Not So Fly Guy: Pro Wrestler Arrested for Murder

If your pro-wrestling-obsessed Uncle Jimmy seems a little down in the dumps this week, he might have heard the news that the legendary 1980s wrestler Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka was arrested for a murder he allegedly committed in 1983.

For everyone who was not yet born or still in Pampers during the early eighties, basically Jimmy Snuka was a professional wrestling icon not unlike Hulk Hogan. At the height of his fame, his girlfriend (well, mistress technically) Nancy Argentino mysteriously died in a Pennsylvania motel room that the couple was staying in. No one was officially charged with her murder, but Snuka was ordered to pay $500,000 to the Argentino family in a wrongful death case. Fun fact: Snuka never paid up because he claimed he was broke.

Why is a case that’s over 30 years old being re-opened now? Two major developments. Number one: Snuka penned an autobiography released in 2012 wherein he discusses the night Argentino died. His accounts do not add up with police records, and authorities were able to point out several inconsistencies. Number two: the Pennsylvania news outlet The Morning Call published a piece on the 30^th anniversary of the death of Nancy Argentino that further implored authorities to re-visit the cold case in the interest of justice for the deceased’s family. It is the oldest cold case to result in charges in the history of Lehigh County.

Here’s where things take an even sadder/weirder turn. Snuka was charged with third degree murder—which, as any first year law student can tell you, means a killing with malice. Yet, after Snuka was sent to the county jail, he was able to leave after posting $100,000 bail. Did Lehigh County allow a murderer to essentially pay his way out of jail? Not so, says Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin. As it turns out, 72-year-old Jimmy Snuka has stomach cancer…and very expensive medical bills.

I do not want to burden the taxpayers of Lehigh County with medical expenses, which would be extremely high and would have to be borne by them if he remained in Lehigh County Jail,” Martin said.

Quite logical…yet extremely unsatisfying to a certain extent. An exorbitant amount of effort and judicial action went into prosecuting a decades-old crime. The perpetrator has been officially identified. Now the family of Nancy Argentino must live with the fact that the man guilty of the heinous crime that changed their lives never went to jail. Perhaps the small bit of justice is that now the guilty man must live with the knowledge that all the world knows, unequivocally, that he is guilty.

Corinne Fitamant

Corinne Fitamant is a graduate of Fordham College at Lincoln Center where she received a Bachelors degree in Communications and a minor in Theatre Arts. When she isn’t pondering issues of social justice and/or celebrity culture, she can be found playing the guitar and eating chocolate. Contact Corinne at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.