August 10, 2026 \/ 5:56 AM EDT
\n \/ CBS\/AP<\/p>\n
Las Vegas \u2014 The man who prosecutors say orchestrated the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur is scheduled to go to trial Monday, almost 30 years after the fatal drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, faces a single count of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in Shakur's death. He's been jailed since late 2023 and has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n
For decades, Shakur's unsolved killing has gripped hip-hop fans. He's considered one of the most influential rappers of all time with songs that speak to the human experience of love, heartache and familial relationships. When Shakur died, he was in the midst of a fierce battle for dominance in a music scene increasingly shaped by rival gangs.<\/p>\n
The trial, which is expected to last about a month, likely won't reveal who pulled the trigger. Instead, prosecutors hope to prove that Davis was the shot caller and provided the weapon.<\/p>\n
Gunfire came from the Cadillac that Davis was in, and he's one of the only people there that night who is still alive. Prosecutors say if Davis hadn't written explicitly about the killing, or talked about it in interviews, it's likely no one would have been charged.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur was in the passenger seat of a black BMW and Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight was driving. They had just watched Mike Tyson knock out Bruce Seldon and were headed to a nightclub where Shakur was scheduled to perform. But at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip, a white Cadillac pulled up beside them and gunfire erupted.<\/p>\n
Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later, while Knight survived with minor injuries. Knight is serving a 28-year prison sentence for a fatal hit-and-run.<\/p>\n
The case went cold until Davis began making public statements about his involvement as a leader of the South Side Compton Crips. In 2019, he published a tell-all memoir. The book, along with interviews Davis gave, revived the police investigation.<\/p>\n
Davis' defense attorneys argue there is no evidence he directed the shooting and the state relies on witnesses who weren't there. The defense said Davis left the narcotics trade in 2009 and worked a steady job before illness forced him to retire in 2014.<\/p>\n
For Shakur's family, the last 30 years have been exhausting and stressful, his stepbrother Maurice "Mopreme" Shakur said. Sitting through the trial will be retraumatizing, Shakur said, but he's "cautiously optimistic" justice will come.<\/p>\n
"I hope that the trial is fair, and we find out the truth," he said.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of pages of grand jury transcripts portray Tupac Shakur's shooting as a culmination of a longstanding feud between rival record labels Death Row Records and Bad Boy Records and rival gang sects Mob Piru and South Side Compton Crips.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said South Side Compton Crips hung out with and provided protection to Bad Boy Records, which was founded by Sean "Diddy" Combs and included rappers like The Notorious B.I.G., or Christopher Wallace. Mob Piru, part of the larger Bloods gang, was associated with Death Row Records, which featured rappers like Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre.<\/p>\n
The rival gangs fought and retaliated against each other both before and after Shakur's death.<\/p>\n