Nov. 19, 1986, 20 police officers attempted to raid an apartment in the Morrisania section of the Bronx where Mr. Davis, a suspect in the murders of at least five drug dealers, had been staying.
As the officers stormed the apartment with their guns drawn, Mr. Davis, in blazing fashion, grabbed a pistol and a shotgun and fired at them from a darkened bedroom. At least six of the officers were hit, and two were wounded seriously. The fusillade left the apartment bloodied and littered with spent cartridges, yet Mr. Davis managed a narrow escape through a window.
His escape sparked a nationwide manhunt that ended 17 days later after a standoff at a Bronx apartment building. Mr. Davis took a family hostage in a 14th-floor apartment and gave himself up only after police officers assured him he would not be harmed.
The story of Larry Davis, is some kind of an action movie. Davis became a kind of anti-hero in the South Bronx after he wounded six NYC police officers in a shootout when they came to arrest him on charges of murdering five drug dealers. Davis maintained at trial that he had been recruited by corrupt police to deal drugs and that the raid was actually a murder attempt to silence him. But the twist to this action story became a thriller, when Larry told the media the cops were looking to kill him because he was about to make it public knowledge he was selling drugs for a group of rogue cops.
But after, some interviews with some of his friends, people in the neighborhood, and even a few police officers who didn’t want to go on the record, the story wasn’t made up and we had to believe him. And so did a Bronx jury that acquitted him in the shootout with the cops on November 19th, 1996, and the murder of 4 drug dealers on March 3, 1988.
According to the state Department of Correctional Services, Luis Rosado killed Davis at 7:30 p.m. last night while prisoners were out for an evening recreational session at Shawangunk Correctional Facility. Rosado stabbed Davis on his arms, head, back, upper thigh and chest. The assailant reportedly has a long history of assaulting other inmates and was arraigned today.
According to one of the commentors “Larry Davis aka “loco Larry” in the Bx. was a legend in my eyes until I found out why he got killed in jail. He was trying to defend a rapist. The rapist didn’t even defend Larry while he was getting jigged. Larry should have known rapist are cowards”
The Rim and New Jack City writer added “Larry was convicted of another murder in 1991, and was in prison for over 20 years. In February of this year he not only wanted American Gangster to do his story, he wanted me to produce it. A week before I was to interview him, he was murdered in prison. Needless to say, it is something that haunts me to this day, and I hope people tune in and watch tonight’s episode. The Larry Davis story is tragic and compelling.“
Great info thank you!
Comment by Bogdan Radu — October 27, 2008 @ 12:43 pm |