Las Vegas Man Guilty in Nashville Killing

A Las Vegas pit boss was convicted of murder Thursday for gunning down a music chart researcher outside a recording studio in 1989 on Nashville’s Music Row.

Richard D’Antonio, 56, was sentenced to life in prison in the death of Kevin Hughes, who had worked with D’Antonio at Cash Box, a music industry trade magazine.

Prosecutors said Hughes, 23, was killed because of fears he was about to expose a scheme at the magazine in which artists could bribe their way onto the record charts.

D’Antonio also was found guilty of assault with intent to commit second-degree murder for wounding country singer Sammy Sadler outside the studio. He will be sentenced on that charge later.

D’Antonio was impassive as the verdicts were announced in county court. The jury deliberated about seven hours.

The Hughes family embraced in the courtroom and again outside the building.

“I’m still shaking. It’s going to take awhile for our bodies and minds to absorb all this,” said Larry Hughes, Kevin’s father.

Kyle Hughes said he had faith all along that his brother’s killer would be caught and convicted. “Justice was served today. We’re so thrilled,” he said.

D’Antonio was an associate of the late Chuck Dixon, a record promoter and former Cash Box magazine employee. Dixon allegedly controlled access to the independent-artist country music singles chart at the magazine.

Dixon reportedly was angry at Hughes for trying to expose that promoters and little-known artists had to pay Dixon to get onto the chart. Witnesses said D’Antonio was sometimes the bag man for the scheme, collecting bribes ranging from $1,500 to $2,000 per single.

Hughes’ job involved calling radio stations to track airplay, figures the magazine used to help determine chart position. He was making an effort to give the chart credibility by using more radio stations that weren’t aligned to Dixon.

Industry insiders say some record promoters working mostly for small, independent labels would offer gifts to radio programmers in exchange for airplay, or they would bribe chart researchers for a “bullet,” signifying the song was climbing the charts.