Amy Fisher

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Amy Fisher
Born	Amy Elizabeth Fisher August 21, 1974 (1974-08-21) (age 33) Long Island New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Louis Bellera 2003-Present

Amy Elizabeth Fisher (born August 21, 1974), dubbed the "Long Island Lolita" by the press, is an American woman convicted of the 1992 shooting of the wife of her lover Joey Buttafuoco, with whom she began an affair as a 16 year-old student at Kennedy High School in Bellmore, New York. Fisher served seven years in prison for assault, first degree. The case drew a great deal of media attention. Since leaving prison in 1999, Fisher has become a writer.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Sex tape 3 Books by Amy Fisher 4 Books about Amy Fisher 5 Movies about Amy Fisher 6 Popular culture references 7 References

[edit] Biography

Fisher was born in Merrick, New York to an Italian American mother and a Jewish-American father.^[1] Fisher (then aged 16) met Joey Buttafuoco in May 1991, when she took her car to his auto shop for repairs, shortly after which they began a sexual affair. In August 1991, when Fisher needed money, Joey set her up to work with an escort agency, and the torrid affair continued while Fisher was apparently working as a prostitute. (On June 27, 2007, Fisher claimed on The Howard Stern Show that she lied about being a prostitute.) Fisher apparently asked Joey to leave his wife, Mary Jo (who knew nothing of their relationship) but he refused.

On May 19, 1992, Fisher, then aged 17, had an accomplice drive her to the Buttafuoco home in Massapequa, New York. She got out of the car and rang the doorbell. When Mary Jo Buttafuoco answered the door, Fisher shot her in the head on the front porch. Mary Jo was severely injured and paralyzed on the right side of her face, but survived. She was able to describe the t-shirt that her assailant had been wearing as one from her husband's auto body shop. Joey realized the shooter was Fisher, to whom he had given the shirt as a gift, and identified her to the police.

The crime and the back story drew a great deal of interest from the press. A movie production company offered the Fisher family $80,000 for the movie rights, which was accepted and then used to post bail. The situation would have made the money eligible for seizure under New York's Son of Sam law, though it was not invoked.

Fisher was charged with multiple counts, including attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to one count of assault in the first degree, and in December 1992 was sentenced to 5–15 years in prison.

Based on a signed receipt from a Long Island hotel dated a matter of days before Fisher's 17th birthday Joey Buttafuoco was charged with statutory rape. He was convicted in October 1993 and served six months in jail for the crime.^[2]

Fisher served her prison sentence at the Albion Correctional Facility in New York. During her time at Albion, Fisher claimed she was raped by a correctional officer at the prison; she began a legal case against the guard and requested to be moved to a different prison. After pursuing the case for some time she eventually dropped it after several legal setbacks, claiming she no longer had faith the system would do anything to help her. Rape charges against guards at the prison by other inmates in subsequent years did lead to a series of successful convictions, however. It has been suggested Fisher's charges were motivated by the desire to be transferred to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Bedford Hills, New York so she could be nearer to her mother.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999, after seven years in prison, Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon consented to the vacating of Fisher's original plea bargain and a new plea entered with a 3–10 year sentence, ensuring her immediate release. (This legal motion was done pursuant to the wishes of Mary Jo Buttafuoco.) Fisher was granted parole and released.

After her release from prison Fisher became a columnist for the Long Island Press, winning a Media Award for Column/News from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2004. She wrote a book about her experiences entitled If I Knew Then, published in 2004. The Long Island Press announced Fisher's departure from the newspaper in late December 2005. She continues to be actively involved in campaigning for prisoners' rights.

Fisher was married in 2003 to Louis Bellera with whom she has two children - Brett born in 2001 and Ava Rose born in 2005.

In 2006, Amy Fisher reunited with Mary Jo Buttafuoco in sessions televised for Entertainment Tonight and its spinoff The Insider. Fisher said she wanted to heal her past and move on with her life. However, two years later, on February 11, 2008 the New York Post reported that, in an interview, Fisher announced that she does not feel sorry for the woman that she shot, as Mary Jo made millions on the criminal case.^[3]

Fisher and Joey Buttafuoco eventually reunited for the first time at the 2006 Lingerie Bowl for the coin toss.

