Duane “Keffe D” Davis was sentenced to 40 years for orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips gang, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for orchestrating the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur, who was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996. The sentence marks the first conviction in a case that remained unsolved for nearly three decades and fueled numerous conspiracy theories.

Davis, 63, was found guilty of murder with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors argued that he did not fire the shots himself but coordinated the attack and provided the weapon used by his nephew, Orlando Anderson. Anderson was identified by investigators as the shooter, but denied involvement and died in another attack in 1998.

The main evidence consisted of Davis’s public statements and information in his memoir, published in 2019. He had previously told authorities, during a 2008 interrogation, that he was in the white Cadillac from which the shots were fired. The interviews and the book led to the cancellation of the agreement that protected him from prosecution. Davis has announced that he will appeal. Tupac Shakur was 25 years old and had sold more than 75 million records.