Former gang leader directed Tupac's drive-by killing, prosecutor tells jury

A former street gang leader orchestrated the 1996 drive-by shooting of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur in Las  Vegas in retribution for the beating of his nephew, a prosecutor told jurors during opening statements in a murder trial tied to a long-unsolved ‌crime that became a seminal moment in rap history. 

Duane (Keffe D) Davis, 63, is charged in Clark County, Nev., with a single count of murder ‌using a deadly weapon. He has pleaded not guilty. Davis is accused of leading a group of men to kill Shakur, 25, one of rap's most commercially successful and influential artists, in a 1996 drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip.

"You will learn that when the opportunity presented itself for ​retribution, Duane Davis made sure that the shooters were armed and ready to execute their plan. ​And remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself," prosecutor Binu Palal told the jurors in a downtown Las Vegas courthouse, referring to recent public statements by Davis that revived the long-dormant case.

Defence lawyer Michael Sanft said that after 30 years, investigators still have very little ​evidence to prove their case. Sanft also said Davis had a habit of talking "bullshit," and that the accounts he offered in interviews and his book could not be ⁠corroborated.

"Just look at the actual facts. What ⁠facts do you have to support any of what Keffe D said in any of ‌his interviews or the book?" Sanft told the jury.

Shakur's killing heightened the image of violence permeating hip-hop culture and its lyrics during "gangsta" rap's golden age, stoking the East Coast-West ​Coast rap feud of that era.

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Police said after Davis's 2023 arrest that he ​was a longtime suspect in the killing but that investigators lacked sufficient admissible evidence to charge him until he began implicating himself in a series of public statements.  

The trial before Judge Carli Kierny is expected to run ​for up to six weeks. The jury was selected last week.

It may feature testimony from Death Row Records ⁠co-founder Marion (Suge) Knight, a former rap ⁠mogul who was with Shakur the night he was slain and is ‌now serving a 28-year prison sentence on an unrelated voluntary manslaughter conviction.

Authorities have described Davis as the "shot caller" of a hurried plot to avenge the beating of his nephew by Shakur and members of his entourage inside the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas the night of Sept. 7, 1996.

The violence at the ⁠casino allegedly stemmed from hostility between two Los Angeles-area street gangs — the South Side Compton Crips, of which Davis was the self-described leader, and Mob Piru, which police say was associated with Knight and Death Row Records. They were in Las Vegas to see a world heavyweight title boxing match ‌between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon.

Davis allegedly obtained the murder weapon and handed it off to two other men in the rear seat of a white Cadillac as they rode around looking for Knight and Shakur's car following the brawl.

Shots were fired when Davis and the others caught up with Knight and Shakur's vehicle. Shakur was struck four times and died in a ​hospital six days later. Knight, who had been driving, suffered a minor injury from a bullet fragment that grazed his head.

Davis described murder in interviews, book

The murder investigation grew cold for years, but ⁠police said statements Davis made in 2018 to various media outlets about his involvement in the shooting reinvigorated the case.

Davis said in interviews ⁠and in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, that he was riding in the front passenger seat of the Cadillac and had ⁠handed the ⁠gun to one of the two men sitting behind ​him, according to police.

But neither Davis's account nor authorities have said who fired the gun at Shakur. The three other men in the ​Cadillac with Davis have all since died.

Under ⁠Nevada law, Davis can be charged with murder if he took part in the crime without pulling the trigger.

Tupac fan O'Ron Gordy said he'll never forget the night Tupac died.

“I don’t think we’ll ever find out the truth,” he said in an interview with CBC News outside the courthouse.

“It is what it is at this point. I’m just here to see what they got to say happened, see if I learn anything new, any new developments. [I’m] just here to support my favourite rapper.”

In his book, Davis wrote that he was long considered a suspect in the murders of Shakur and a rival rapper, Christopher Wallace, who performed as the Notorious B.I.G. under the New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment label and was shot dead in Los Angeles in March 1997.

Although the Wallace killing remains unsolved, investigators have long speculated ⁠he was gunned down in retaliation for Shakur's ‌killing months earlier.