Las Vegas, Nevada – Opening arguments are expected to begin on Monday in the trial of a former gang leader accused of orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur, 30 years after he was gunned down in Las Vegas.
The proceedings, which could last over a month, will likely not make clear who fired the shots that killed the hip-hop legend on September 7, 1996, while he was in Las Vegas to see a Mike Tyson fight.
But prosecutors aim to show that Duane “Keffe D” Davis, onetime leader of the South Side Compton Crips, ordered the killing and provided the gun used in a drive-by shooting.
Davis, 63, was in court last week as a jury was selected. He faces life in prison without parole if convicted.
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The killing of Shakur, also known as 2Pac, is one of America’s most celebrated cold cases, prompting endless debate among music fans over who did it and why.
The rapper, who was just 25 when he died, was a key figure in a hip-hop rivalry pitting the East Coast against the West Coast.
Known for hits like “California Love” and “All Eyez on Me,” Shakur – the son of a Black Panther – was raised in Harlem and Baltimore. He quickly became the epitome of a California bad-boy, however, when he signed with Los Angeles-based Death Row Records.
Prosecutors say Death Row Records was protected by Mob Piru, a Los Angeles gang that was part of the wider Bloods alliance. Knight was affiliated with the group.
Bad Boy Records had hired the rival South Side Compton Crips, led by Davis, as bodyguards.
After the Tyson fight at the MGM Grand casino, Knight and Shakur beat up Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, in retribution over an alleged assault of a Death Row employee. Davis was out for revenge, the prosecution says.
