Snuka was a
professional wrestler

from the island of Fiji.
He could do it all.

Could have been Hulk Hogan.

Could have just, you know,
kept his head on.

Kept cool. Ha.

I'm Don Muraco.
Sunset Beach, Hawai'i.

Started wrestling in
1970 and, unofficially,

retired about 1988.

Jimmy, he spent a lot
of time in Hawai'i.

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

'cause it gave him a place,

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

Being accepted by the crowd,
being accepted by people...

and being a hero,
and being somebody...

meant the world to him.

[Sam] Every time Jimmy
went in the ring,

he kneeled down and people
don't know why he'd do that.

Some people, they 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,

Snuka enters the World
Wrestling Federation.

Owner, Vince McMahon,

recognizes his star power
potential and

soon makes Snuka 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, you know,

they brought him in originally,
he was a heel.

They quickly figured out
that they had to convert him

into a babyface because
he was just too popular and,

Buddy Rogers
became his manager,

and he did the switch.

We feel that we've got
what it takes to win.

It all came together
in New York.

He was money.
He was their biggest star.

Snuka was at the peak
of his drawing power.

Jimmy also fully embraces
the grueling lifestyle

of a wrestler on the road.

We go to clubs every
night and party every day.

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

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

Repeat, repeat.

[Sam] 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, and Jimmy had his
girlfriend on the road.

I don't remember her name
right off the bat, but yeah.

[Off-screen] 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 Argentino.

My younger sister and I
always say that Nancy was

the favourite 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 Rodz

so, Nancy got into the habit
of going with Ellen to go to

Madison Square Garden to
see the wrestling matches.

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

and then,
she met Superfly Snuka.

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.
So, he was--

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 him 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.

And 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 Snuka anymore because

he would snort cocaine brazenly
while they were driving.

[Lorraine] 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 Snuka got
to the matches on time.

She was his girlfriend, but
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 there,

and they had brought
home Chinese food.

And, I sat down
to eat with them,

and I was just my bubbly self,
just yacking and...

chatting, and said, "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 then 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 used
to 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 so,

he said, "Here, here, I want
to give you something,"

and I looked, and in my hand,
were, 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 just said
goodbye to him.

And, I thought, wow,
that's like a real

change in her personality,
all of a sudden.

♪

[Narrator] Despite her
family's deep concern,

22-year-old Nancy Argentino
is now constantly

on the road with
her boyfriend...

wrestling superstar
Jimmy "Superfly" 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,

you 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.

[Off-screen] So, did you
ever meet Nancy?

[Don]
I met her, yeah.

She didn't seem to really...
like me.

Holy mackerel! Nailed him
right on the head!

And Muraco went down heavy.

Maybe it was because he
and I were arch enemies.

Or maybe it was because she
knew I was friends with his,

his wife, Sharon.

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 mind because

they were always together.

Jimmy and his wife Sharon
are still living together

with their four children
in North Carolina.

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

but his secrets
can't stay hidden forever.

My name's Kevin Amerman.
I'm a journalist.

I work for The Morning Call.

It's a newspaper in
Allentown, Pennsylvania.

So, it's January 1983.
Jimmy Snuka is at a

Howard Johnson in
Salina, New York.

He's there with
Nancy Argentino.

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 get out of here!"

I said, "What's wrong?"
She said,

"He's chasing me," and
then the phone went dead.

[Kevin]
So, police respond.

Police claim that Jimmy Snuka
has Nancy Argentino

by the hair and he's dragging
her across the wall and

across the floor
by her hair.

So, police attempt to intervene,
and they're met with

almost super-human
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 well.

It was unbelievable.

[Lorraine] 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,

Snuka is able to avoid jail time
with help from Nancy.

Right here is a copy
of Nancy's affidavit,

signed by her.

I'm Adam Clarke.

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

about 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 set 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 18, 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 charge of harassment,

and then, donates
$1500 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 next match.

Back on the WWF circuit,
Jimmy and Nancy traveled

from town to town
across the northeast.

So, one of their regular stops
was Ag Hall in Allentown.

Every three weeks, the WWF
shot syndicated television

in Allentown
for their A 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,
see a big star hanging out

at the George Washington
Motor Lodge.

At that exact moment
in May, I believe, of 1983,

they were shooting
some of the big angles in

his feud with Don Muraco.

[Don] Oh, we had the
strap matches,

chain matches,
and cage matches.

And it was looking good.

The snowball was
just starting to roll.

In the early hours
of May 10, 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.

Leaves in the afternoon and
he comes back about 9 pm.

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
disturbance 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 Snuka's room.

I said, "What's going
on over there?"

I can see the police
cars and the ambulance,

and roped off in
some yellow tape.

And Snuka leaning up
against the cop car.

Jimmy looked pretty scared.

