this is "nightline." >> tonight, being butt few coe. >> what a beautiful family. >> the notorious name and infamous shooting. >> a woman was shot in front of her house. >> mary jo, shot by her husband's mistress, now showing how she survived that fateful day. >> there were only two people on that step that day, she was there to kill me. >> and her daughter revealing in a new interview, that day through her eyes. twists and turns that followed. >> just when i thought things couldn't get any crazier, oh, it did. it did. >> what the ex-husband now says

about his affair with a minor. now what a daughter is determined to do. "nightline." we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ blow a kiss, into the sun ♪ we need someone to lean on ♪ blow a kiss, into the sun ♪ all we need is somebody to lean on ♪ ♪ ♪ good evening, thank you for joining us. a bullet did not silence her, but that single shot still echoes. the long island woman shot by her husband's mistress now

speaking out in a new interview. the case that captivated the nation and changed her family forever. her family, now revealing what it was like growing up buttafuoco. >> we begin with a mysterious shooting in long island. >> after 27 years, you would think there's nothing left new to learn about this story. oh, but there is. >> reporter: it's the story of a married man with the unforgettable last name, buttafuoco. >> joey knew of my intentions towards his wife and encouraged me. >> amy fisher is a liar. >> reporter: his wife, mary jo, unsuspecting of her husband's behavior. >> she is a fabulous liar. i didn't realize then how much. >> reporter: the drama played out across every tabloid for decades. the teenaged girl named amy fisher. >> i was not just a 16-year-old

teenager. i was a 16-year-old teenager showing the world many >> you may think is an open and shut case. amy came to my house, shot my mother in the face, guilty as charged, boom, but not so much. >> reporter: mary jo's daughter jessie sitting down for a rare interview. >> growing up, my family life was eye dial. >> i met joey in summer school of 9th grade. and he was just the funniest guy in the room. he was the class clown. >> she was gentle and came from a great family, great values. >> reporter: mary jo and joey marry in 1977. they have a son paul and daughter jessie. joey works at the family's auto body shop, he at a bank. the young couple buys a house in the idyllic suburb in long island, new york. >> it was a great, great life. i loved it there.

>> what a beautiful family. >> growing up, my father was always the king, you know. i had him on the highest pedestri pedestal. he was always the fun dad. >> reporter: the buttafuocos seemed to have it all, but not everything was picture perfect. the buttafuocos' lives would come crashing down in the spring of 1992. a teenaged girl rings the doorbell at the buttafuocos' home. she says her name is ann marie and her younger sister is having an affair with joey. skb >> i said your little sister, how old are you? she got a little indignant, she said i'm 19. how old is your little sister? she's 16. look, ann marie, i don't know what you want me to do about this, and i believe i said thanks for coming by. with that i turned my head, went

for the door and that was end of my life as i knew it. >> that bullet had gone in, broke the jaw, severed the carotid artery. for whatever reason, that bullet wound up at the base of her brain above her spinal column. >> they told us, she's going to die. she'll be blind. >> mary jo was in surgery for seven hours. they were never able to remove the bullet. it was just too precarious. >> reporter: the shooting instantly makes headlines. >> this kind of thing doesn't happen to people like her. she's the all-american mother and woman and wife. >> the detectives didn't know what it was. the neighbors didn't know what it was. reporters had no idea what it was about. >> i don't know how long it was. next day, day after that. >> i asked her, who did this to you? and she couldn't speak, she was trying to write. >> and i just wrote down what i remembered. i wrote 19-year-old girl, ann

marie, and the biggest clue of all was i wrote down the complete auto body tee shirt. >> that was the very, very first tee shirt. and i said i only gave one tee shirt to fisher. that's how it became such an important piece of evidence. >> cops learn that elliot fisher has a daughter named amy. >> reporter: police take joey home, ask him to call amy fisher and have her meet him. ? after th >> after they got off the phone she got in her car, and a few minutes, police sirens pulled her over. that was it. she was arrested. >> reporter: 17-year-old aim see question is questioned for hours. >> this little kid is walked in handcuffs to a police car. with long hair almost down to her waist and and and and and ad a tee shirt.

