(via Mary Jo Buttafuoco/Getty Images)
In the early '90s, everyone had a joke about the "Long Island Lolita." The tale of the promiscuous, troubled teenager who shot her lover's wife in broad daylight fueled late night monologues, "Saturday Night Live" skits, and endless tabloid alliterations.
As a kid I remember lighthearted debates over who made the better Amy Fisher: Alyssa Milano or Drew Barrymore, both cast as stars of the made-for-TV movies. The pronunciation of 'Buttafuoco' seemed to keep adults in stitches, as did impressions of a facially-paralyzed Mary Jo.
Looking back on the 20-year anniversary of Fisher's sentencing, the story is not the joke or sensation I remembered it once to be. It's a sad story about a troubled kid, a cheating husband, an era of demented tabloid journalism, and a woman who survived it all.
At 57, Mary Jo Buttafuoco is both prepared and reluctant to talk about the case. In an email this week to Yahoo! Shine, she offered only a nutshell description of all that happened, perhaps
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