I Wouldn’t Dare Try to Write This in a Novel by K.M. Rockwood

Tony and Frances Toto, a couple in Allentown, Pennsylvania recently celebrated their 57^th wedding anniversary.

The two built a life together running their family-owned pizza shop with their four kids.

“We have been blessed that we had all these years,” Tony said, noting that “one time we had a rough time.”

That was in 1983, when Frances discovered that Tony had been unfaithful. Angry, she hired a teenage hitman, Anthony Bruno, who made several unsuccessful attempts on Tony’s life.

The young hitman beat him with a bat and tried to blow up his car but was unsuccessful in killing him. Next, Frances cooked Tony a nice dinner laced with sleeping pills. As he slept, Bruno shot Tony in the head with his own .25 caliber handgun. The bullet is still lodged in Tony’s head.

Tony didn’t die, but he didn’t feel well, either. He spent five days at home in bed, with Frances telling him he had the flu while plying him with chicken soup laced with barbiturates.

Frustrated, Bruno recruited two of his cousins to help him. They made another attempt. While Tony slept, drugged by the chicken soup, one of them shot him in the chest. The bullet missed Tony’s heart by an inch. The sound of the gun woke him.

''I got up and walked from the bedroom to the living room,'' Tony said.

Five days later, someone passed a tip to the police, who went to check on him. At first, Frances tried to tell them he was out of town, but eventually, they found him lying in bed, bleeding.

 Tony spent 12 days in the hospital recuperating. Frances was arrested, as were the hitmen.

As soon as Tony was released from the hospital, he took a loan on the family house and business to raise the $50,000 it took to bail her out of jail.

She pleaded guilty to two felonies and went to prison for four years. Tony sold the pizza restaurant they owned and found a 40-hour-a-week job as a printer at a substantial cut in income so he could spend more time with the children while she was away.

While she was incarcerated, the couple talked every day on the phone.

Tony welcomed her back to the family home when she was released.

''The first night she was back home from prison I have to say I didn`t sleep at all,” Tony said. “When Frances makes chicken soup for me, I wait till she eats first.''

Sources:

"Couple together for 57 years survives infidelity, murder plot, and prison time". WFMZ. February 2023. Retrieved August 20, 2023.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-04-13-9001310150-story.html retrieved August 20,2023