Richard “Tony” D’Antonio, who was serving a life sentence at Lois DeBerry Special Needs Facility for the murder of now-defunct Cash Box magazine Chart Director, 23-year-old Kevin Hughes on March 9, 1989. D’Antonio died Sept. 10, 2014 of natural causes, MusicRow has confirmed.
He was sentenced a life sentence in 2003 after being found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Hughes. Prosecutors maintained that Hughes was shot and killed because he was attempting to clean a crooked business practice. D’Antonio had worked with Chuck Dixon, a record promoter and former Cash Box employee who died in 2001. According to testimonies, Dixon was angered that Hughes attempted to halt a scheme that allowed promoters and artists to pay Dixon for a position on the Cash Box chart. During a trial in September 2003, witnesses testified that D’Antonio collected bribes up to $2,000 to make sure a single charted.
D’Antonio was also convicted of assault with intent to commit second degree murder for the attempted murder of singer Sammy Sadler.
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Jessica Nicholson serves as the Managing Editor for MusicRow magazine. Her previous music journalism experience includes work with Country Weekly magazine and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) magazine. She holds a BBA degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University. She welcomes your feedback at jnicholson@musicrow.com.View Author Profile
