Lynn A. Davis
Encyclopedia
Lynn Arthur Davis is a retired attorney in Little Rock
, Arkansas
, who lectures and writes nonfiction crime
thrillers based on his past law enforcement experiences. He is a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
, short-term director of the Arkansas State Police
, and U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The conservative columnist
Christopher Ruddy
has described Davis as "Arkansas’ version of Elliot Ness," a reference to the Prohibition agent who fought organized crime
in Chicago
during the 1930s
and was portrayed in an ABC
television series, The Untouchables
by the late Robert Stack
.
After his graduation from high school
in his native Texarkana
in Miller County in southwestern Arkansas, Davis attended Henderson State University
in Arkadelphia
in south Arkansas. He and his wife, Elsie Sue Davis (born 1931), have three children, Anthony George Davis, Kristy Davis, and Clayton Taylor Davis. Davis obtained his law degree in 1975 at the age of forty-two and practiced law for nearly three decades.
gambling
in Hot Springs
, sometimes called the "City of Vapors" because of its public mineral baths and also the name of a popular nightclub. Davis' account of those events highlights his book They Said It Couldn’t Be Done.
In earlier years, Hot Springs had fallen under the influence of such mobsters
as Al Capone
, Frank Costello
, and Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who was arrested in New York City
along with the Hot Springs chief of detectives on charges of ninety counts of prostitution
brought by District Attorney
and later Governor
Thomas E. Dewey. The Hot Springs story was rated No. 1 by Associated Press
for the year 1967. Davis' book describes the police raids that Davis conducted and the seizure of slot machine
s and other gambling paraphernalia. The raids were not conducted only in Hot Springs but in some eight other communities to show a random search pattern. The story is also depicted in the Gangster Museum, located on Central Avenue in Hot Springs.
Early in 1967, Davis was working in the FBI office in Los Angeles
, California
, when he requested a transfer to Little Rock because of his mother's declining health. He had been with the bureau for nearly seven years at the time and was just shy of his 34th birthday. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
implied that he would reassign Davis to Arkansas. Meanwhile, Davis was approached by a spokesman for Republican
Governor Winthrop Rockefeller
about the state police position. He readily accepted but held the job for only 128 days and was never paid for his services.
At the end of his police tenure, Davis spent a few days in jail in Little Rock for refusing to divulge the identity of an informant. Davis' short tenure was a result of his having lived outside Arkansas prior to his appointment. The Arkansas Supreme Court
declared him ineligible for the position because he did not meet the ten-year residency requirement. Arkansas’ Democratic lawmakers refused to change the residency rule as a way of defying the Republican governor.
nominee for Arkansas Secretary of State, but he was defeated by the incumbent
Democrat
Kelly Bryant
of Hope
, the seat of Hempstead County in southwestern Arkansas and the birthplace of U.S. President Bill Clinton
. Davis polled 265,510 votes (45.3 percent) to Bryant's 320,203 (54.7 percent). Davis' tabulation was the best any Republican ever procured against the popular Bryant. Rockefeller received 322,782 votes (52.4 percent) against the Democrat Marion H. Crank (1915–1994) of Foreman
in Little River County
, a state representative
and a long-time supporter of former Governor Orval E. Faubus. Rockefeller hence ran some 57,000 votes ahead of Davis, who led in thirteen of the state's seventy-five counties, mostly in the more Republican northwest quadrant but also in usually Democratic Pulaski (Little Rock) and Jefferson
(Pine Bluff
) counties. Davis polled at least 40 percent in Garland County, which encompasses Hot Springs, where he had recently moved against the illegal gambling.
In December 1969, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon named Davis U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District based in Little Rock. Davis held the position until December 1974, when President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., moved to replace him with Len E. Blaylock
of Perry County, the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1972. Ford replaced Davis in an attempt to please veteran Democratic U.S. Senator John L. McClellan, who regarded Davis as too partisan for the position. Davis technically resigned after McClellan announced that he would not support him for renomination as marshal.
In 1993, Davis represented Roger Perry and Larry Patterson, two of the former Arkansas state troopers who claimed that they and other officers had helped President Bill Clinton meet women, booked hotel rooms for liaisons, and brought a woman into the Arkansas Governor's Mansion after Clinton was elected president. Perry and Patterson said that they were interested in writing a book about their time with the Clintons and had retained lawyer Cliff Jackson, a long-time Clinton nemesis. Davis also represented the troopers. He was quoted by the Washington Post: "The issue was not his [Clinton] sexual proclivities. It was the abuse of power – the abuse of office that concerned them [troopers] and concerned me."
