The Bengals selected Fanene with the 233rd overall pick in the seventh round of the 2005 NFL draft.

"I'm used to being around different races but seeing the same nationality around you and having your friends from back home, it makes me happy to work with them."

[6] Fanene had served as the Director of the American Samoa Department of Youth and Women's Affairs.

[7] His employment was terminated by American Samoa's acting Lt. Gov Lemanu Palepoi Sialega Mauga after Fanene was arrested for a May 26, 2019 incident where Fanene physically assaulted his wife and sister in front of his own son.

Fanene resides in Dayton, Kentucky, a small town across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.