It was bad.
It was very bad.

On the night of May 10, 1983

emergency responders
ive at the George 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 detectives.

She was in bed,
covered up with a sheet,

and examined her...

Her pupils were fixed and
dilated and that's

more indication of
a head injury.

And I'm like,
well, she's in bed,

like, not on the floor,
not outside.

He was just, like,
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.

You know, she came inside,
they went to bed,

he went to his wrestling
match the next morning,

came back...

and she was still conscious,
but I guess was

becoming a little bit
lethargic or sleepy.

So, he just said,
"Well, you know,

I'm gonna go to my match
and 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.

Started a line,
we gave her some drugs,

and just took her in.

While Snuka's 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 interviewed

all these witnesses in the ER,
they all say that Snuka

mentioned some
sort of conflict,

either shoving,
striking, that somehow,

he physically pushed or
struck Nancy and

she fell down and hit her head.

I was in my room,
dead sleep, and 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 Argentino?"

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 gonna be alright?"

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 fell 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.
We 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,

and we were all in shock.

In the early morning hours,
Snuka returns to the

motor lodge and is
questioned by police.

He introduces yet another
conflicting account of events.

[Adam] The next morning,
police come to the hotel to

interview Jimmy Snuka,
and they start

asking him about what happened.

And this is critical because
at this point in time,

Snuka has already told
multiple people at the hospital

that he had some
involvement in her fall.

He says that they
stopped alongside the road

when they were
coming to Allentown

'cause Nancy had to
go to the bathroom.

He says, she gets out,
has 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, that's what
caused the injuries.

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

WWF headquarters,
and Snuka's boss,

Vince McMahon.

I got on the phone and

got a hold of Vince Jr.
Vince says,

"Have you heard anything about
Snuka 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 Snuka will continue to

cooperate with
the investigation,

and his star performer is
released without charge.

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 Snuka,

and he's wearing flip flops
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 neck,

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.

♪

♪

[Narrator] The tragic death of
22-year-old Nancy Argentino

seems to have done little
to slow the career

of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka.

In the summer of 1983,

and just a few weeks
after her passing,

Snuka is back,
continuing his storyline

with adversary Don Muraco.

[Announcer] "When Snuka flies,
Muraco dies!"

Sure. Selfishly, I was
worried, yeah.

[Announcer] Snuka, with Muraco!
Ripping his shirt--

[Don] Just out of my own
selfish motivation.

You know, I didn't want
to lose my golden goose...

'cause, there was a lot of money
down the road to be made.

Their feud culminates in
a legendary cage match at

Madison Square Garden,
which becomes a

career-defining moment
for the Superfly.

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

We just set the
place on fire.

[Announcer]
Snuka is busted wide open!

[Don] 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
'cause I was there

when he came off of the cage.
I mean, whoo!

[Announcer] Superfly perched
15-feet high.

Oh, my god! Oh!

It 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 Carole Snuka.

I was married
to Jimmy Snuka.

I was with Jimmy for
20-something years.

Sometimes,
every now and then,

somebody would make
a comment and

said something about,
"I know what you did, Jimmy.

I'm gonna be
waiting for ya."

Fans congregating outside
the stage exit and

Snuka comes out, and there's a
woman who yells to Snuka...

"Hey, Snuka, you goddamn
...murderer.

When are you gonna
kill another girl?"

He always said to me,
"I know what I did.

Let the other people
think what they 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 Conjour.

I was the Police Chief
in Whitehall Township,

Pennsylvania in 1983.

The Lieutenant in
charge of the investigation,

I never had any reason to
doubt that he wouldn't

do the best he could to
investigate the case and,

and I... think he did.

♪

Although they didn't drive
Snuka around to try to find

the place where Nancy
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 Procanyn
sat in my living room,

sitting there, saying,
you know,

"We're sorry, but we're
gonna rule this as an accident,

that she fell by the
side of the road."

At that time, also, Snuka'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 Snuka,

Nancy's family pursues him
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 8 hours later.

And by then, she was
pretty much-- she was dead.

The Argentino family won a
$500,000 default judgement

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-a-million-dollar judgement.

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.

I 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.

[Irvin] His drug problems got
worse at that point,

and then he became
unreliable altogether and

WWF, slash, WWE,
had no use for him.

And, I think the half-life
of Jimmy Snuka'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 where

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 suddenly renewed.

[Lorraine] I was sitting in my
apartment, in 2014,

and I get a call from
Adam from The Morning Call,

and she said, "Oh, hi.

We're doing an article about
the 30-year 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?

And two, what can we bring
to light that nobody's

ever seen before and that
nobody's 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 30th
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 try
to get the files.

I called the coroner's office.
He said he wasn't allowed to

turn it over 'cause the case
was still technically 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

suggestive of 'mate' abuse."

