The day before Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka appeared in Lehigh County Court to plead not guilty in the 1983 killing of his girlfriend, Nancy Argentino, in a Whitehall Township motel, one of the victim’s sisters was hoping for a victory after three decades of defeat.
“I just hope that justice can prevail,” Lorraine Salome said Sunday from a friend’s country home near Bushkill in Pike County. “All these years the question in my mind is: “Why?”
Salome shed tears recalling her vibrant 23-year-old sister who had been contemplating a career in dental surgery before meeting the hulking Snuka, one of the stars of the World Wrestling Federation at the time, which led to a two-year romance.
“My sister really cared for him,” Salome said. “She not only cared for him, she took care of him. She went on the road with him; she did everything for him. She loved him.”
But after a violent encounter in an upstate New York motel in January 1983, Argentino’s family hoped she would dump Snuka.
“We always thought that this relationship with him would pass, and she would go on to be a great person,” Salome said. “That never happened.”
Sunday’s interview with Salome will likely be the last one for some time after a Lehigh County judge issued a gag order Monday, prohibiting prosecutors, defense attorneys and relatives of Snuka and Argentino from commenting publicly about the case.
Charles Gallagher, the lead prosecutor in the case, requested the order, claiming Snuka’s attorneys essentially held a news conference on the courthouse steps after an appearance last month and made “blasphemous” statements regarding the case and how it was handled.
On that day, Snuka’s attorney, Robert J. Kirwan II, described Argentino’s death as an accident and said Snuka was looking forward to clearing his name. Kirwan also argued then that the district attorney’s office determined three decades ago that no crime was committed, and “30 years has not changed that.”
Kirwan, a Reading attorney, called Gallagher’s request for a gag order hypocrisy, arguing that the prosecution’s case was made with the help of the media, namely The Morning Call’s discovery of a never-before-seen autopsy report that labeled Argentino’s death a homicide. Kirwan also argued he was just trying to level the playing field since the prosecution’s grand jury case garnered such national attention.
After a brief — but tense — back and forth, Judge Kelly L. Banach sided with the prosecution’s request, saying, “I’m not going to permit this case to be tried in the press.”
Gag orders are a rare legal maneuver, being used most notably during two Penn State cases — the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse trial and the rape trial for former Parkland running back Austin Scott, both in Centre County.
Snuka, 72, of Camden County, N.J., was charged Sept. 1 with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in Argentino’s May 1983 death after a grand jury determined he repeatedly assaulted Argentino in the former George Washington Motor Lodge in Whitehall, then left her in bed to die.
The grand jury probe was prompted by a 2013 Morning Call investigation that raised questions about the Argentino case 30 years after her death.
In a July 17 presentment, the grand jury wrote that Snuka’s “assaultive acts and his failure to act to obtain medical attention resulted in her death” and recommended he be charged with homicide. About 20 witnesses testified during the grand jury proceedings.
Snuka used his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when he was called, according to his lawyer at the time.
Snuka has been free since posting $100,000 bail the day he was booked.
The famed former pro wrestler entered a plea of not guilty and spoke in court for the first time Monday, answering questions from the judge to determine if he is competent to stand trial.
Snuka, who is recovering from surgery for stomach cancer, appeared healthier than his last two visits to the Lehigh Valley. He was in a wheelchair and hooked to a feeding tube the day he was charged, and he used a cane to help him walk during his last appearance on Oct. 7.
But while Snuka walked without assistance, he still showed difficulties, telling Banach he didn’t know what day it was and the city where the courthouse is located. Kirwan said while Snuka is competent to be formally arraigned, he may not be for trial, citing early-onset dementia, post-concussion syndrome and a long list of medications.
“He has his good days and his bad days,” Kirwan said in court. “This is a good day.”
Snuka told the judge he can’t read or write English, his primary language.
“I really never been to school,” Snuka chuckled when asked by Banach the last grade he completed. Snuka said he was home-schooled in the Fiji Islands.
Last month, outside the courthouse, Kirwan spoke to a throng of reporters after agreeing to bypass a preliminary hearing in exchange for grand jury transcripts, saying Snuka is looking forward to quick trial because “he’d like to leave this world knowing he’s an innocent man — not with everyone thinking he’s guilty.”
At the same spot Monday, Snuka, his attorneys and his family walked past reporters without saying a word.
On Sunday, Salome said she couldn’t believe the day had finally arrived for Snuka to face a judge.
“It’s been a very long journey for us,” she said. “My mother laid out money, time, heartache having to go through all this. Sitting down and having to talk about her daughter, getting her upset, and nothing happened. It was so frustrating.”
Salome said her family is grateful to Lehigh County prosecutors and everyone else that helped achieve an arrest in her sister’s death, and now has hope that justice may be served.
“It just isn’t fair,” she said. “Her life was extinguished before she got to live.”
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