Fake SEAL, So-called "Security Pro", Dies In Diving Accident
This article from The New York Post declared the deceased, Tony Maffatone, a "much-decorated former Navy SEAL". Problem is, Mr. Tony Maffatone was no such thing ...
ACCIDENT KILLS REAL-LIFE 'RAMBO'
Monday, August 7, 2000
THE Vietnam hero who inspired Sly Stallone's "Rambo" character died last week in a scuba accident off Fire Island. The ashes of Tony Maffatone, 55, were cast into the sea off the New Jersey coast on Saturday.
Everyone who knew the much-decorated former Navy SEAL is grieving over his death. The quiet-spoken Maffatone was security chief for such celebrities as Stallone, Dolly Parton, Elton John and Dodi Fayed.
"If Tony had still been guarding Dodi, I believe he and Princess Diana would be alive today," says producer Marty Richards, who is holding a Mass for Maffatone in Southampton on Thursday.
Richards knows what he's talking about. "When death threats plagued my late wife, [Band-Aid heiress] Mary Lea Johnson, and me 28 years ago, a friend in the movie business sent Tony to us," he says.
They were not initially impressed by "this kid who looked like a young Sean Connery." They didn't know about his heroism in Vietnam (he was one of 11 of his 30-man SEAL unit to survive) or about his quiet strength and courage.
"But he saved our lives at the risk of his own," Richard says, referring to the time Mary Lea's now-late ex-husband allegedly hired a hit man to kill them. "He stayed on as head of our security for nine years, and we loved him very much."
Maffatone next hooked up with Stallone as his security chief and stunt double. Sly is said to have gotten the "Rambo" idea from talking with Tony, and used him as a consultant on the blockbuster movie.
"He was a true Renaissance man," Richards says sadly. "He climbed mountains and dived to the Andrea Doria; he was an anti-terrorist consultant to the U.S. government; he developed and tested diving equipment. He was like a brother to me, and he will be sorely missed by all who knew him."
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