*Disclaimer: This article does not imply that Arizona Football, the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, or the NFL had any influence on Smith's reprehensible actions. This is also not a piece defending Smith. Rather, it aims to explore the complex nature of the human condition and how a confluence of tragedies can derail the highest levels of success.
Rest in peace to Maurilio Ponce, Kevin Nettles, Ricky Nettles, and Dennis Henderson. May peace rest for your family now that justice has been served*.
As a longtime true crime fan, I came across a strange page while researching Arizona Football's biggest NFL draft bust. Anthony Smith wasn't necessarily a “failure” in terms of his playing career, but his life trajectory is one that no one would envy. Don't get me wrong. Even if he became a star in one season in Tucson and went on to have a long NFL career, he will rightfully be forever known as a killer first and a football player second.
Of the four NFL players in history to be convicted of murder, Aaron Hernandez was the only one to spend his football career playing in the same ballpark. Strangely, Smith did not commit any convicted murders until the end of his active career. This twisted combination of court-proven depravity and sheer athleticism is only found in guys like Hernandez and Oscar Pistorius.
Former Arizona defensive end Anthony Wayne Smith was drafted 11th overall in the 1990 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Raiders after gaining nearly 20 pounds in the offseason. Smith played three years at Alabama as a nose tackle, defensive tackle and defensive end before transferring to Arizona after Ray Perkins went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His third pick marks the only time the Wildcats have taken two first-round picks after the New England Patriots took linebacker Chris Singleton at No. 8.
While his college accomplishments seem to have been forgotten over time, his NFL accomplishments have not. He was an active player with the Raiders for seven seasons, with 57.5 career sacks, three seasons with 10 or more sacks, over 200 career tackles, 11 forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries, and one recovered fumble. He scored 6 points. Out of this set of numbers, there was one number that defined Smith's life more than any other. Four.
He started his career on a potential Hall of Fame trajectory. After missing his rookie season due to knee surgery, his sophomore season saw him play in all 16 games and had 10.5 sacks opposite veteran Greg Townsend, who had a team-leading 13 sacks. Smith proved it was no fluke the following year, recording a team-leading 13 sacks. He recorded double-digit sacks for three straight seasons, and in 1993 he led the team for the second straight year with 12.5 sacks, bringing his total to 36 sacks in just three seasons.
Smith put offensive linemen, quarterbacks, and especially John Elway through hell. To give you an idea of how good Smith was, even in Khalil Mack's first four seasons in Oakland, he was 1.5 sacks short of Smith's pace. Smith's efforts paid off, as he was signed to a $7.6 million contract after the 1993 season. He went on to record 21.5 sacks over the remaining four seasons of his career, but he would have recorded 48 sacks if he had stayed on the same production trajectory.
Smith once again never recorded more than seven sacks in a season, disappeared from Raiders practice for two days, and was suspended for four games, ending his tenure in Los Angeles and ending his career as a football player. His career ended too soon. He briefly signed with the Denver Broncos prior to the 1998 season, but left the league shortly thereafter.
The water was rough for Smith from the jump. He was born on June 28, 1967, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, to a man named James Gallop and a woman named Naomi. It is unclear whether Gallop was Smith's father or stepfather, but his abusive treatment of Naomi, who suffered from severe alcohol problems, was alarming. A family friend described the time Gallop picked Naomi up and put her on top of her hot stove to brand her, believing he was cheating on her. Told.
Naomi died when Smith was three years old, probably due to cirrhosis of the liver. His half-brother, Donald, stepped in as his primary caregiver in his early twenties and was successful in evicting Gallop from his residence. This speaks volumes about the character of a man in his 20s who can impose his will on an extremely violent man and eliminate him.
Donald's new role as Smith's father provided more stability, but a relatively equal level of treatment. Donald first worked for UPS and rose through the ranks to become sheriff and then justice of the peace, while Smith was raised with his niece, who was much closer to his age. Donald reportedly had a hand in both Smith and his niece, but it was normal at the time to show off to the public the happy life of dog and pony while being brutal with the family behind closed doors. It was thought that.
Smith was widely remembered as a big, “nerdy” figure during his high school days, and at first he wasn't very competitive, and was instead happy to find positive peers. It wasn't until his junior year that he started taking soccer seriously and working relentlessly to earn meal tickets. Perkins scouted Smith to play at the University of Alabama, and he finally fled Elizabeth City, Donald, and his old life for the glory that came with being in Tuscaloosa.
However, over the years, Smith had displayed some alarming behaviors, giving others an overall sense of insecurity. Dishonesty about his background and upbringing, fake ID badges to various institutions, and a strange love story with Price's protégé Vanity are just the tip of the iceberg for a man so deeply disturbed. But his ultimate downfall appears to be his massive four-year, $7.6 million contract extension and the paranoia it exacerbated.This is the first instance of this number Four It controls Smith's life.
