Davis was born in New York City in 1905 and grew up in Tannersville, New York after his father a tailor named Davidowitz relocated the family to the Catskills. Davis attended Syracuse University Law School, being admitted to the New York State Bar in 1927. He served a clerkship, then started his own firm in New York City specializing in defending mobsters.\n', '

Many of Davis\' clients were African-Americans involved in the numbers game in Harlem. In 1932 he decided that he could take control and brought in Dutch Schultz as enforcer only to lose control to Schultz.\n', '

With the murder of Schultz in 1935, Davis took over his numbers racket. On July 14, 1937 a grand jury indicted Davis for racketeering. In exchange for his cooperation, Davis was sentenced to one year in prison and was disbarred.\n', '

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