ABC's '20/20' re-examines notorious LI shooting in 'Growing Up Buttafuoco'
Mary Jo and Joey Buttafuoco arrive at Nassau County Court on May 4, 1993, in Mineola. Credit: AP / Mike Albans
Promising "new details! new interviews!," ABC News' "20/20" will air "Growing Up Buttafuoco," a two-hour special Friday (9 p.m., WABC/7) focusing on Joey Buttafuoco, the former Mary Jo Buttafuoco (now Connery) and their 36-year-old daughter, Jessica.
And what might be "new" after 27 years and countless TV stories and "specials," including ones on Oxygen and Investigation Discovery as recently as last year?
Citing deadline pressures, a spokeswoman for "20/20" said the producer of the special would be unable to provide further clarification, although a "20/20" news release did make note of "never-before-seen Buttafuoco family home videos" and what it claims will be TV's first interview of reputed Amy Fisher accomplice, Steven Sleeman.
On May 19, 1992, Fisher, the then-17-year-old lover of Joey Buttafuoco, 36, shot his wife, Mary Jo, once in the right side of her face while on the porch of the family home in Massapequa. The rest is tabloid history.
The former couple's son, Paul, who was 12 years old at the time, has maintained a low profile over the decades while Jessica, then 9, has not, appearing on various documentaries in recent years (OWN's "Where are they Now?"), tabloid shows ("Dr. Oz"), and her own YouTube self-help series ("Live Your Life Kween!"). Mary Jo Connery, 64, lives in California. Joey Buttafuoco, now 63, has also spoken frequently about the long-ago crime.