Davis now concentrates on public lectures and writings about crime. He is the founding director of the Arkansas Crime Commission, since renamed the Arkansas Crime Information Center. The organization provides information technology services to the law enforcement and criminal justice agencies within Arkansas.
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, who lectures and writes nonfiction crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
thrillers based on his past law enforcement experiences. He is a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
, short-term director of the Arkansas State Police
Arkansas State Police
The Arkansas State Police is the state police agency for Arkansas, which has jurisdiction anywhere in the state. It was created to protect the lives, property and constitutional rights of people in Arkansas...
, and U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The conservative columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
Christopher Ruddy
Christopher Ruddy
Christopher Ruddy is an American conservative journalist. He is currently the CEO of Newsmax Media which publishes Newsmax.com, one of the top ranked websites for conservative political news in the United States...
has described Davis as "Arkansas’ version of Elliot Ness," a reference to the Prohibition agent who fought organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
during the 1930s
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...
and was portrayed in an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television series, The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
by the late Robert Stack
Robert Stack
Robert Stack was an American actor. In addition to acting in more than 40 films, he was the star of the 1959-1963 ABC television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.-Early life:...
.
After his graduation from high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in his native Texarkana
Texarkana, Arkansas
As of the census of 2000, there were 26,448 people, 10,384 households, and 7,040 families residing in the city. The population density was 830.5 people per square mile . There were 11,721 housing units at an average density of 368.1 per square mile...
in Miller County in southwestern Arkansas, Davis attended Henderson State University
Henderson State University
Henderson State University, founded in 1890 as Arkadelphia Methodist College, is a four-year public liberal arts university located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, United States. It is Arkansas's only member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges...
in Arkadelphia
Arkadelphia, Arkansas
Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,548. The city is the county seat of Clark County. The city is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderson State...
in south Arkansas. He and his wife, Elsie Sue Davis (born 1931), have three children, Anthony George Davis, Kristy Davis, and Clayton Taylor Davis. Davis obtained his law degree in 1975 at the age of forty-two and practiced law for nearly three decades.
Arkansas state police
Shortly after Rockefeller took office as the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction, he appointed Davis to head the state police. Davis was assigned to destroy illegal casinoCasino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
in Hot Springs
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
, sometimes called the "City of Vapors" because of its public mineral baths and also the name of a popular nightclub. Davis' account of those events highlights his book They Said It Couldn’t Be Done.
In earlier years, Hot Springs had fallen under the influence of such mobsters
American Mafia
The American Mafia , is an Italian-American criminal society. Much like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia has no formal name and is a secret criminal society. Its members usually refer to it as Cosa Nostra or by its English translation "our thing"...
as Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
, Frank Costello
Frank Costello
Frank Costello was an Italian New York City gangster who rose to the top of America's underworld, controlled a vast gambling empire across the United States and enjoyed political influence.Nicknamed the "Prime Minister of the Underworld", he became one of the most powerful and influential Mafia...
, and Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who was arrested in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
along with the Hot Springs chief of detectives on charges of ninety counts of prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
brought by District Attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
and later Governor
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
Thomas E. Dewey. The Hot Springs story was rated No. 1 by Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
for the year 1967. Davis' book describes the police raids that Davis conducted and the seizure of slot machine
Slot machine
A slot machine , informally fruit machine , the slots , poker machine or "pokies" or simply slot is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed...
s and other gambling paraphernalia. The raids were not conducted only in Hot Springs but in some eight other communities to show a random search pattern. The story is also depicted in the Gangster Museum, located on Central Avenue in Hot Springs.
Early in 1967, Davis was working in the FBI office in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, when he requested a transfer to Little Rock because of his mother's declining health. He had been with the bureau for nearly seven years at the time and was just shy of his 34th birthday. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
implied that he would reassign Davis to Arkansas. Meanwhile, Davis was approached by a spokesman for Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Governor Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller
Winthrop Rockefeller was a politician and philanthropist who served as the first Republican Governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. He was a third-generation member of the Rockefeller family.-Early life:...
about the state police position. He readily accepted but held the job for only 128 days and was never paid for his services.