On May 13, 2007 the New York Post reported that Amy Fisher had left her husband and Joey left his girlfriend, and were both reportedly going on a date near Central Park on Monday, May 14, 2007 to either reconcile or pitch an idea where they would cohabitate for a reality series.^[4] Many similar articles ran in The Post in a lead-up to a possible reality series, but neither Joey nor Amy were quoted confirming their supposed romantic reconciliation. Indeed, Joey's second wife Evanka withdrew her divorce petition on June 22, 2007, in an apparent reconciliation.^[5]

[edit] Sex tape

In October 2007, the New York Post published allegations that Fisher's husband, Lou Bellera, sold a sex tape of the couple to Red Light District Video, of Los Angeles.^[6] Red Light District Video published a press release stating they will be releasing the sex video of the couple.^[7] As of October 31, nude pictures of Amy from the video were posted at a variety of internet sites, and on November 1, 2007, a teaser clip was released by Red Light District Video that showed a nude Amy showering and sunbathing. Of note were a tattoo surrounding her navel and breast augmentation. On November 6, 2007, Fisher filed a lawsuit against Red Light District and its owner, David Joseph, claiming copyright infringement and other damages.^[8] By November 8, 2007, a website Fisher had previously fought to win ownership, amyfisher.com, began pointing directly to the Red Light District website.^[9]

In early January 2008 Fisher announced that she had settled with Red Light and while refusing to endorse the video and its release agreed to do a promotional appearance related to it. The same announcement indicated that she and Bellera had reconciled.^[10] The promotional appearance took place at Retox in New York City on January 4, 2008.^[11][12]

The video also features unusual and explicit dirty talk, clips of which have been frequently played on The Howard Stern Show. On March 6th, Amy was a guest on the Stern show and one of the topics of discussion was meant to be her video, but after the first phone call, which was from Mary Jo's daughter, Jessica, Fisher left the show six minutes into her interview.

[edit] Books by Amy Fisher

• Fisher, Amy & Robbie Woliver (2004). If I Knew Then. iUniverse. ISBN 0-595-32445-2.
• Fisher, Amy with Sheila Weller (1994). Amy Fisher: My Story (reprint edition). ISBN 0-671-86559-5. (Originally published by Pocket Books in 1993; ISBN 0-671-86558-7.)

[edit] Books about Amy Fisher

• Dominguez, Pier (2001). Amy Fisher: Anatomy of a Scandal: The Myth, the Media and the Truth Behind the Long Island Lolita Story. Writers Club Press. ISBN 0-595-18417-0.
• Eftimiades, Maria (1992). Lethal Lolita: A True Story of Sex, Scandal and Deadly Obsession. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-95062-4.

[edit] Movies about Amy Fisher

• The Amy Fisher Story
• Casualties of Love: The Long Island Lolita Story
• ..Amy Fisher: My Story (1992) (TV)..

[edit] Popular culture references

• On the episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air titled "Ain't No Business Like Show Business (s3e22)", Will tells the following joke to Uncle Phil:

Will: Knock Knock.

Phil: Who's There?

Will: Amy Fisher.

Phil: Amy F-

Will: (points finger like a gun) BANG!

• In the film, Addams Family Values, one of the trading cards in the collection of infamous serial killers and murderers Pugsley trades with another camper is that of Amy Fisher (misspelled "Fischer.")
• On January 9, 1993, Saturday Night Live spoofed the popularity of the Amy Fisher movies with several versions they saw specific cable television networks airing. The included an A&E Network production of Masterpiece Theatre with an all-British cast with the exception of Joey Buttafucco's role which was played by Danny DeVito, called "The House of Buttafuoco". Additionally, there was BET production titled "Amy Fisher: One Messed-Up Bitch", with an all black cast featuring Ellen Cleghorne as Amy, Tim Meadows as Joey, and Chris Rock as Mary Jo.[3]
• In Living Color poked fun of the scandal by presenting a sketch where Amy (played by Alexandra Wentworth) promotes her Bang for Your Bucks seminar from her prison cell along with Joey (Jim Carrey). Later in the sketch Mary Jo (Kelly Coffield) walks in and disturbs the couple while they are discussing their money making scheme to the public in the form of an informercial. [4]
• The band Cobra Starship's song "Damn You Look Good and I'm Drunk" (aka Scandalous) featuring the rap group V.I.P. contains a lyric referencing Amy when the singers state "What are you supposed to be some kind of Long Island Lolita, honey?" in the context that they are addressing a "prostitute".

[edit] References