Husband to Fran Leonetti, Tony was with Mike Donovan as his sound-man in El Salvador covering a guerrilla war when the Visitors first arrived. Tony and Mike quickly got back to L.A. with their footage and soon enough they became higher-ups, covering their story with Kristine Walsh. He continued to cover the Visitors with Donovan, although he became suspicious, especially after Visitors launched their first efforts to fabricate a conspiracy that scientists were plotting against them.
It was Tony that first noticed a discrepancy in the individuals who were either accusing people or admitting involvement in the conspiracy. In particular, he noted that Jacques Duvivier signed his letter of confession with his left hand; he noted the same with Maurice Jankowski, a Nobel Prize winner who was the first prominent scientist to announce that the false conspiracy existed. Pulling previous footage, Tony noted that both men were previously right handed. He agreed to go to the mothership unauthorized with Donovan to search for more information but was unable to join his friend when he tripped running to the craft and had to be left behind. Donovan is able to surreptitiously film Diana and Steven talking about the conversion process and seeing them eat live small animals. In another cabin, Mike sees a random Visitor removing the covers for his eyes and tears off his fake skin in a fight, revealing the aliens' true reptilian nature.
Upon Donovan's return to network HQ, Tony got the tape ready for a news break-in when the Visitors marshaled the airwaves. Pretty soon after the Visitors invaded the studio he gave Donovan a copy of the tape and flipped over a sound machine to cover his and Donovan's escape. Tony then waited for Donovan to call, talking in code as the Visitors tapped the phones.
Tony agreed to meet the fugitive Donovan and brought his wife, who was to take in Josh Brooks, a young friend of Sean and the lone survivor from a raid on San Pedro where the Visitors captured the whole town.
Tony and Donovan planned to sneak aboard the mothership in another effort at infiltration. Tony was quite effective at helping distract and subdue a sentry to get them access, but this time the duo were caught. Tony suffered a spray of venom to the face and Mike was shot by a stun bolt.
Mike would never see Tony alive after the incident. Fifth Columnist Martin helped Mike to escape the mothership before Diana could interrogate him. Mike, insisting that Tony be allowed to go with him, was shown Diana's true, sadistic nature: Tony had been mutilated, a victim of Diana's inhumane experimentation.