Kansas City News Blog

By JUSTIN KENDALL

This week’s cover story, “Blood for Blow,” triggered an online backlash — the kind of response we’ve never seen on a feature story. Many readers wondered why The Pitch reported the story of the drug-trafficking murders of Anthony Rios and Olivia Raya. Many commenters called the story’s ending “harsh” and said that it lacked compassion. Still, a handful of readers wrote that Rios’ choice to deal drugs from his home endangered his family and came with consequences. Here's a sample of some of the comments:

“People do what they gotta do to survive,” Shelley wrote. “Maybe to some people Tony and Liv aren't innocent, but who are you to judge? They were good people who didn't cause trouble, didn’t kill, steal. They lived life. ... Maybe they didn’t make the right choice, but death was not the price to pay.”

“I truly believe The Pitch owes the families an apology,” K wrote. “Good people, made bad decisions, and their life was taken away because of it, isn’t that enough punishment? I believe it is.”

“Very sad but a chilling reminder of what your grandmother told you -- lie down with dogs you get up with flees,” j wrote. “It also shows however that even a drug dealer and his enabling girlfriend are people, human beings with families, aspirations and could actually be good people who would do anything for you outside of their drug dealing.”

Several callers complained that the story simplified Rios’ life as simply a drug dealer. One caller rapped a response. And then there was a call from the federal government's star witness who wanted to clear up his motives for testifying.

Anthony Smith called The Pitch to say that he didn't testify for a shortened sentence or a $20,000 reward (listen to Smith's phone call below). Smith says he did it to clear not only his name but also his brother Andre's name.

Smith says fellow federal inmates had wrongly blamed him and his brother Andre for the murders. Meanwhile, Smith says Dale, the triggerman in the murders, first told him about killing “the Mexicans” in 2003.

With other inmates trying to pin the murders on him and his brother, Smith says he urged Dale to clear his name.

“I was like, 'Man, I can't do life for something that I didn't do,'” Smith recalls.

Dale had similar thoughts. “He's telling me he can't do life,” Smith says.

Smith remembers Dale encouraging him to take the murder rap to trial. Dale told Smith that he could beat the rap.

“I just got to the point where I'm like, 'Man, if he ain't going to stand up and be a man and clear my name, I'm going to have to do what I'm going to have to do,'” Smith says. “It put me in a position to look at it, 'Do I need to be loyal to him or do I need to be loyal to myself and my kid and forget about this street code?'”

Smith cut a deal with the federal government. Smith says in exchange for his and his brother’s releases, he agreed to wear a wire, get Dale to confess to the murders and testify at the trial.

On December 3, a federal jury convicted Dale and Dyshawn Johnson of first-degree murder and conspiracy to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.

“After this, I don't have no friends,” Smith says. “I don't deal with nobody. And I don't trust nobody. The guy that I did trust was 'Gin' [Michael Dale]. He showed me there is no trust in this game. There's no loyalty no more.”

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Double-click play for Anthony Smith’s phone call to Justin Kendall.

Double-click play for the rap phone message left in response to “Blood for Blow.”