Mario Galento

**Bonnie Lee Boyette** (June 17, 1915 – January 6, 1989), better known by his ring name **Mario Galento**, was an American professional wrestler. He was known for his reputation for being a tough wrestler; many stories of Galento have been told by wrestlers and fans.

## Early life

Bonnie Lee Boyette was born on June 17, 1915, one of five children from a sharecropper's family in Alamo, Tennessee. He was forced to drink moonshine from his father, which led to a long-lasting alcohol addiction for him later in life. Boyette was reported to have lived as a hobo after dropping out of sixth grade. From 1942 to 1945, he served as a member of the Navy Seabees from the U.S. Naval Construction Force.

## Professional wrestling career

He started wrestling as early as June 1950 under the name Maurice Boyette. Not too long after, he had started competing in the Gulf Coast as Butcher Boyette, a name that referenced his past time working as a butcher. During this time, he donned cowboy boots and a black string tie, holding the Gulf Coast version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Titles two times in 1955 with Red Roberts. A year prior, he competed for a time as the Masked Flash in Mobile, Alabama. He was identified under his most well-known name of Mario Galento after being unmasked, which was inspired from his mentor in Tennessee, Al "Spider" Galento.

From 1957 to 1958, he won many titles including the Southern Junior Heavyweight Championship, Mid-America World Tag Team Championship with Lee Fields, and the Mississippi Heavyweight Championship. Galento also competed for New York in the early 60s as the Wild Rebel. He also held the Georgia Heavyweight Championship from November 13, 1964 to May 28, 1965; a notable moment during his reign was when he was pinned by Jesse James, just to defeat him to retain his championship a week later.

On August 7, 1957, Galento won his first Gulf Coast Heavyweight Title by defeating Eduardo Pérez, holding it until he dropped the title on January 8, 1958 to Yvon Roberre. He won the title for a second time on February 18 by defeating Roberre, until dropping it on July 3 to Buddy Fuller. Galento won the title again on February 3, 1960, defeating Roberre until March 16, when Joe McCarthy beat him. On February 1, 1961, he won the title from Pancho Villa, but he had left the territory by early July so the title was vacant. On July 24, 1963, Galento won the championship by forfeit after previous champion Rocket Monroe missed their match due to the flu, however on August 14, Galento would be defeated by Monroe for the title. His last reign came on April 3, 1968 when he defeated Bobby Fields, and he dropped the title to Rocket Monroe in May.

Galento, who wrestled the majority of his career as a heel, but also spent time as a fan-favorite, was known for his toughness, both in and outside of the ring. He was often seen carrying a gun, where one time, he shot "Memphis tough" Sonny Byrd. During one of his wife Smokey's matches, which she lost, Galento was enclosed on top of a cage when an audience member shouted "Here goes Mario's whore". This enraged Galento, who was trying to tear down the cage he was stuck in. After the match, a woman called Galento a "monkey boy" and handed him a banana; he would eventually shove the banana down the throat of the man who called his wife a whore. The spectator was was talked out of pressing charges by a police officer. Galento was nearly arrested in April 1965 after he hit wrestler Billy Hines with a roll of coins, bloodying him in the process.

Jerry Jarrett had once just finished a thirty minute match with Jerry Lawler when he was knocked down after being hit in the back of the head. He thought he was hit by Lawler's manager, Sam Bass, until he noticed it was Galento. Jarrett was trained by noted shooter Sailor Moran, who gave him advice to what to do in a real fight; he would pluck out Galento's left eyeball after drawing on the knowledge. Lawler and Jarrett then continued to beat on Galento until he left the ringside area. However, Galento came back with a nightstick, but Jarrett caught him, took the nightstick and beat on him again. Galento escaped the ring and went behind promoter Roy Welch. Jarrett suspected that Welch had put Galento up to this, as he believed Jarrett was trying to take over the business. Jarrett then hit Welch with the nightstick, but he was stopped by several wrestlers.

A photo from the aftermath showed Galento's left eyeball missing and closed over, the other eye badly swollen, bruised and deep gashes on his forehead. It required two hundred stitches to close his wounds. Lawler was wrestling when he was struck from behind as had Jarrett. Lawler saw Galento was carrying a straight razor, and was also accompanied by his wife. Lawler rolled out, threw a chair and went to the locker room and told the boys what had happened. Fellow wrestler Jimmy Valiant reached into his bag and pulled out a hand gun, pointing it right at Galento as he came into the back. He dropped the razor and then the sherriff of Mississippi, who were in the audience, came to see what had been pursuing. Galento, Lawler and Valiant were arrested by the police, with Lawler and Valiant being the only ones reported to have returned to wrestling.

Galento last wrestled in mid-1974 but remained in the business despite suffering from heart ailments. Outside of the ring, he owned the Mario’s Pizza & Italian Food restaurant in Marietta, Georgia and spent time in rehab, wanting to make inspirational films that would be shown in churches. In fact, Galento actually starred in two films, *Frontier Woman* in 1956 and *Natchez Trace* in 1960. He also knew and practiced self hypnosis.

## Death

On January 6, 1989, Galento died from complications of liver disease at the age of 73.