Tony Rivers was a drug distributor in Miami. He, along with his girlfriend Sarah MacPhail, ran a drug ring where respectable people (doctors, lawyers, etc.) bought "respectable amounts" (i.e. ounces instead of kilos) of drugs to keep the heat off. However, Metro-Dade Vice has been building a case against Rivers since mid-1983, and James "Sonny" Crockett and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs bugged his car, where they learned what he was doing and Sarah's role in the ring. Rivers was absolutely inflexible in his dealings, killing two men who caused a delivery to be SNAFUed, killing pilot Tim Stewart because they felt he planted the bug on his car, and threatening to kill Phil Mayhew for trying to cut in on his action and undercutting his prices. Rivers finally was shot by Crockett when he and his men tr