There are different standardized ways to become popular; entertainment, sports, science and technology, and politics are just a few of them. Through various positions and professions within these major industries, a person can become a famous figure. However, once in a while, someone who doesn’t belong to any of these industries does something, either by chance or by human action, and is the subject of celebrity attention and treatment. In 1992, it was Joey Buttafuoco, whose wife had been shot in the face by Amy Fisher, a minor with whom he had an affair.
The story of Joey Buttafuoco who went from being a normal auto body owner to national celebrity on every media platform, from Saturday Night Live to Larry King Live. Questions abound about who Joey Buttafuoco is and where he is, 27 years after the incident. Learn all about it by reading below.
Biography of Joey Buttafuoco
Granted, his parents didn’t think their son would become famous for having sex with a minor when they welcomed Joey into the world on March 11, 1956. Like all parents, they were raising their child in the best possible way and hoped that he would continue to make something of himself. Joey, born in Massapequa, New York, with the full name of Joseph A. Buttafuoco, was raised in an American and Italian family. Although it’s unclear whether he attended college after graduating from Massapequa High School, Joey lived a normal, scandal-free life for a long time in his youth.
Normalcy continued into adulthood when he married his first wife, Mary Buttafuoco, on September 4, 1977. The marriage between the two spouses passed without any major scandals for 18 years, until the fateful day of May 19, 1992. , when Mary Buttafuoco rang the doorbell of their home. and was shot in the face by Amy Fisher.
An investigation would later reveal that Joey Buttafuoco had had a relationship with Amy Fisher, a high school student he met after she brought his car to his body shop for repair. At that time, Amy Fisher was 16 and dating Joey, then 37. With Amy Fisher in love with Joey and completely jealous of the continued presence of his wife, Mary Buttafuoco, she hatched a plan to kill his wife.
The unfortunate execution of the assassination plot left Mary Buttafuoco is paralyzed in half of the face and partially deaf after being shot with a semi-automatic pistol by Amy Fisher. During the investigation into the incident which drew the attention of national publications, which sensationalised the violent love triangle, Amy Fisher was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to between 5 and 15 years in prison .
Joey Buttafuoco, however, despite repeated claims by Amy Fisher and her attorney that the murder plan was the brainchild of Joey and herself, was only convicted of statutory rape after evidence confirmed that he had a sexual relationship with Amy Fisher who was considered a minor at the time because she was only 16. He was charged with sodomy, statutory rape and endangering the well-being of a child. He was sentenced to just six months in prison after pleading guilty to statutory rape and was released after serving just four months of a six-month sentence.
On the fame of the incident, Joey and Mary Buttafuoco moved to California. The couple remained together after the incident until 2003. During their union, Joey and his wife made several television appearances, including on Celebrity Boxing before divorcing. Since the divorce, he has appeared on other TV shows like Larry King Live, Lingerie Bowl, Judge Pirro. He also acted in films like Cul-de-Sac, Perversions of Science, Finding Forrester. He has acted in a total of 12 films so far.
Net value
Despite the fame and multiple TV appearances Joey enjoyed at the height of the incident that catapulted him to fame, multiple scandals, including insurance fraud, left him with very little net worth. It is currently estimated at a paltry value of $20,000.
Family – wife, divorce, children
Despite Amy Fisher’s attempt to separate them, Joey remained married to his wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, until 2003 when she filed for divorce. Since then, she has led a life outside the spotlight. His last major public appearance was the 2010 publication of a book about the infamous incident. To this day, she still has a bullet from the incident lodged in her neck.
Although the last years of their marriage were anything but normal, they had a normal marriage for much of their 18 years as a couple, giving birth to two children – Paul and Jessica.
After the divorce, Joey has since remarried. He was married to Evanka Frankjo in 2005 but the marriage ended in divorce in 2007.
Where is he now?
Joey still makes TV appearances on shows like Scandal Made Me Famous. As for his profession as an auto body shop owner, he was banned for life after he was caught committing insurance fraud.
