Ex-gang leader sentenced to minimum 40 years for Tupac murder
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, the former Los Angeles gang leader who boasted for years of his involvement in the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, only to deny it when he came to trial, was sentenced to a minimum 40 years in…
Tupac Shakur, one of the most influential rappers of the 1990s, was shot in a drive-by attack in Las Vegas in September 1996 and died days later at age 25. His murder, along with the killing of rival rapper Notorious B.I.G. six months later, became one of hip hop's most enduring unsolved mysteries, fuelling decades of speculation about a feud between West Coast and East Coast rap scenes. For nearly 30 years, no one was criminally charged in the case, despite Shakur's associates and law enforcement long identifying suspects linked to Los Angeles gang circles.
That changed when Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a former gang leader who had publicly admitted his role in the shooting in a memoir and television interviews, was arrested and charged with murder. His conviction and sentencing close out one of the most high-profile cold cases in American music history, though his about-turn at trial — denying involvement despite his earlier public boasts — has drawn attention to inconsistencies in his account and renewed scrutiny of how the case was handled for so long.