Pennsylvania District Attorney Defends Detective Who Lied in 1992 About Jimmy Snuka Homicide Investigation
‘Muchnick: How we will know if Snuka investigation is serious’ … at WrestlingObserver.com
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July 3, 2013by Irvin Muchnick
James B. Martin, the district attorney of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, today issued a one-sentence statement in response to my column yesterday at the Wrestling Observer website arguing that the credibility of the county’s renewed investigation of the 1983 death of Nancy Argentino in Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka’s motel room requires the removal from it of Gerald Procanyn, a Whitehall detective at the time who now serves the D.A.’s office in the same capacity.
Martin said: “Neither Mr. Gallagher [deputy Charles Gallagher] nor I will be commenting on your ridiculous and unfounded assertions.”
Ridiculous statements to me by Procanyn in 1992? Certainly. Unfounded assertions of them by me? Hardly. My ’92 reporting for New York’s Village Voice, first published online several years later and then in 2007 as a chapter of my book Wrestling Babylon, is the central text of Snuka case reexamination. Prior to Martin’s statement, neither Procacyn nor anyone else in Lehigh County has attempted to refute any aspect of it, unless you count WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt’s jawboning in the course of his wide-ranging threats to me.
That 1992 article is the basis of the 30th anniversary interest in the case, which gave rise to two recent front-page newspaper articles, including the one in Martin, Gallagher, and Procanyn’s hometown Allentown Morning Call.
Procanyn did make specific false and misleading statements about the original investigation of Snuka, and they do point to the need for a fresh probe. And Procanyn should not be part of it.
JUSTICE DENIED: The Untold Story of Nancy Argentino’s Death in Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka’s Motel Room, includes never-before-published photos and documents. It can be purchased for $2.99 at http://amzn.com/B00CPTP6VM. Readers without Amazon Kindle-compatible devices can get a PDF file copy by sending $2.99, via PayPal, to [email protected]. All proceeds benefit the My Sister’s Place women’s shelter and resource center in White Plains, New York.