Coverage of Harbor Gateway killing gets personal
Some of you might have read some of the heated comments under a story published Tuesday about the former Torrance High School student shot to death outside his home in Harbor Gateway. Three people were arrested in the killing of 19-year-old Giovanni Russo on Nov. 29.
The story, based on information from the police, said Russo was killed during a marijuana deal that went bad.
As I prepared Tuesday to head up to Rolling Hills Estates to cover yet another killing, Russo's father arrived in the Daily Breeze lobby.
For safety reasons, I don't just head out to the lobby to meet unannounced visitors. I deal with nothing but crime every day. I spoke to Jeff Russo over the phone.
The father was upset that I wrote that his son was killed in a drug deal.
The story, based on information from the police, said Russo was killed during a marijuana deal that went bad.
As I prepared Tuesday to head up to Rolling Hills Estates to cover yet another killing, Russo's father arrived in the Daily Breeze lobby.
For safety reasons, I don't just head out to the lobby to meet unannounced visitors. I deal with nothing but crime every day. I spoke to Jeff Russo over the phone.
The father was upset that I wrote that his son was killed in a drug deal.
I got that information from Detective Chris Barling, the supervising
detective in the LAPD's South Bureau Homicide office. His department
generally only allows the supervisors to speak with reporters.
Mr. Russo wanted a retraction, an apology and a new story to explain that his son was not selling pot and was the victim of a robbery. He told me investigators handling the case -- those who work for Barling -- disputed my story.
After talking with him awhile, I realized it was safe and I headed out to meet him. I said I would look into the matter. If I had reported bad information, I would certainly write another story.
I immediately called Detective Barling and left a message. He called back a short time later, and said he was aware that Mr. Russo had called investigators to complain about the story.
But Barling told me that my story was accurate and I did not need to retract anything. I told this to Mr. Russo. When I was out at the RHE homicide scene, he apparently called my boss and again asked for a retraction. My boss stood by the story.
During the last couple of days, I have received some angry and obscenity-laced e-mails from people close to Giovanni Russo. (I'll post them in another entry.) In addition, the anger was represented in the user comments under the story on the Web site. They've since been shut off, especially after it got a bit personal toward me. I was called a variety of names, and was told that I should repent my sins.
One writer, who called himself "Bob the Idiot," posted my personal Facebook link. He called me a "joke of a reporter."
I'm not really sure if my Facebook page was open for all to see for several hours. It occurred at a time when Facebook is changing its privacy settings, and I'm unsure if my privacy was violated. I quickly deactivated my account to shut down my pages -- which included my phone number, email addresses, city of residence, photographs, etc. -- and later reset the privacy settings. I also took out anything from my pages that could bring any harm to me.
I'm not happy about any of this. I treated Mr. Russo with respect.
I've written crime stories for more than 22 years. I meet plenty of victims' families and have come to know many personally, checking in on them as the years pass. I treat all with respect.
I have no idea why Giovanni Russo was killed and have no vested interest in the motive. It's very simple: The police investigate. I ask them what happened. They tell me. I write it. You read it.
It's my job to report on these stories and tell the truth, even if it means that the family members left behind are hurt by the things that are revealed about their loved ones.
I believe that's what's happened here. Just leave me out of it.
Mr. Russo wanted a retraction, an apology and a new story to explain that his son was not selling pot and was the victim of a robbery. He told me investigators handling the case -- those who work for Barling -- disputed my story.
After talking with him awhile, I realized it was safe and I headed out to meet him. I said I would look into the matter. If I had reported bad information, I would certainly write another story.
I immediately called Detective Barling and left a message. He called back a short time later, and said he was aware that Mr. Russo had called investigators to complain about the story.
But Barling told me that my story was accurate and I did not need to retract anything. I told this to Mr. Russo. When I was out at the RHE homicide scene, he apparently called my boss and again asked for a retraction. My boss stood by the story.