>> reporter: they dub her the long island lolita. joey and amy met when she was 16 years old, he was 36. amy's father had unwittingly introduced his daughter to joey. >> elliot would say if amy ever has an accident, take care of it and i'll take care of the bill. she started hitting curbs. with amy coming in all the time, that relationship went where it went and was over real fast, but with a bad result. >> according to amy, the first time she a sexual relationship with joey was about a month before she turned 17. they went back to her house. he drove her home and had sex with her in her childhood bedroom. >> my relationship with amy was inappropriate. that's as far as i'm going to go with it. >> she was crazy about him. you're talking about a 16-year-old girl who was infatuated by a guy who was flashy. >> the story was an attempted murder case for two or three

days. after that, the motive for the shooting took over that story. >> she's charged with shooting her lover's wife. >> it wasn't about the shooting anymore. it was about amy and joe. >> amy's version of events was that we struggled and fought over the gun and the gun accidently went off. there were only two people on that step that day. me and her. she was there to kill me. >> reporter: it turns out amy had tried to recruit others to help her. >> two men have come forward tonight, saying amy fisher approached them months ago, begging them to help her kill mary jo buttafuoco. >> reporter: steven, 21 at the time, says amy fisher had enlisted his help in killing mary jo because he owned a rifle. >> she want immediate to shoot mary jo. i said yeah, amy would pay me to sit and watch the house. >> reporter: he says he and amy make their first attempt the day after halloween, 1991. amy goes to the buttafuocos'

home, telling mary jo she's selling candy for charity. >> amy says, when she comes out, you shoot her. >> amy is gesturing to steve, take the shot. >> i couldn't even get a clear shot. i said this is crazy. i'm not going to go through this. >> she went rattling off she doesn't need him. get me a gun, i'll do it myself if i have to. >> reporter: after she goes back to shoot mary jo almost seven months later, steve's attorneys cut a deal. then his friend chris who knew amy from high school comes forward saying he had refused amy's request for help but introduced her to steve. >> when those two guys came forward, forward, that was the lynch pin, that's what led the d.a. to put forth conspiracy charges against amy fisher. because now they could say it was a cold, calculated decision

to go there with a gun and shoot mary jo buttafuoco. >> i was sick. i couldn't believe it, like somebody actually stalked me, hired other people to kill me, and then when that didn't work she did it herself. >> reporter: a third man who provided the gun and was the get away driver the day mary jo was shot ultimately is arrested. pleads guilty to criminal sale of a weapon and serves four months in jail. steve says amy always had cash. but where was she getting the money? when we come back -- >> investigators looking into a possible link between fisher and a baldwin escort service, says she constantly wore a beeper, even in school. >> she goes, i'm an escort. i said what's that? woman 1 oc: this is my body of proof. man 1 vo: proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. man 2 vo: proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... woman 2 vo: ...with humira. woman 3 vo: humira targets and blocks

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"nightline" continues with byron pitts. >> it happened yesterday -- >> police say fisher walked up to the buttafuoco home and shot mary jo once in the head. >> reporter: the story of how amy fisher came to shoot mary jo buttafuo buttafuo buttafuoco captivated america. >> one of the bombshells is that amy had worked for an escort service. >> she always gave me money, whatever i needed. and i said how did you get it? she says i'm an escort. i go on dates with guys, money's no object. >> when a girl at that age becomes that promiscuous at 17, there's something wrong there. >> reporter: the story is a full-blown media circus. mary jo defends her husband joey who denies having an affair with amy.

>> amy fisher is a liar. >> joe was adamant, he screamed from the rooftops, he had nothing to do with her sexually. >> to almost everyone else it seems obvious that joey was lying about his affair with amy fisher. >> my job now was not to tryto y over this injury and defend my husband. and i took that role on extremely well. >> just when i thought things couldn't get any crazier, oh, it did. >>. >> reporter: amy's lawyer sells her life story to pay off her it $2 million bail and cuts a plea deal. >> amy fisher pleaded guilty to assault charges, reduced charges down from attempted murder. >> this was not an assault. >> we were all furious. >> reporter: at amy's sentencing in 1992, she faces mary jo for the first time since shooting her. she confesses to an affair with joey and tries to pass the

blame. >> it's also the truth that joey knew of my intentions toward his wife and encouraged me. these things, your honor are all true. >> i planned this, i put her up to this, it was ridiculous. >> the d.a. clearly wanted to prosecute joey buttafuoco, at the least for statutory rape. but they had issues. amy fisher wasn't a technically credible witness. mary jo buttafuoco, the victim, didn't want her husband prosecuted. so ultimately, they abandoned the investigation. >> i remember like the relief, like thank god, thank god's over. and it was just the beginning. because my husband has a big mouth. >> reporter: amy fisher was sentenced to five to 15 years behind bars, but nothing could contain the public's appetite for the story. what the public was seeing, that's what they wanted. that's what the media wanted. did i play into that?

