Rap exec gunned down

By JOHN MARZULLI, RALPH R. ORTEGA and DAVE GOLDINER

August 11, 2000 Web posted at: 10:22 AM EDT (1422 GMT)

NEW YORK (The New York Daily News) -- A mortally wounded would-be rap mogul, speeding away from his executioner, struck and killed an award-winning Swedish advertising executive with his car in SoHo early yesterday, police said.

Ivory (Nut) Davis -- suspected in one killing and the victim of two prior shootings -- was sitting behind the wheel of his $50,000 Range Rover when he was shot twice in the back in front of Club NV on Spring St. around 4 a.m., cops said.

Bloodied and near death, Davis, 27, drove to Sixth Ave., where his car slammed into 38-year-old Jhoan Camitz, who was walking past the Aqua Grill restaurant.

"He had nothing to do with the incident," William Allee, NYPD chief of detectives, said of Camitz, known for his work on a Volkswagen ad campaign. "He was just crossing the street at the time."

Police were searching for the gunman who targeted Davis as trendy SoHo reeled from the pre-dawn explosion of gunfire, screeching tires and death.

Investigators believe the shooter may have been retaliating against Davis, who had a lengthy rap sheet and was suspected in a recent Brooklyn killing, sources said. Cops said Davis -- who ran a fledgling New Jersey-based rap record label called Yo Yo Records -- had been shot at least twice in other club-related incidents, most recently outside The Tunnel in Chelsea in February.

The terror in one of the city's trendiest neighborhoods began just after closing time at NV, a plush nightspot with a dance floor, elaborately draped windows and leopard-spotted sofas.

Davis apparently had just left the club and was double-parked in his Range Rover talking to friends when the gunman raced up to the window and unloaded at least four shots. Two bullets passed through the driver's seat and hit Davis in the back, cops said.

Davis managed to screech off down Spring St., where Camitz was strolling on Sixth Ave. The Range Rover slammed into Camitz, ripping his leg off, before the vehicle jumped the curb, hit a utility pole and flipped on its side.

Davis was pronounced dead at the scene. Camitz died at St. Vincent's Medical Center.

Davis had a record of drug, robbery and attempted murder arrests, and was awaiting sentencing after being convicted in July of slashing a Brooklyn club owner, police said. He lived in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where he tooled around in his shiny black sport-utility vehicle -- newly repaired after it was hit by bullets in a previous shooting, cops said.

The brother of the victim in one recent Bed-Stuy shooting blamed Davis for the killing and had vowed to take revenge, police sources said. But the sources said others could have been looking for a piece of Davis.

"He's a troublemaker, he's a bully, he was a stone-cold hoodlum," said one acquaintance. "He's got a lot of people on the street looking for him."

But neighbors in his Lafayette Gardens housing project called Davis a fun-loving man.

"He was a good person," said a female relative who didn't want her name used. "He was a sweet person, giving."

Club NV has racked up a few complaints from neighbors about loud music and rowdy patrons since it opened five years ago, police records show. City Councilwoman Kathryn Freed yesterday said community leaders had been trying to shut Club NV, without success.

"This club has been a problem since the day it opened," she said. "It's a rough crowd."

But a co-owner insisted Club NV enforces a strict dress code and draws a classy crowd.

"I'm very upset," said co-owner Jon Cantor. "We run a very upscale business."

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