During the last couple of days, I have received some angry and obscenity-laced e-mails from people close to Giovanni Russo. (I'll post them in another entry.) In addition, the anger was represented in the user comments under the story on the Web site. They've since been shut off, especially after it got a bit personal toward me. I was called a variety of names, and was told that I should repent my sins.
One writer, who called himself "Bob the Idiot," posted my personal Facebook link. He called me a "joke of a reporter."
I'm not really sure if my Facebook page was open for all to see for several hours. It occurred at a time when Facebook is changing its privacy settings, and I'm unsure if my privacy was violated. I quickly deactivated my account to shut down my pages -- which included my phone number, email addresses, city of residence, photographs, etc. -- and later reset the privacy settings. I also took out anything from my pages that could bring any harm to me.
I'm not happy about any of this. I treated Mr. Russo with respect.
I've written crime stories for more than 22 years. I meet plenty of victims' families and have come to know many personally, checking in on them as the years pass. I treat all with respect.
I have no idea why Giovanni Russo was killed and have no vested interest in the motive. It's very simple: The police investigate. I ask them what happened. They tell me. I write it. You read it.
It's my job to report on these stories and tell the truth, even if it means that the family members left behind are hurt by the things that are revealed about their loved ones.
I believe that's what's happened here. Just leave me out of it.
21 Comments
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About the Blogger
Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
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your saying the truth dont worry about everything u said its true
that fou sold weed and all the people telling u that stuff forget them they are lieing
That you feel the heat from so many people that had found the article without merit as you had not interviewed the Investigating Detectives on the case but a Detective Chris Barling, and of all people, the mother who had driven the boys to commit the murder and has already proven herself to not be a credible person is something I hope you will think about next time a story needs to be written. I am shocked that you have not taken the time to get the facts directly from the people intimately involved. It was stated by Detectives that drugs were initially considered due to the ages of all involved but was ruled out later as it was clear that premeditated murder and robbery for cash was the motive and with possible overtures of gang activity on the part of the suspects and not the victim. It would be nice for the Daily Breeze to start recognizing that there are more than one dimension to a story and that until you have concluded that all sides have been satisfied a story can not commence nor conclude. I would hope that with all that has been said on the internet and in the articles the true victim here was a 19 year old boy walking out the front door of his home after receiving a cell call thinking he is meeting a friend and not an end to his life. Lets start considering who is truely the injured party!
yeah, i cant believe this guy, he says he just wants to report the truth, well get all the facts first, are just say you work for the police . let me tell you , that basicly racial profiling, sterotyping you say leave you out of it your the one that suposed to be reporting the facts i think your full of it, you defenetly no your full of it, and now every one else knows your full of it!!! and now your getting called on it. come on man all we want is alittle honesty, not every one is stupid, if your not gona give us the facts find onother job
the truth hurts
Larry, you have done a great job covering all the stories. You are correct in that you are just doing your job, which is to report the facts. You have to assume that what you are told by any police department to be the truth. Keep up the good work and thanks for keeping us all up to date with crime and courts around the South Bay.
Why can't all of these lowlifes come to terms with the fact that their dead buddy was a lousy drug dealer? Probably a bunch of Bogert fans.
Larry does a kick ass job everyday and is the only reason I still read the Breeze. Keep up the great hard hitting reporting!
While I understand the details of the story were being relayed as they were reported to you from the police, I think the mention of the younger brother's nickname was incendiary and taken out of context. It made it seem that because the older brother may or maynot have been involved with drugs, that the younger brother was too. The nickname 'Junky' was in no way a reference to drugs and this minor child who is suffering the loss of his older brother should not have even been mentioned in your article. Of course he thinks his brother was great, it was his older brother - to make light of that by writing his myspace posts was condecending, rude and shows a true lack of compassion on your part.
