The once-“secret” interview at the heart of Duane “Keffe D” Davis’ murder trial was played in a Las Vegas courtroom Thursday, giving jurors an unfiltered look at the blockbuster meeting prosecutors say amounted to a full confession of Davis’ role in the 1996 drive-by shooting that killed hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur.
“Don’t bullshit me, and I won’t bullshit you all,” Davis said on the recording at the start of the Dec. 18, 2008, meeting at his lawyer’s office in Los Angeles County. Davis agreed to speak with investigators in hopes of helping himself avoid prosecution on drug charges that he had been told could carry a life sentence.
“Nothing you say can be used against you,” former LAPD Det. Greg Kading told Davis, who appeared skeptical of the promise but also weary of his years as a leader of the South Side Compton Crips. Davis lamented what he described as the “new wave MySpace gang bangers” gaining prominence and the betrayals of gang life. He said he was “through with this shit” and ready to retire.
Investigators then asked Davis to identify the occupants of the rented white Cadillac that pulled up to the passenger side of a BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight, with Shakur in the passenger seat. The BMW was idling at a red light at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane, just off the Las Vegas Strip, on Sept. 7, 1996.