The last sentence of this
document is really the

bombshell that came out
of the autopsy report,

and it says, "I believe
that the case should be

investigated as a homicide
until proven otherwise,"

and it's signed by
Dr. Mihalakis.

♪

30 years after Nancy Argentino's
mysterious death,

a newly discovered autopsy
report suggesting a

potential homicide,
raises questions about

the 1983 police investigation.

[Off-screen] Mihalakis says
here, "I personally checked the

clothing that Miss Argentino
was wearing at the time of

her injury and found no
evidence of dirt or tears

in the fabric."

[Frederick] That's the first
time I've seen that report,

but I could tell ya, if I were
a defense attorney...

I'd say, "Well, of course
they didn't have any dirt or

anything because he took
her back to the hotel room.

She laid down in bed.

Then she was put
in the ambulance."

And we're back to, it was
investigated... [laughs]

as best as it could
be investigated, I guess.

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

♪

[Adam] So, as I'm working on
this story, of course,

Jimmy Snuka has no clue
that there's 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 with 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.

[Adam] Vince McMahon is a
business man and,

no matter what
business you're running,

if one of your top employees is
being investigated for murder,

that's bad for business.

[Carole] Jimmy 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 would come to him
before a match and he'd say,

"Vince said sign this or you
won't get paid after the show."

He would sign papers and he
had no idea what they said.

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 over.
Don't worry about. It's done."

And he thought it was done.

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

makes any difference.
Ah...

I would only say,
there wasn't anything

significantly said or done,
so that's why

there's no record of it.

The meeting with McMahon and
law enforcement isn't the

only section of the
book to stir controversy,

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

Right. Because he couldn't do a
book and not-- I said to him,

"Are you sure you want
to put that in there?"

And he said, "Definitely."
He said, "That's my book.

That's my life.
It's gotta be in there."

[Louise] 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-awhile 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.

[Adam] 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...

and other accounts,
it was always just

slightly different with
some of the details.

She got out and went
to go use the bathroom.

Pulled over to the side, and
I guess after she got done

she came back over like
a stream that was there.

Uh-huh.

She jumped and slipped,
and banged her head.

For decades, Snuka has
maintained Nancy's injuries

occurred on route
to Allentown...

with no mention of any
other passengers in the car.

Yes, I was.
I was there at the

George Washington hotel in
Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Yeah. We drove to
Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Me, Jimmy, and her.

We jumped into the
car and drove there.

[Sam] Yeah.

[Sam] Oh, it was fun.
I was in the backseat.

We had the albums going,

and Jimmy had some nice,
beautiful cologne on.

He always loves
cologne and smells good,

and we just talked and
chatted it all up.

You know, going to
Allentown, Pennsylvania. Yeah.

Soon as we arrived
there in Allentown,

Jimmy and Nancy
went their way, their room.

And, I went my
way to my room.

And, that's when all that
stuff took place when...

when the lady got...
when Nancy got...

when Nancy got
killed that night.

I... I don't really know what
Jimmy told the police.

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

No, no, I don't
remember that story.

[Frederick] Not that I recall
that I actually...

No, I... No, I-

Uh-oh. Said he was
in the car? No. [laughs]

When you ask me about that,
you know, I...

somehow, I, 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, any...

contradiction to Snuka's story.

[Sam] Yeah, we're talking
30 years, 30 years ago.

[Carole] So, I did talk to
Sam Fatu and I think that

might be confused because
he's never 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 going 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 1, 2015
Jimmy Snuka is arrested and

charged with 3rd
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.

[Carole] 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 courts, he 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 took so 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 realize
what was going on.

And, the judge basically
ruled that he was unfit to

stand trial,
and specifically,

she felt that he was
mentally unfit to stand trial.

For Nancy's family, seeing
Snuka confronted with his

past in a court room is the
only justice they'll ever get.

Everybody was
talking about it.

They knew what he did.

So, we were happy
that he 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, that's
just what I believe.

The family, you know, was--
still felt slighted.

Somebody lost a daughter.

There certainly, you know,
had to be sad and 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 rules that

Jimmy Snuka is
incompetent to stand trial.

So, he never gets to
fully clear his name.

The Argentinos never get
to fully get a prosecution.

There was no final
resolution on the case,

and that's why people
continue to debate it.

Ten days after the ruling
on January 15, 2015,

Snuka succumbs
to his cancer and dies.

It was devastating for me.
It was sad.

I was pretty depressed,
you know. You lost a...

♪

Lost a good man,
a good person, you know.

To today, I'm still
angry about it.

I'm angry that the man
passed and I'm angry

what people say
about him, you know.

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 and 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 in 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 the 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.

[Carole] There's no
closure for anybody.

You know, no closure.

I've never met Nancy or
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 involve 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 was
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.

[Louise] That's a great
picture of her.

♪