The former gang leader charged with murder in the investigation into the killing of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur 27 years ago pleaded not guilty Thursday in a Las Vegas court. Duane Davis, known as “Keefe D”, was charged in September with this murder, although he was not the one to have held the weapon during the crime perpetrated in this metropolis in the western United States on September 7, 1996.
The accused boasted of being the “commander” of the operation
Now aged 60, the former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, a Los Angeles gang, has long admitted his involvement in the murder of Tupac Shakur, who was 25 years old at the time. He notably boasted of having been the “commander” of the operation aimed at taking down Tupac as well as the boss of the Death Row Records label, Marion Knight, known as “Suge”, in retaliation for an attack against his nephew. But during his appearance Thursday in Las Vegas, Duane Davis pleaded “not guilty” to his indictment for murder.
Under Nevada law, anyone who promotes and participates in a murder, even indirectly, can be charged with that crime. Tupac Shakur, known for the hits “Dear Mama“, “California Love” Or “Changes“, was a huge star in the rap world at the time of his death. He was part of Death Row Records, a label associated at the time with the Los Angeles gang Mob Piru, who had long been at war with Duane’s South Side Compton Crips Davis.
Prosecutors said last month that the prosecution had long suspected that “Keefe D” was involved in the murder, but did not have enough evidence to charge him. Things began to unravel when Davis, the last person still alive among the crew in the Cadillac from which the shots were fired, published an autobiography and spoke about the murder on television. .