yes, i did, of course i did. >> you would think after a huge tragedy like this you would maybe want to maintain a low profile, but no, that didn't happen. >> reporter: within a month of her sentencing, three made-for-tv movies are made about the affair. >> whatever amy wants, amy gets. >> reporter: joey hits the talk show circuit. >> joey went off on the clear joey's name tour. >> she's the daughter after customer. that's all she is to me. >> reporter: after joey makes several media appearances, one of his co-workers goes on geraldo rivera's talk show. >> did he ever mention a young lady named amy fisher? >> he said he made love to her several times and admitted she was 16 years old. >> reporter: the district attorney finally charges joey buttafuoco. >> another sad chapter in the

store e story of amy fisher. >> reporter: in march, 1994, joey is released after spending four months in a nassau county jail but quickly violates his probation for soliciting a prostitute. >> he's always getting into mischief. >> reporter: by 1996, the family relocates to california, but their problems follow them. mary jo ultimately seeks treatment for a drug addiction. >> so, between physically getting off the medication and then the counseling that i got, it made me stronger. made me come home and realize, okay, you know, i've got to try and fix what i can fix. i can't fix him. i can only fix me. >> i was derailed, you know. if it wasn't drugs, it would be women, you know. that's all i can really say about that. >> reporter: mary jo ends up divorcing joey in 2003, more than a decade after the shooting. but the end of the marriage

still doesn't end the amy fisher story. in 2006, a producer approaches joey about reuniting with amy and mary jo for the tv shows "entertainment tonight" and "the insider." >> so yeah, i cashed in and cashed out. convinced mary jo to do it for the money. i had spent all the money i had plus had to borrow money from my dad. >> i was made an offer i couldn't refuse. i was octa poikay at that point sitting in the room with them. >> i don't have sex with children. >> you did with me. >> you have no remorse. >> thank you, everybody. >> we pushed the envelope pretty far on one of the last romantically involved. this is how insane i was. romantically involved with amy, which we not. >> we always loved each other. >> yeah, we did. we did. >> yeah. >> and i just remember being so

pissed. you're galavanting around the streets of new york with the woman who tried to murder my mother? >> amy, look over here. >> amy? >> and where is amy fisher now you may be asking yourself? >> well, she's got an ex-husband, a few kids and a tragic past behind her. >> look, there she is. >> she is choosing to be a webcam girl. she goes online and guys pay herm her money or girls, and she has sex with herself. >> reporter: the current chapter of the buttafuoco family story finally seems headed in a positive direction. >> i wouldn't be here or be able to speak to you without having my coach, robert, help me through all of the issues. it was like 60 years >> i committed to listen to him as someone who was going to be a safe space for him to reveal whatever there was to reveal. >> reporter: for jessie,

on means moving in with her mother. >> about a year ago, my mom got diagnosed with some pretty scary health news, so it's more peace of mind for me to be able to live with her. >> my jessie. that little angel, she has suffered a lot. watching this, this debacle that has gone on between her mother and her father all these years. and i think she's paid a high price for it emotionally and mentally. >> it's extremely hard for me to even think that love exists. 's really hard to change. i missed out on that. >> that's one of the walls that she has put up that i wish she could knock down. >> reporter: but this daughter of one of the most infamous couples says she's determined to reclaim the last name that's been synonymous with scandal. >> i used my credit card, oh, any relationship to joey?

just bus thase they have an opi about it. >> she says she wants to rescue the name buttafuoco. >> i'm go being to loing to loo interview in ten years and be like oh, honey. ♪ things are getting clearer, yeah i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin ♪ yeah that's all me. ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin ♪ that's my new plan. ♪ nothing is everything. keep your skin clearer with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪ i see nothing in a different way ♪ ♪ and it's my moment so i just gotta say ♪ ♪ nothing is everything skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats,

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welcome aboard. ocean! skyride. mini golf. relax! relax! relax! you take this man to be your husband? i do. married. no time for basketball. pool. carnival. choose fun. today, mother and daughter are returning to the house where it all began. their past hopefully now behind them. >> so crazy to think that someone attacked you and tried ? looking at it all and seeing the proximity and where it all happened. can you imagine the audacity of her to do that?

>> right? i know. it's cool that we get to be here together, come back and be able to have some good memories here and not just all bad, you know? >> yeah. that was a long, long, long time ago. thank god i'm still here to talk about it, right? >> amen.