Dixie Davis

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For the major league pitcher, see Dixie Davis (baseball).

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J. Richard (Dixie) Davis (1905 – December 30, 1970), was the mobster lawyer for Dutch Schultz.

A graduate of Syracuse University Law School, Davis was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1927. Davis served a clerkship in a prestigious law firm, then started his own firm in New York City. Davis started building a lucrative law practice with local mobsters. Called the “the Boy Mouthpiece”, Davis was loud and theatrical in his court appearances, but successful in acquitting his clients. Many of Davis' clients were African-Americans involved in the policy rackets in Harlem. Davis' most important client was the mobster Dutch Schultz, a rising power in the New York underworld.

With the murder of Schultz in 1936, Davis took over his policy business. However, on July 14, 1937 a grand jury indicted Davis on policy racketeering. In exchange for his cooperation, Davis was sentenced to one year in prison and was disbarred.

In 1970, Dixie Davis died of a heart attack in his home after learning that two masked gunmen had bound his wife and grandson and had stolen jewels, furs and cash. ^[1]

[edit] See also

• http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/schultz/rackets_3.html

[edit] References