Dan "Tito" Davis (born 1953) is an

American writer American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry ...

. Davis was a

fugitive A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...

from US authorities between 1994 and 2007, when he was renditioned back to the US from

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. He is the author of the book ''Gringo: My Life on the Edge as an International Fugitive''.

Education and early life

Dan Davis was born in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

. He was on the wrestling team in high school and became a professional

horse jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual w ...

afterwards. Davis began selling legal ephedrine pills (white crosses) in 1972, starting with

Black Hills State College Black Hills State University (BHSU) is a public university in Spearfish, South Dakota. Close to 4,000 students attend classes at its campus in Spearfish, at sites in Rapid City and Pierre, and through distance offerings. Enrollment comes from ...

, before transferring to

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

where he supplied legal ephedrine pills to the

Bandidos Motorcycle Club The Bandidos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Bandido Nation, is an outlaw motorcycle club with a worldwide membership. Formed in San Leon, Texas in 1966, the Bandidos MC is estimated to have between 2,000 and 2,500 members and 303 chapters, l ...

. He spent five years in prison during the 1980s for tax fraud.

Fugitive years

In 1998 Davis was indicted on state and federal charges, including conspiracy to distribute

methamphetamines Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...

and

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

, with additional narcotics charges from 1994—which Davis claims were the result of a friend of his framing him with two pounds of meth. After living in hiding in the US he then fled to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in 1994, where he eluded discovery by US and Mexican officials. He was discovered again in 2006 living and working in the

Margarita Island Margarita Island (, ) is the largest island in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, situated off the northeastern coast of the country, in the Caribbean Sea. The capital city of Nueva Esparta, La Asunción, is located on the island. History ...

s of Venezuela. He was arrested and deported by Venezuelan authorities under unusual circumstances in 2007, and arrested for the pending American drug charges by US officials upon his return to American soil. Davis and his Venezuelan lawyers have stated that they believe the deportation was actually an example of kidnapping and illegal rendition. It is alleged that the US government paid up to $2 million for Davis's rendition. During his time on the run, he lived in more than fifty different countries, spending much of his time in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

under the protection of the Medellin Cartel. In 2008 he was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Writing career

Davis wrote a book on his fugitive years entitled ''Gringo: My Life on the Edge as an International Fugitive'' in 2017. The book was the number one bestseller on

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

's Hot New Releases bestseller list. He has toured internationally in support of the book. Davis is also in talks to turn his book into a movie, based in part upon the 500 additional pages he wrote that did not appear in the final manuscript. In 2018, ''Gringo: My Life on the Edge as an International Fugitive'' won the Readers' Favorite Gold Medal award in the Non-Fiction Autobiography category On January 4, 2019, Davis sailed to the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

on board the Polar Latitudes operated expedition vessel MS ''Island Sky'' and completed a seven-continent book tour in

Port Lockroy Port Lockroy is a bay forming a natural harbour on the north-western shore of Wiencke Island in the Palmer Archipelago to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Antarctic base with the same name, situated on Goudier Island in this bay, inc ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Dan Living people People from Pierre, South Dakota People from Sully County, South Dakota Fugitives wanted by the United States 21st-century American non-fiction writers American autobiographers Writers from South Dakota Bandidos Motorcycle Club Black Hills State University alumni University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumni Medellín Cartel American crime writers American drug traffickers American jockeys American male criminals American people convicted of fraud American cannabis traffickers American people convicted of drug offenses 1953 births

Education and early life

Fugitive years

Writing career

See also

References