Larry Davis: Murder, Multiple-Murder Allegations, and the Bronx Police Shootout
Larry Davis, later known as Adam Abdul-Hakeem, became one of New York City's most controversial criminal figures of the 1980s. Born on May 28, 1966, Davis was only 20 years old when police accused him of participating in a series of robberies and killings connected to the city's violent crack-cocaine trade. He is sometimes described as a suspected serial killer because authorities ultimately linked him to six separate homicide victims during 1986. That description requires an important qualification: Davis was convicted of murdering only one person, Raymond Vizcaino. Juries acquitted him of charges involving the other five homicide victims.
Davis became nationally known after a November 19, 1986 gun battle in the Bronx in which six New York City police officers were wounded. He escaped from an apartment surrounded by police, remained a fugitive for more than two weeks, and eventually surrendered following an armed hostage standoff. His later trials included several remarkable acquittals before prosecutors finally obtained a murder conviction in 1991.
Criminal Activity in New York City
During 1986, prosecutors portrayed Davis as part of a small and extremely violent group that targeted people involved in the drug trade. The prosecution theory was that Davis and his associates robbed drug dealers because their victims frequently possessed large amounts of cash and narcotics and might be reluctant to report robberies to police.
Several shootings were eventually connected to weapons associated with Davis. Authorities claimed that he and various accomplices robbed or attempted to rob drug dealers in the Bronx and Manhattan, sometimes resulting in fatal shootings. Davis consistently disputed many of the accusations and later maintained that corrupt police officers had framed him.
Murder of Raymond Vizcaino
The killing that ultimately resulted in Davis's only murder conviction occurred on August 5, 1986. Raymond Vizcaino was inside an apartment on Webster Avenue in the Bronx when Davis, his older brother Eddie Davis, and other men allegedly arrived intending to commit a robbery.
According to prosecutors, the men rang the apartment's bell or otherwise attempted to obtain entry. Vizcaino refused to open the door. Gunshots were then fired through the closed apartment door, striking and killing him. The killing became one of several homicides that investigators attempted to connect to Larry Davis during the following months.
Eddie Davis was convicted in connection with Vizcaino's murder in June 1989. Larry Davis was subsequently tried separately. On March 14, 1991, a Bronx jury found Larry Davis guilty of murder and attempted robbery. It was the first time prosecutors had succeeded in obtaining a murder conviction against him despite years of homicide prosecutions.
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