Preview:
'The Larry Davis Project'
(The Life & Death
Of A Bronx Rebel)
by
January 3, 2013
The short story, courtesy of the film's website, goes... Larry Davis was a New Yorker who shot six New York City police officers on November 19, 1986, when they raided his sister's Bronx apartment. The police said that the raid was executed in order to question Davis about the killing of four suspected drug dealers. At trial, Davis's defense attorneys claimed that the raid was staged to murder him because of his knowledge of the involvement of corrupt police in the drug business. With the help of family contacts and street friends, he eluded capture for the next 17 days despite a massive manhunt. Davis eventually surrendered to police, and was acquitted of attempted murder charges in the police shootout case, and was acquitted of murder charges in the case involving the slain drug dealers. He was found guilty of weapons possession in the shootout case, acquitted in another murder case and was found guilty in a later murder case and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
In 2008, Davis was stabbed to death in a fight with another inmate.
The Larry Davis case generated controversy. Many were outraged by his actions and acquittal, but others regarded him as a folk hero for his ability to elude capture in the massive manhunt, for so many years, or as the embodiment of a community's frustration with the police, or as "a symbol of resistance" because "he fought back at a time when African-Americans were being killed by white police officers."
Based on that true story, The Larry Davis Project gives insight into the motivations of a Bronx youth in the 1980s. At a time of police corruption, drug proliferation and rampant poverty, a young Larry Davis struggled with who he would become - thug or artist?
The feature film, which comes from Epoch Motion Pictures, is scheduled to debut sometime this year.
Check out a sneak: