Tupac murder: Ex-gang leader sentenced to life in prison

Nearly three decades after hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, a former American gang leader has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for orchestrating the rapper’s murder.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, was sentenced on Tuesday after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in August. He received two consecutive terms of 20 years to life — one for murder and another for the use of a deadly weapon.

Davis, who showed little emotion during the sentencing at a Las Vegas courtroom, briefly argued with the judge over credit for time already served.

When given an opportunity to address the court, he made one final request.

“I just want my stuff back that they took out of my house,” he said, referring to evidence seized by investigators.

Asked by Judge Carli Kierny whether he had anything else to say, Davis replied: “I’m good. I’m going to appeal this case, for sure.”

His lawyer, Michael Sanft, also vowed to appeal the conviction.

Tupac, one of the most influential rappers of the 1990s, was 25 when he was shot in a drive-by attack on September 7, 1996.

The rapper was travelling in an SUV driven by Marion “Suge” Knight, the co-founder of Death Row Records, when gunmen opened fire in Las Vegas. He suffered four gunshot wounds and died in hospital six days later.

The killing became one of America's most notorious unsolved murder cases, fuelling years of speculation about the people behind the attack and intensifying the image of violence surrounding hip-hop during the era's bitter East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry.

Although Davis has now been convicted of orchestrating the killing, prosecutors have never conclusively identified the person who fired the fatal shots.

Davis was arrested in 2023, after years of investigators suspecting his involvement but lacking sufficient evidence to charge him.

His public accounts of the killing, including statements made during media appearances and in his memoir, Compton Street Legend, helped build the prosecution's case.

Prosecutors said the murder was motivated by revenge following a fight at the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996.

The confrontation involved members of the South Side Compton Crips, a gang Davis has described himself as having led, and individuals associated with the Mob Piru gang, which had links to Tupac, Knight and Death Row Records.

Both groups were in Las Vegas for a heavyweight boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon.

According to accounts Davis gave investigators, he later got into a white Cadillac with his nephew and two other associates and went looking for Tupac and Knight.

Davis said he handed a gun to two men seated behind him. One of them allegedly opened fire when the Cadillac pulled alongside the vehicle carrying the rapper and Knight.

Davis was not accused of personally firing the shots. However, Nevada law allows a person to be convicted of murder for participating in a killing, even if they did not pull the trigger.

The other three men who were in the Cadillac that night have since died.

During the sentencing, Tupac's sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, delivered an emotional victim-impact statement, saying their mother had raised the rapper to believe he could change the world.

“She raised him to be a human rights activist,” Sekyiwa told the court.

“He believed her. He went out in the world to do that. And I believe he would have done it.”

Judge Kierny told Davis that his claims of having changed since the 1990s were not enough to excuse the consequences of his actions.

“You don't get to take a man from his family,” the judge said, referring to Tupac. “The world never forgot about him.”

Tupac remains one of hip-hop's most celebrated figures, known for songs that explored street violence, poverty, social injustice and life in America's inner cities.

His album All Eyez on Me, released months before his death in 1996, cemented his status as one of rap's biggest stars. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

Nearly 30 years after his death, his music continues to influence artists and fans around the world.