Home · Entertainment · Oct 13 archive
Former Gang Boss Sentenced to 40 Years for Tupac Shakur's Murder
Confirmed
In Short: Former Crips gang leader Duane 'Keffe D' Davis was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the 1996 murder of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur.
Former Crips gang leader Duane 'Keffe D' Davis was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison on Tuesday for orchestrating the 1996 murder of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur.
Davis, 63, was found guilty in September of one count of murder with a deadly weapon for the drive-by shooting that killed Shakur in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996.
Prosecutors argued that Davis ordered the killing as revenge after Shakur’s entourage beat up his nephew earlier that night, part of a long-running gang feud.
During the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said Davis had spent years publicly grandstanding and bragging about his role in Shakur's death.
Shakur's sister, Sekyiwa 'Set' Shakur, asked the judge to give Davis the maximum sentence, telling him he would sit in prison and 'contemplate what you've done to the world, not just to me.'
Judge Carli Kierny sentenced Davis to 40 years to life in prison, telling him, 'the world never forgot about Tupac,' and that he must pay for his killing.
Davis said he would appeal the case, as he did when found guilty earlier this year.
Shakur's murder happened at a time of intense rivalry between the East Coast and West Coast rap scenes and amid gang feuds between the Bloods and Crips, which had deep roots within hip-hop at the time.
Davis had previously claimed responsibility for the murder in documentaries, his memoir, and podcasts, voiding a protective agreement he had established with authorities.
Shakur's relatives held hands and hugged as the verdict was read out on Monday, some crying.
The judge noted that Davis had been telling people for years that he was responsible for Tupac Shakur's murder through various media appearances.
What this adds
The case has been a major development in one of America's most notorious cold cases, bringing closure to a long-unsolved murder that left a lasting mark on rap music’s golden age.
The impact of Shakur's murder has been devastating, heartbreaking, and sad for his family and fans, as he did not get a chance to have any kids or see his nieces and nephews grow up.
Background
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said the sentence and the judge’s remarks recognized the gravity of the offenses and their profound impact on the victims and survivors.
What's confirmed
- “You don’t get to take a man from his family, you don’t get to take his very life, his whole future from him and just walk away from it. Especially when that man is Tupac Shakur,” the judge said.
What's still developing
- "He had so much promise, intentions for a better world," said adding that her brother had hoped to help his local community.
- In exchange for being shielded from criminal prosecution, he told authorities about his role in Shakur's death during a secret 2008 police interview relating to the death of fellow rapper Notorious B.I.G., real name Christopher Wallace, who was killed in a shooting just months after Shakur.
- Already a legend by the time of his death and a movie star to boot, Shakur has been the posthumous subject of the likes of USA Network ’s 2018 series Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and Biggie Smalls, the 2017 doc Who Shot Biggie and Tupac?, the 2017 biopic All Eyez on Me from Summit, Morgan Creek, Program Pictures and Codeblack Films over the years.
- Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, found guilty of first-degree murder in August, received the penalty during a hearing in a Las Vegas courtroom, The Jerusalem Post reported. Until Davis' 2023 arrest, the killing of Shakur, shot dead in the passenger seat of an SUV driven by his record executive, Marion "Suge" Knight, had stood for nearly three decades as one of America's most notorious cold cases. The murder, which silenced one of rap's most commercially successful and influential artists, heightened the image of violence permeating 1990s hip-hop culture while stoking the infamous East Coast-West Coast "gangsta" rap feud of the era.
- Davis was tried and convicted for masterminding the murder to avenge the beating of his nephew by Shakur and members of the rapper's entourage inside the MGM Grand casino on the Las Vegas Strip on September 7, 1996.
- To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison, three decades after the murder of Tupac Shakur.
- In 2023, the former gang boss was arrested and charged with murder for orchestrating the events that led to Shakur being shot dead.
- “I just want my stuff back that they took out of my house, all them pictures,” he said, referring to photographs seized during a search.
- Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, called her brother her protector and the “promise of all our grandparents” in an emotional victim impact statement.
- Surveillance footage showed Shakur, Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight, and others beating Anderson, a member of the South Side Compton Crips, after a Mike Tyson fight.
- His lawyer argued investigators failed to prove Davis was even in Las Vegas when the “California Love” rapper was shot on Sept. 7, 1996.
- Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records had purportedly linked itself to the crips, and Davis had previously said Combs had offered up $1 million for Shakur’s death.