Ex-gang boss Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis sentenced to 40 years for orchestrating Tupac Shakur’s murder
Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison after being convicted of orchestrating Tupac Shakur’s 1996 murder. The ruling closes a long-running case and recognises Davis’s role, as found by the jury, despite prosecutors saying he did not fire the gun himself.
Prosecutors said Davis helped plan the attack after his nephew Orlando Anderson had an altercation with Shakur, and supplied the gun used in the shooting. They cited Davis’s 2019 memoir, in which he wrote that he was in the Cadillac and provided the weapon; his defence argued the account was fictional and exaggerated. Davis denied the charges, said he would appeal, and Shakur’s family described the conviction as a source of relief.
- Davis received 40 years to life for orchestrating Shakur’s murder.
- Prosecutors said he supplied the gun but did not fire it.
- Davis denies the charges and plans to appeal.
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Tupac Shakur was a highly influential American rapper who was shot in Las Vegas in September 1996 and died several days later. The killing remained unsolved for decades, despite years of investigation and public attention.
Duane Davis, known as “Keffe D”, was a former gang member who was in the car from which the shots were fired, according to his own later account. Prosecutors said an earlier fight between Shakur and Davis’s nephew, Orlando Anderson, led Davis to help arrange the attack; Davis disputed the account in court.