As a strong overcompensation for the poverty he experienced in his youth, Smith sought to ensure that he did not remain deprived and to break the cycle of suffering he had inflicted on others. He bought several homes for himself, the most notable being a five-bedroom home described as a “palace” atop a hill in the Los Angeles suburb of Playa del Rey. He also bought Donald a new Corvette every year. Hill bordered on riches, and Smith said he would ask teammates of his family for “$30,000, like $300” and how that bothered him so much.
Smith met Vanity (Dennis Matthews' stage name) in 1995 after Matthews began meeting Smith. Matthews, who is seven years older than Smith, proposed to her three days after they met, and they were married just a month later. The relationship quickly fell apart, as did his first marriage, and by 1997 the couple separated. A particularly disturbing incident that occurred at a Raiders team breakfast was highlighted by Dwayne Simon in his GQ interview.
“He grabbed her arm and made her sit down. She tried to stand up, but he pulled her down and said, 'Get down!' I was really scared.” [Matthews]. He thought he was going to take out her frustration. arm. “
– dwayne simon
Shortly after Matthews and Smith separated, Smith was arrested on domestic violence charges in 1997. This was part of the panic spiral Smith experienced after his time with the Raiders ended, which Smith ended by signing with the Broncos in July 1998. But that didn't last long, as he told his personal assistant to leave L.A., drive to Denver, pick up himself and his new girlfriend Teresa Obero White, and stop in Las Vegas on the way back to L.A. I asked her to marry me. .
The unstructured and relatively easy-going life of professional athletes after their careers is in sharp contrast to the rigidly structured routines and routines that come with being a member of the NFL. He got involved in shady business ventures and started hanging out with edgy characters associated with gangs and violence. Although the public did not yet know it, Smith would commit his first murder by the end of 1999.
By all accounts, Marilyn Nelson treated Smith well when he was a troublesome consignment customer at her shop, Simply Sofa. Smith came to pick up the check for the items sold and collect the items that didn't sell. The most important was the controversial marble obelisk. Smith was adamant that Nelson must pay for the damage to the base of the obelisk, but Nelson insisted that the items be returned in their original condition.
Nelson, a business veteran, knew when to hold and when to fold, and provided a second check for Smith to receive along with the unsold merchandise. Importantly, Mr. Smith had already received a check for $615 for the goods he sold. However, a woman claiming to be Smith's assistant called Nelson and told him that Smith had lost the check and that he should prepare a new one. Smith returned to the Simply Sofa, collected both his new check and his belongings, then silently pointed ominously at Nelson and left.
A few days later, Wells Fargo called the store to inform them that Smith was attempting to cash the allegedly “lost” check. Nelson's daughter put a stop to it, and just two weeks later, Simply Sofa was set on fire. What remained were three “incendiary bombs” made by filling five-gallon jugs with paper and soaking them in gasoline. Somehow, more than 30 pieces of gasoline-soaked mail addressed to Smith and his wife were recovered from among the incendiary bombs.
When first confronted by Sergeant Robert Almada in his apartment, Smith became hysterical, apologized profusely, sobbed into his hands and buried his face in his wife. But the seemingly childish fear was replaced with stone-cold seriousness as Smith did his best to dismantle Armada in the interview room.
“That's not going to solve the problem, and a $1,200 check is nothing to Anthony Smith. It's not worth it. Walk away. In that situation, walk away. She'll get what's hers. Go away. She'll get it. “
– From Smith to Armada
In the ensuing trial, the courtroom was filled with four gang members wearing Raiders jackets to intimidate prosecution witnesses. But this intimidation force was not as effective as Smith's energy on the witness stand. He offered two semi-plausible explanations for his initial reaction and how his email got to Simply Sofas, but when combined with an emotional performance on the stand… , those explanations gained even more weight.
The defense argued that his reaction was because he remembered the two defeats he had suffered. Mr. Gallop's longtime girlfriend and her daughter, both of whom were close to Mr. Smith, died in a house fire in Elizabeth City in 1996. Gallop said the mail was delivered by workers hired to move items from consignment stores to trucks. Smith claimed he was cleaning out a storage locker containing mailboxes in the back of his truck. When picking up the items, they removed the mailbox and placed it in the Simply Sofa trash can for eventual use by the incendiary bomb maker.
The first time, the jury deadlocked 7-5 in Smith's favor, leading to a retrial. This time, the jury was even more deadlocked, 11-1 in Smith's favor. The jury reportedly “loved” him and the charges were dropped in 2004 after he spent just under a year and a half in prison.
*Content Warning: The remainder of this piece contains graphic information about sensitive subjects such as death, violence, and abuse.