Larry, I think you do a fine job reporting what you receive from "credible" sources. Referring to family members and others involved isn't too reliable as they all have their version of what happened. I'm sure no parent wants to hear that their child was a drug dealer let alone killed during a bad sale. It just comes to show us that parents don't always know what their children are in to or doing especially 19 year olds. It is a tragedy and you are just doing "your job". Keep up the good work, I enjoy reading your articles.
My criticism of your article was not reporting the facts that you got as a reporter from the police but the last 2 paragraphs of the article where you went into a young, grieving brothers MySpace and took his words out of context and basically mocked him for thinking his brother was great. You didn't even get it right that there was a picture of Gio getting high on his page...that was someone else. The point is that after reading the article it felt that this murder was justified because the dead 19 year old was a low-life loser. If you did as you said above and stuck to the facts as reported to you then I don't think you would be feeling this backlash! Shame....
I was shocked to read about another young mans death by drugs.
But after re-reading the article and checking with the police you larry are a sleaze as I found that drugs was not the factual reason for the murder but rather as the police have said a premeditaed murder for cash and a gang thing.
The victim did not sell to the suspects that night and was not in a gang you sleazebal.
If you would check with the proper sources at the police station you will find this all to be true.
That you would take the time to interview the mother-of-all-murder and take for fact what she says as she rots in jail and not followup with the police involved shows a true lack of judgement and morals. In a rush to sell papers you seem to have left out a large part of the truth and for that I hope the family takes legal action againist you and the daily sleaze.
You are a reporter and should report the truth not sensationalize a murder for the sake of a paper sale.
And I also agree with someone who said the daily sleaze has overstep when stomping on the first amendment rights of others to voice their opinion on your rude, sleazy, fictional story.
People who placed a rude comment in support of the victim's drug deal murder should read the story and realize they only received the killers side and not any other information to allow them to come to the proper conclusion.
Larry you should receive the award for biggest sleaze reporter in the southbay!
Larry,
Honestly, oops I'm sorry you don't understand the word.
I was able to speak to the decetives resposible for the murder and they said that if someone had called them about the case they are more than capable of speaking and that this Chris Barling was not the only one allowed.
That you printed the murdered boy's fathers name and writings from the boy's brother shows a complete lack of morals.
And this following statement is not true form your own writing
"I got that information from Detective Chris Barling, the supervising detective in the LAPD's South Bureau Homicide office. His department generally only allows the supervisors to speak with reporters".
This seems to be a continuing coverup by you and the daily breeze to not come clean with the truth.
The more I read about this the more I find this story to have been without any feelings for the victim or the family just another reporter trying to put something in print to sell a newspaper.
Shame on you Larry Altman.
This may be long but please read the whole thing, because this is an UNBIASED opinion on the whole thing and I have never known Giovanni Russo myself. And please consider what I say.
Maybe he had been a pot dealer but how could one assume that this happened from a drug deal? If you don't want people to react to what you write, you should get your facts straight, make sure it's actaully correct. Honestly it may not have even been a drug deal "gone bad". It seems more like it was a premeditated murder like one ^ said up there, if the boys had a gun... it was obviously a premeditated robbery, at the very least, and knew murder was a possibility. They were classmates, they knew each other, the guys OBVIOUSLY planned it out, I doubt the guys just randomly brought a gun to a marijuana drug deal, and a dispute just RANDOMLY happened. And the timing of it was also really sketchy, if you haven't noticed. If they brought a gun with them to meet up with Giovanni at midnight they quite obviously had some intention of murder.
I'm not being biased because I personally did not even know Giovanni. Have you thought about it at all? Have you thought about why so many criticized you and bugged you about your report of the murder?
Well think about this: if your brother, or father, or son, or daughter had just died, someone you love with all your heart, how would YOU feel if their death was announced, reported as a "drug deal gone bad"? When it might not even be the truth. If that happened to you, you would probably feel that it was total disrespect to your loved one who had just passed on. And quite frankly, it is disrespect.
Just doing his job?!
