Who is Rita Chatterton? WWE’s first female ref who accused Vince McMahon of rape makes NEW revelations
Rita Chatterton, 64, who became a licensed wrestling referee in New York in 1984, had previously accused Vince McMahon publicly of forcing himself on her in a limo in a 1992 interview with Geraldo Rivera. Unfortunately, the WWF star had already been in numerous scandals because of which Chatterton's accusations got lost in the shuffle so no charges were brought against McMahon.
Followed by the fresh new allegations against McMahon in June, reported by The Wall Street Journal, that McMahon had paid millions of dollars of his own cash to silence women he had sexual relationships with while they worked for him, former pro wrestler Leonard Inzitari whose stage name was Mario Mancini, came out corroborating the allegation that McMahon raped Chatterton. “I remember it like it was yesterday,” says Inzitari. “She was a wreck. She was shaking. She was crying", Inzitari told the New York Magazine on Monday.
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“He’s dug himself such a deep hole that I’m just tired of it. I can’t do it anymore", Inzitari said referring to McMahon. According to Inzitari, in that summer of 1986, he found Chatterton standing alone near the wrestling ring a few hours before a WWF show. “She looks at me and bursts out in tears,” Inzitari recalls. “And she grabbed me, and I go, ‘Rita, what happened?’”.
To which Chatterton replied, “I was in Vince’s limo …” “Lenny, he took his penis out,” he said Chatterton told him between sobs. “He kinda forced my head down there, and I made it known I wasn’t interested in doing that", Inztari said. During her interview with New York Magazine, Chatterton refused to go into specifics but Inzitari, her longtime friend from the business, corroborated her story.
“He promised me half-a-million dollars a year,” Chatterton told the outlet in the story out Monday, referring to the contract offer McMahon extended over the phone following her television debut with the then-WWF in January 1985. According to Chatterton, McMahon called her to tell that he was “impressed” with her work and wanted her to go “full-time” but had a warning for her, she told New York Magazine. “Keep yourself clean,” he said, according to Chatterton. “I don’t wanna see you messing around with any of the wrestlers. You keep it professional.”
Chatterton told the outlet the attack happened after she asked McMahon to discuss her career and he told her to meet her at a diner after the show. McMahon suggested the two go to another diner down the street but when she left the restaurant, McMahon said he was tired and asked to speak inside his limo. “It’ll only take 10 minutes,” he allegedly said.
Who is Rita Chatterton?
Born Rita Filicoski in Albany on January 22, 1957, Chatterton was raised in the nearby town of Mechanicville. Rita’s little brother never got to become a wrestler. Christopher died in a car accident on May 3, 1979, which motivated Chatterton to go into wrestling. At the time, Chatterton was 22 years old, divorced, raising a daughter on her own, and was working as a delivery driver for Wonder Bread in the Albany area. The same year, she developed a cyst that caused one of her lungs to collapse. After a long recovery from the collapsed lung, Chatterton ended up training at a wrestling school from her brother’s list, Passariello’s Quest, in southwestern Connecticut. In 1984, Chatterton completed her training and received a license to referee in New York.
During Chatterton's interview with Rivera in 1992, Chatterton claimed McMahon then unzipped his pants and orally raped her. “Vince continued to, you know, ‘If you want a half-a-million-dollar contract, you’re going to have to satisfy me, and this is the way things have to go,’” she said at the time.
Speaking to New York Magazine, Chatterton recalled what McMahon said once the attack was over. “One of the things that stick with me, and always will… was, after he got done doing his business, he looked at me and said, ‘Remember when I told you not to mess with any of the wrestlers? Well, you just did,'” she recalled. Following the attack, Chatterton told New York Magazine she went to the diner’s restroom and “cried my heart out” before going home and taking a “five-hour shower.”
Earlier this month, McMahon signed his resignation from his role as CEO and chairman of WWE. The fresh claims are what inspired Chatterton and Inzitari to speak out after so much time had passed. “I’m sure others will come forward. Because we’re not the only two. There’s not a doubt in my mind about that,” Chatterton told the outlet. “As far as wrestling goes, I guess I’m the first in a lot of things … As far as I know, I’m the first to come out with the whole issue of what a scumbag he is.”