Prosecutor Says Tupac Shakur Was Killed in Gang Revenge Attack

Nearly three decades after Tupac Shakur was killed in Las Vegas, prosecutors have told a jury that the legendary rapper was the victim of a revenge attack allegedly orchestrated by former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis.

Davis, 63, is standing trial over Shakur’s 1996 murder. Prosecutor Binu Pilal told jurors Monday that Davis ordered the shooting after his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, was publicly beaten by Shakur and others earlier that night.

“On September 7, 1996, Tupac Shakur publicly, on camera, participated in a humiliating beating of Duane Davis’s nephew, Orlando Anderson,” Pilal said.

“Then, two and a half hours later… Tupac is gunned down in a drive-by shooting from a white Cadillac in an act of revenge.”

Pilal said Davis was inside the white Cadillac during the attack but was not the gunman. Instead, prosecutors allege that he passed a gun to an occupant in the back seat and ordered the person to open fire on Shakur.

The prosecutor further argued that Davis had previously admitted playing a role in the killing, pointing to interviews with authorities, media appearances, private conversations and his 2019 autobiography.

“Over the years, in private interviews, in public statements, and even in private calls, Duane Davis has repeatedly told us over and over again about the anger he felt, and his own role in the revenge drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur,” Pilal told the jury.

“And now, nearly 30 years later, we’re going to ask you to finally hold Duane Davis accountable.”

Davis denies the allegations and has pleaded not guilty. If found guilty, he could receive a life sentence without parole. The proceedings are expected to continue for more than a month.

A Murder Linked to Hip-Hop’s East-West Rivalry

Shakur’s killing has remained one of the most widely discussed cold cases in American music history. The rapper was 25 years old when he was shot and fatally wounded in Las Vegas.

His death came amid the intense East Coast-West Coast rivalry that dominated hip-hop in the 1990s.

Shakur, whose major hits included “California Love” and “All Eyez on Me,” was born into a family with ties to the Black Panther movement. He was raised in part in Harlem and Baltimore before establishing himself as a major West Coast figure after joining Los Angeles-based Death Row Records.

The trial will examine the long-running conflict between Death Row Records, founded by Marion “Suge” Knight, and Bad Boy Records, founded by Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Bad Boy was home to Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace, who was killed in March 1997, just months after Shakur’s death.

According to prosecutors, Death Row was protected by Mob Piru, a Los Angeles gang associated with the Bloods alliance. Knight was affiliated with the group, while Bad Boy Records had hired Davis’s South Side Compton Crips as bodyguards.

On the night Shakur was killed, he and Knight were in Las Vegas for Mike Tyson’s boxing match. Earlier, Shakur and others had beaten Anderson in retaliation for an alleged assault involving a Death Row employee.

Hours later, a white Cadillac carrying Davis, Anderson and other occupants pulled alongside Shakur’s vehicle. Shots were fired from the Cadillac, leaving Shakur critically wounded.

The investigation remained stalled for decades because authorities lacked enough evidence to make an arrest. Interest in the case was renewed following the publication of Davis’s memoir in 2019.

Davis wrote that he was sitting in the front of the Cadillac and had passed a pistol to people in the back seat. He did not, however, reveal who fired the weapon.

The other occupants of the Cadillac that night have since died.

Davis later changed his position, claiming his statements were simply boasts and that a ghostwriter had embellished or created parts of the account to boost book sales. He has maintained his plea of not guilty.

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