February 21, 2008
Larry Davis, NYPD Manhunt Survivor, Killed in Prison
Though he survived an NYPD manhunt and hostage standoff in 1986, Larry Davis died violently yesterday in an upstate prison yard after being shanked multiple times by a fellow inmate. Davis was stabbed multiple times with a foot-long metal shank.
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.
Davis became notorious in the 1980s when he was suspected of murdering a number of drug dealers in the city. As police raided the apartment where he lived, Davis unleashed a fusillade of fire from a darkened bedroom, using a shotgun and a pistol before escaping out a window. Six police were injured in the gun battle, two seriously.
Davis was captured more than two weeks later (the police manhunt involved hundreds of cops) after holding a woman and her child hostage as police gathered in a standoff. By the time he emerged, he had simultaneously become a folk hero to some and symbolic of out-of-control crime to others. Here are some rap lyrics:
If I had 24 hours to live and one wishDavis' legal defense, which included William Kunstler and Lynne Stewart, asserted he was acting in self-defense when the police originally stormed his apartment. Davis claimed he was forced into drug dealing and shaken down by crooked cops. When he allegedly refuse to cooperate further with them, he said he became a target for law enforcement assassination. David was acquitted by a jury of all counts of attempted murder of the police officers, but convicted of weapons charges and sentenced to 5-15 years in prison. In 1991, Davis was convicted in the 1986 murder of another drug dealer.
I wouldn't wish for no damn lifesavers
I'd start going wild like Larry Davis
The funk speach vigalante from the L.O.D.
Larry Davis' story became the fictionalized underpinning to the plot of of Sydney Lumet's 1997 film "Night Falls on Manhattan." Here's an interesting account of one man's unpleasant run-in with Davis shortly before his gun battle with the police. You can also see some clips of a documentary called "The Larry Davis Story" on YouTube.
|
All this and he created Seinfeld? I never knew.
that's a shame.
Holy crap, now I remember this dude. He was the one who shot through the apartment walls at the cops, like in a John Woo flick, before anyone knew who John Woo was.
Ah well, one less prison mouth to feed.
RIP mr. davis, 1986 was a very good year.
With all the dead drug dealers to his credit, it sounds like this guy was a stickup artists. If that was the case, I'm surprised he lasted this long in jail...he's no Omar.
I'm sure he was forced into a life of crime because the police found out he missed two Sundays in a row of choir practise.
Check your sources, I believe he changed his name to Adam Abdul Hakeem several years back.
I feel sorry when I read a story like this. Sorry for that guy named Luis Rosado who is going to go to jail. Oops he's already in jail I forgot.
They should give Rosado a medal.
It's a shame that he's dead. I wonder about the jail-house politics behind his murder. I mean, I'm glad he was in jail, but do you think that he's dead because of that killer's need to move up, or some machinations on the outside? There is more to this story.
ok im dating myself, but i was there when they brought his ass out the projects on webster by burnside wearing that v-stitch leather goose! gangsta! he was a folk hero back in the bronx days! amazing how you find out things before the internet days! when scot la rock was shot news traveled through the grapevine quick! radio like WBLS KISS etc also had tips, just like in the movie "warriors"
big shouts to all my brothers back on 182 & creston...
Even in the post-Serpico days during the 80s, half the cops were probably dirty anyway. With the Eleanor Bumpers incident still fresh in the public mind, it's understandable that Larry Davis would be elevated to folk hero status.
I was hoping Gothamist would pick up this story, just so I can say GOOD RIDDANCE! The way this punk asshole got off for shooting six cops was a disgrace, even if not totally unexpected in the Bronx "judiciary" system of the mid-80s. This guy was a stone cold killer who finally got what he deserved.
"The funk speach vigalante from the L.O.D."
You should probably spell-check, even when copy and pasting.