Copyright 1993 Burrelle's Information Services
CBS News Transcripts
SHOW: CBS THIS MORNING (7:00 AM ET)
TYPE: Interview
LENGTH: 849 words
HEADLINE: RAFAEL ABRAMOVITZ DISCUSSES THE AMY FISHER STORY
ANCHORS: HARRY SMITH
BODY:
HARRY SMITH, co-host:
Thanks, Mark.
It seems like the whole "Long Island Lolita" story has been played out on tape. Now comes the latest home video giving us yet another look at Amy Fisher.
(Excerpt from "Hard Copy" with footage of the home video, courtesy of Paramount Television)
AMY FISHER: (From video excerpt) ...taping. OK. You can have this to remember me by.
ZAHN: And it's not just video. Listen to part of an audio diary she made from her boyfriend or for her boyfriend after she was convicted of shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco.
(Excerpt from the audio tape with words on screen.)
FISHER: (From audio) I'm so happy that I saw you. I really missed you a lot. And--let's see--oh, yeah, I beat my mom home. She's still not home. I passed her on, like, Sunrise Highway and I did, like, 90. And just came in my room and locked my door, so when she gets home she can't yell at me. ...and I'm sitting here right now with no shirt. I'm just sort of massaging my chest and thinking about you. I know I should stop. The new and improved Amy shouldn't do things like this, but I can't help it. Some things will never change.
ZAHN: "Hard Copy" reporter Rafael Abramovitz turned up these latest tapes. You'll see more of his broadcast this evening. He joins us this morning from Los Angeles.
Good morning. Thanks for being with us.
RAFAEL ABRAMOVITZ (Investigative Reporter "Hard Copy"): Good morning.
ZAHN: So what is it on these tapes that we haven't seen or heard before?
Mr. ABRAMOVITZ: Well, the news value of the video tape is because of when it was done. It was done within a month of the shooting. At the time, she was supposedly obsessed with Joey Buttafuoco. All she wanted was to get him alone. She was planning to kill his wife. There were all kinds of allegations. Well, the Amy in this particular tape seems to be oblivious, as far as Buttafuoco is concerned, and that's very interesting.
You see, the problem with this case from the beginning has been that Amy Fisher's lawyer has been giving Amy Fisher's version of the story and everybody seems to be buying it. And I don't understand that, because each time something comes up that shows the true Amy Fisher, everybody looks the other way. I think that's the problem with this case and it's been a problem from the start.
ZAHN: So what difference do you think the release of--of this--these tapes will make? Will they have any impact at all?
Mr. ABRAMOVITZ: I think--I think you have to get the truth of this story, because this story has been so distorted and the ramifications of it are so great that if you avoid the truth and you ignore it, you ignore the lessons in it, and disaster, I think, is what comes from it.
This young woman was running on the highways of Long Island at 90 miles an hour. She was out on bail. She was supposed to be in the care of adults and under supervision. Those were the conditions of her bail. She was out there in the--on the roads having assignations, doing what she pleased, getting tans, totally unconcerned about what she had done, totally unremorseful. And every time she was being presented, she was being presented as a victim. This is a very selfish young woman, who was running wild. And every time somebody says wait a minute, this young woman put a bullet in the head of a mother of two young children, everybody wants to talk about Joey Buttafuoco and whether he did or didn't do her.
There is no evidence, apparently, that he ever plotted to kill his wife. The district attorney doesn't have it. Amy Fisher's lawyer doesn't have it. I know that for a fact. I've spoken to him about it. He was trying to get Amy Fisher to get somebody to wear a wire to entrap Joey Buttafuoco.
When you don't have the evidence, you don't run your mouth. If you have the evidence, then you bring it out. This story's been a disaster from the beginning...
HARRY SMITH (Co-anchor): Let's jump...
Mr. ABRAMOVITZ: ...and she is a disaster.
SMITH: Let's jump to the audio tape for a second. What's on that audio tape and when was it recorded?
Mr. ABRAMOVITZ: The audio tape was recorded between August 18th all the way through August 28th. And it's kind of a journal. It's an an electronic journal.
You know--you learn a lot about Amy. One of the things about Amy that I--I'm beginning to suspect is we got multiple personalities. I don't mean that it--I'm not a psychiatrist. I don't even play one on television. But there are many Amys. And the Amy that her lawyer has been pushing just doesn't jibe. He knows it. I know it. Anybody who's seen the types I've gotten hold of knows it, too.
SMITH: We're going to take a break right now. We're going to come back and talk some more. At 23 minutes past the hour or before the hour, next on CBS THIS MORNING, more of the story behind the Amy tapes.
(Excerpt from video of Amy Fisher)
FISHER: (From video) The truth is I did something that was so awful and I wish I could take it back. It's also the truth, I had an affair with a married man.
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