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| TODAY THE CIRCUS
CAME BACK TO TOWN
Today the circus came back to town. I knew it when I heard one of the three AP stringers hum the familiar steam calliope song that is played at the start of every circus that I’ve ever attended. And this one was no exception. “Ta ta tada dada ta ta dadum.” There was no mustachioed Ring Master, so I took the part. “Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages. Let me call your attention to the Center Ring, which today features the Long Island Lolita, Amy Fisher. In Ring Number Two will be the second attraction of the day, Joey Buttafuoco’s wife, Mary Jo. And finally, in Ring Number Three, we have Amy’s mother, Rose Fisher. And please do not overlook our famous side show consisting of a frenzied media mob.” The circus was indeed back in town. I was somewhat amazed to see the hordes of tv and still cameras in attendance today, in front of a Mineola, Long Island courthouse to document the final (hopefully) chapter of the Amy Fisher/Joey Buttafuoco love affair. You may recall that several years ago, the love affair between auto repair shop owner Joey with 17 year old Amy made headlines and prime time across the nation and around the world when Amy put a bullet in the head of her lover’s wife, Mary Jo.Fortunately, Mary Jo wasn't killed, but she still carries the bullet lodged in her head. Amy has been in prison ever since and Joey did time for statutory rape.
When I met up with him, he suggested that we both concentrate on Amy’s arrival, since we could always get Mary-Jo when she came out of court. So, we lined up with the rest of the media horde outside the sheriff’s door. Dick on one side and I on the other. We always do that so that if one of us misses the shot, the other might have a better angle. As it turned out, neither of us got a good shot, nor did any of the other shooters. As she had done in the past, Amy had her long hair covering her face and all anyone saw of her was a triangular patch of her forehead. Oh, well. Them’s the breaks. We all ran around to the south entrance to document the arrival of the rest of the circus cast. The first to arrive was Amy’s mother, Rose. Dick shot up close with the wide angle and I stood back on the courthouse steps with a long lens. Dick was able to get off some good close-ups and I got some good shots of Rose surrounded by the mob. In fact, the guy on the left, in my shot, with the white head of hair, is Dick. It was a short wait for the next act to arrive. Dominic Barbara, the flamboyant attorney who has represented any number of high profile cases on Long Island, was with Mary Jo. They arrived in high style in a stretch limo. A woman backed out of the rear door, and those shooters who hadn’t covered this story before started shooting. And they were rewarded with half a roll of NY Post Photographer Mary McLoughlin who had ridden over in the limo before they realized that it wasn’t Mary Jo. Ahhh, good old Rupert (Murdoch, owner of the Post.) Checkbook journalism. But, that was no big deal. All that she got that the rest of us newspukes didn’t was some very cramped photos of Mary Jo and the attorneys in the limo. Dick took the curbside with a wide angle lens and struggled and jostled his way as the pack back pedaled their way from the curb to the courthouse. I was working from the top of the courthouse steps with an 80-200 mm zoom. I was hoping to be able to get a shot of Mary Jo surrounded by cameras. Again, we both got off some good shots. Pity that NY State no longer allows cameras in the court. When this story began, we were allowed in the courtroom with cameras. Now, we were relegated to outside the building or inside the halls.
After a couple of false alarms, the doors finally opened and Amy was escorted down the steps to a waiting car. Hallelujah! This time her hair was brushed back and she walked out with her head up and the motor drives clacked and the video cameras hummed and everyone got a clean shot of the finale. We went inside and I saw Dick who was shooting the mobbed press conference going on inside. He had gone up to the third floor balcony and had some good mob scene shots from there. I did a couple of “Hail Mary’s“ from the floor, but that was more for this journal, that I knew I was going to write, tonight, than anything for the paper. When the principals left the arena, John headed back to Newsday but Dick and I headed to Starbuck’s for a much needed shot of caffein. We walked back to the courthouse pressroom with our coffee and said goodbye to associates who were rewinding film or getting ready to go live with stand-ups for the noon tv news shows. The circus was over and the clowns were tired. |
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Dick
Kraus
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Contributor
since 1998
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Behind
the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism |
