LAS VEGAS(National Times)- Rapper Tupac Shakur was shot dead in an act of gang revenge, ordered by a mobster who later boasted of it, jurors heard on Monday, as one of America\u2019s most anticipated trials got under way, 30 years after the murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Duane \u2018Keffe D\u2019 Davis, a one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips, one of a patchwork of gangs that ran parts of Los Angeles in the 1990s, ordered the killing after his nephew was beaten by a rival mob, prosecutor Binu Pilal told the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn September 7, 1996, Tupac Shakur publicly, on camera, participated in a humiliating beating of Duane Davis\u2019s nephew, Orlando Anderson,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen, two and a half hours later\u2026 Tupac is gunned down in a drive-by shooting from a white Cadillac in an act of revenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pilal said Davis did not pull the trigger, but had handed the gun to someone sitting in the back seat of his car and ordered that person to shoot the rapper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In repeated interviews, Davis had confessed to his part in the murder, Pilal said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd now, nearly 30 years later, we\u2019re going to ask you to finally hold Duane Davis accountable,\u201d he told the jury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Davis, 63, denies murder and other charges. If convicted, he faces possible life in prison without parole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His lawyer, Michael Sanft, said prosecutors had no real proof that Davis was culpable, painting a picture of a confused police investigation that repeatedly failed to turn up a definitive version of events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
East Coast vs West Coast<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The killing of Shakur, widely known as 2Pac, is one of America\u2019s most celebrated cold cases, prompting endless debate among music fans over who did it and why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rapper, who was just 25 when he died, was a key figure in a hip-hop rivalry pitting the US East Coast against the West Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Known for hits like California Love and All Eyez on Me, Shakur \u2014 the son of a Black Panther \u2014 was raised in Harlem and Baltimore, but quickly became the epitome of California hip hop when he signed with Los Angeles-based Death Row Records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The trial will revisit the battle between Death Row, founded by Marion \u2018Suge\u2019 Knight, and Bad Boy Records, the East Coast label created by Sean \u2018Diddy\u2019 Combs, which signed Christopher \u2018The Notorious B.I.G.\u2019 Wallace \u2014 who was also murdered in March 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prosecutors say Death Row Records was protected by Mob Piru, a Los Angeles gang that was part of the wider Bloods alliance. Knight was affiliated with the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bad Boy Records had hired the rival South Side Compton Crips, led by Davis, as bodyguards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Knight and Shakur were in Las Vegas to watch boxer Mike Tyson fight when they beat up Davis\u2019s nephew, Crips member Orlando \u2018Baby Lane\u2019 Anderson, in retribution over an alleged assault of a Death Row employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later that night, a white Cadillac carrying Davis, Anderson and others pulled up beside Shakur\u2019s car in Las Vegas. Shots were fired from the Cadillac, and Shakur was fatally wounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The investigation sputtered for decades because of a lack of evidence, but the case was revived when Davis\u2019s memoirs were published in 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LAS VEGAS(National Times)- Rapper Tupac Shakur was shot dead in an act of gang revenge, ordered by a mobster who later boasted of it, jurors heard on Monday, as one of America\u2019s most anticipated trials got under way, 30 years after the murder. Duane \u2018Keffe D\u2019 Davis, a one-time leader of the South Side Compton […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n