http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/nyregion/21cnd-davis.html?ex=1204261200&en=cb2d88056c34710d&ei=5070&emc=eta1Man in 1986 Police Gunfight Is Killed
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Published: February 21, 2008
Larry Davis, the Bronx man who became a hero to some and pariah to others after waging a shootout with a group of police officers who sought to arrest him for murdering rival drug dealers, was killed in a prison-yard fight on Wednesday, the State Department of Corrections said.
Mr. Davis, 41, was stabbed to death by another inmate around 7:30 p.m. during a recreational break on the grounds of the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County, about 80 miles north of New York City, corrections officials said. The other inmate, Luis Rosado, used a crude, nine-inch shank to stab Mr. Davis repeatedly in his head, arms, back and chest, said Erik Kriss, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections.
Mr. Rosado, who has a long record of being disciplined for assaulting others while incarcerated, was arraigned this morning.
Mr. Davis was serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the fatal shooting of a drug dealer, for which he was convicted in 1991 and sent to Shawangunk.
But it was his brutal clash with a throng of police officers five years earlier that made Mr. Davis a hero to some and a symbol of the lawlessness sweeping New York City to others. On the night of 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.
When he was led out of the building, supporters of Mr. Daviss shouted in unison, Larry! Larry!
Mr. Davis was acquitted first of the murders of the suspected drug dealers, after presenting a defense based almost entirely on the argument that he had been framed by the authorities. Then, nine months later, in the denouement of a second trial that captivated New Yorkers and scrutinized the police department, Mr. Davis was acquitted of the attempted murders of nine of the police officers who participated in the 1986 shootout.
Edward I. Koch, the mayor at the time, described the verdict as a shock and horrifying, and throngs of police officers protested outside the courthouse.
It was never clear from the trial precisely who had fired first, and jurors said they had voted to acquit Mr. Davis because they accepted his assertion that he had shot at the officers in self-defense. Mr. Daviss defense team argued during the trial that the police were trying to kill Mr. Davis to prevent him from testifying about corrupt officers involvement in drug sales a claim the prosecution fiercely denied.
Despite the attempted-murder acquittal, Mr. Davis was convicted of weapons charges, and sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison. While serving out that sentence, Mr. Davis was again put on trial, this time in 1991 for the 1986 murder of yet another suspected drug dealer.
Like the earlier cases, the 1991 trial became something of a circus, marked by theatrics from Mr. Davis as well as the supporters and detractors who packed the courtroom. When a guilty verdict was finally read, Mr. Daviss supporters screamed in anger and had to be escorted from the courtroom by the police. At a hearing one month later, Mr. Davis was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, but not before being thrown out of the courtroom for repeatedly yelling I aint afraid of you at acting Supreme Court Justice Steven L. Barrett.
According to Mr. Kriss, the corrections department spokesman, Mr. Davis met his ultimate fate just before 8 p.m. on Wednesday night. At the time, Mr. Davis and 21 other inmates were using a yard for recreation and were scheduled to remain there until 10 p.m. About 7 p.m., Mr. Kriss said, two correction officers spotted Mr. Rosado repeatedly stabbing and attacking Mr. Davis with a flat metal shank.
Officers rushed to the scene and treated Mr. Davis while an ambulance was summoned. By 7:58 p.m., about 12 minutes after the ambulance had arrived, Mr. Davis was pronounced dead.
Mr. Rosado, 42, was serving a sentence of 25 years to life for multiple counts of murder, assault and attempted assault. He had a long and extensive history of being disciplined for violent behavior during his incarceration including assaults on staff and other inmates corrections officials said, and had just recently been denied parole in 2007. Mr. Davis also had a long history of being disciplined while incarcerated. His prison records indicate approximately 75 incidents that merited disciplinary action, including assaulting staff and inmates, making threats, harassment, and fighting, Linda Foglia, a corrections spokeswoman, said in an interview on Thursday.
But it did not appear however that Mr. Davis and Mr. Rosado had a history of fighting with each other.
Inmate Rosado was not charged in any fights previously with inmate Davis, Ms. Foglia said. And we take fights very seriously, so if there was a fight between the two, there would have been a ticket and we would have a record of it.
She added that corrections officers were still trying to figure out what prompted Mr. Rosado to attack Mr. Davis. Mr. Rosado was arraigned at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Shawangunk Town Court and then returned to the correctional facility.
Mr. Davis would have been eligible for parole in 2016.
