Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, a one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips, is accused of ordering the September 7, 1996 killing of the hip-hop artist after his own nephew had been beaten by members of Shakur's entourage at a Las Vegas casino."Duane Davis, in the culture of gangs, could not let that stand," prosecutor Binu Palal said during closing arguments. "So what did he do? He acquired a firearm, got his group together, and went hunting for Mr Shakur."Shakur, who was in Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson heavyweight fight, was shot about two hours after the casino confrontation by a gunman in a white Cadillac that pulled up at a red light alongside the BMW in which the rapper was riding in the front passenger seat.According to prosecutors, Davis handed the gun to someone sitting in the back seat of the Cadillac and ordered that person to shoot Shakur, who died six days later.
Prosecutor Binu Palal points to a map during the trial of Duane Davis for the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur © STEVE MARCUS / POOL/AFP
Davis is the only person who was in the Cadillac that evening who is still alive.The driver of the BMW, Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight, was wounded.The killing of Shakur, also known as 2Pac, has been one of America's most celebrated cold cases, prompting endless debate among music fans over who did it and why.Davis, whose Crips were one of a patchwork of rival gangs that ran parts of Los Angeles in the 1990s, is the only person to have been charged in connection with the shooting of Shakur.ConfessionThe investigation into Shakur's murder sputtered for decades because of a lack of evidence, but the case was revived when Davis's memoirs were published in 2019.Davis has repeatedly boasted over the years of involvement in Shakur's murder -- in interviews with law enforcement and media and ultimately in his autobiography, "Compton Street Legend."