At the end of his police tenure, Davis spent a few days in jail in Little Rock for refusing to divulge the identity of an informant. Davis' short tenure was a result of his having lived outside Arkansas prior to his appointment. The Arkansas Supreme Court
Arkansas Supreme Court
The Arkansas Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Since 1925, it has consisted of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices, and at times Special Justices are called upon in the absence of a regular justice...
declared him ineligible for the position because he did not meet the ten-year residency requirement. Arkansas’ Democratic lawmakers refused to change the residency rule as a way of defying the Republican governor.
Political matters
In 1968, Davis, was the GOPRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
nominee for Arkansas Secretary of State, but he was defeated by the incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Kelly Bryant
Kelly Bryant
Kelly Bryant served as the Democratic secretary of state of the U.S. state of Arkansas from 1963 until his death nearly thirteen years later. He was one of three statewide politicians born in Hope, the seat of Hempstead County, in southern Arkansas. The others are former Governor and U.S...
of Hope
Hope, Arkansas
Hope is a small city in Hempstead County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2008 United States Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 10,378...
, the seat of Hempstead County in southwestern Arkansas and the birthplace of U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. Davis polled 265,510 votes (45.3 percent) to Bryant's 320,203 (54.7 percent). Davis' tabulation was the best any Republican ever procured against the popular Bryant. Rockefeller received 322,782 votes (52.4 percent) against the Democrat Marion H. Crank (1915–1994) of Foreman
Foreman, Arkansas
Foreman is a city in Little River County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 1,011 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Foreman is located at ....
in Little River County
Little River County, Arkansas
Little River County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of 2010, the population was 13,171. The county seat is Ashdown. Little River County is Arkansas's 59th county, formed from Sevier County on March 5, 1867, and named for the Little River...
, a state representative
Arkansas House of Representatives
The Arkansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arkansas General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The House is composed of 100 members elected from an equal amount of constituencies across the state. Each district has an average population of 26,734...
and a long-time supporter of former Governor Orval E. Faubus. Rockefeller hence ran some 57,000 votes ahead of Davis, who led in thirteen of the state's seventy-five counties, mostly in the more Republican northwest quadrant but also in usually Democratic Pulaski (Little Rock) and Jefferson
Jefferson County, Arkansas
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Its population was 77,435 at the 2010 United States Census. It is included in the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area. Jefferson County's county seat and largest city is Pine Bluff...
(Pine Bluff
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Pine Bluff is the largest city and county seat of Jefferson County, Arkansas, United States. It is also the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff, Arkansas Combined Statistical Area...
) counties. Davis polled at least 40 percent in Garland County, which encompasses Hot Springs, where he had recently moved against the illegal gambling.
In December 1969, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon named Davis U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District based in Little Rock. Davis held the position until December 1974, when President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., moved to replace him with Len E. Blaylock
Len E. Blaylock
Len Everette Blaylock, Sr. , is a retired farmer, educator, small businessman, and Republican politician from tiny Nimrod in Perry County in northwestern Arkansas. He was state welfare commissioner under Governor Winthrop Rockefeller, the GOP gubernatorial nominee , the U.S...
of Perry County, the unsuccessful Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1972. Ford replaced Davis in an attempt to please veteran Democratic U.S. Senator John L. McClellan, who regarded Davis as too partisan for the position. Davis technically resigned after McClellan announced that he would not support him for renomination as marshal.
In 1993, Davis represented Roger Perry and Larry Patterson, two of the former Arkansas state troopers who claimed that they and other officers had helped President Bill Clinton meet women, booked hotel rooms for liaisons, and brought a woman into the Arkansas Governor's Mansion after Clinton was elected president. Perry and Patterson said that they were interested in writing a book about their time with the Clintons and had retained lawyer Cliff Jackson, a long-time Clinton nemesis. Davis also represented the troopers. He was quoted by the Washington Post: "The issue was not his [Clinton] sexual proclivities. It was the abuse of power – the abuse of office that concerned them [troopers] and concerned me."
Davis now concentrates on public lectures and writings about crime. He is the founding director of the Arkansas Crime Commission, since renamed the Arkansas Crime Information Center. The organization provides information technology services to the law enforcement and criminal justice agencies within Arkansas.