Obviously jobs seem to be taking morality out of humans.
Makes them cold and empty.
Whether the kid was a drug dealer or not, no parent wants their kid reported as a drug dealer who died during a drug deal in the news. If that IS what happened, there is really no need to report it and that could be kept quite confidential, rather than announcing it to the whole town. And during a bad sale?! A bad sale with three CLASSMATES, and two of them with a GUN. A bad sale… think about it that’s complete BS. Their obviously was some intention to use the gun, what do you think happened “Oh yeah you’re sheisting me. Oh by the way I have randomly have a gun I’ll shoot you!” That’s honestly ridiculous… like, come ON.
BY THE WAY this is actually a comment to:
http://www.insidesocal.com/crime&courts/2009/12/heres-some-emails-i-received.html
because apparently there's an error whenever I try posting a comment there.
WHY does everyone trust what the news says? Why do you all trust the news?!
Ever heard of PROPOGANDA? Like for the war, or also ADVERTISING, & so on...
What the news reports is NOT always the accurate, correct facts. We live in America, where we're allowed to be aware of that. So how do all of you believe every single word of the news? Why are you all implying that the family & friends' versions are biased when it seems much more like the NEWS are biased.. or maybe not exactly biased, but cold heartless and cruel. Have some morals, please.
& Have some respect for the dead, and the family. Because this Christmas, or whatever winter holidays the family celebrates, there will be one of their family missing the celebrations and the holiday spirit and love; this Christmas it will not even have been a MONTH since the family has lost their son or brother, or others who lost their friend.
And I'm saying that even though I don't know Giovanni myself, so you honestly can't say that my opinion is biased.
Also, to the last anonymous poster from December 12, 9:13 AM --- You're a judgemental asshole who should be AWARE that news reports aren't always right. "Not only was he a shitbag dope dealer"... Who the hell do you think you are?
Just watch, if your own kid ends up being some crack or heroin dealer, we'll all laugh in your face. Or maybe there won't be laughing, because you probably wouldn't even give a shit if they got murdered, just because they deal drugs. How sad, you cold hearted dick. You're even worse than Larry, rather you rot in hell than Larry, who really is just doing his job [although I really don't like the way he is doing it].
I think it was a drug deal gone bad. Most of todays teens are trying to be a so called thug,gangster, drug dealer, pimp. I know its wrong to profile someone, but when you look at a person and see how they represent them selfs then its safe to assume that they are either trying to be a thug,gangster, drug dealer, pimp or that they are one. In this case the family might of seen this young boy as a sweet boy who doesn't do anything wrong but when hes not with them he acts differently from what they are use to seeing. So for everyone leaving a bad comment about Larry Altman STOP. He's just doing his job and nothing more. Hes not taking sides or making up stories. Like he said, he gets the information then reports it to us the reader. If there is any problems with what he reports then go and complain to the people that gives him the information.
It does not take a genius to realize Mr. Russo was heavily involved in drugs. Just take a look at his myspace and the people he hung out with.
http://www.myspace.com/473677873
for the person above me who posted his myspace. who are you to pass jugdement by advertising a dead victims personal page for everyone to see and profile the people who were close to him when that person is not even here to defend themselves. shame on you. you are no better than larry altman or a drug dealer. you obviously have no sympathy or respect for the loss of a loved one judging by the fact that you feel its nesecssary to take the time to find giovanni's personal myspace and then post it for more critisim for you to read. get a life!
for the person above me who posted his myspace. who are you to pass jugdement by advertising a dead victims personal page for everyone to see and profile the people who were close to him when that person is not even here to defend themselves. shame on you. you are no better than larry altman or a drug dealer. you obviously have no sympathy or respect for the loss of a loved one judging by the fact that you feel its nesecssary to take the time to find giovanni's personal myspace and then post it for more critisim for you to read. get a life!
gio was my good friend just have some respect for him what if your chiled got killed who do you think you are perfect???