ACCUSATIONS against some of the biggest names in music in the 1990s are included among thousands of pages of files submitted to prosecutors in the Tupac Shakur murder case, a source claims.
Retired Los Angeles cops have been the key to “nailing” much of the key evidence against Tupac suspect Keefe D – after trawling through old files from the Notorious B.I.G. murder investigation, many of which “will never become public,” the insider said.
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Some of the detectives from the LAPD and the now disbanded Compton police force have collaborated with Las Vegas prosecutors to build a full case against Keefe D – who is charged with the 1996 murder of the rapper in Las Vegas.
Vegas legal insiders said that the Clark County District Attorneys and their officers have assembled the widest ever probe into all the factors surrounding the East v West coast rap wars, which lead to Pac’s shooting.
Prosecutor Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo revealed in court at Keefe’s bail hearing last month that his team were recently handed “thousands and thousands of pages” from various LA cops’ probes of Biggie’s murder, which took place in Los Angeles in March 1997.
DiGiacomo insisted the discovery included testimony dating back to late 1997 and “a particular witness” who had implicated Keefe before he gave police or media interviews about his role as a “shot caller” for the killing.
Now a Las Vegas law enforcement source has told The U.S. that the files also include accusations against some of the “biggest names in music” in the ’90s.
They said, “Without the help of the ex Los Angeles cops, the case against Keefe would be less concrete.
“Their knowledge of evidence, witness statements and Keefe’s criminal past have prosecutors confident that ‘Keefe has almost no defense.’
“The DA’s team are sat on biggest ever evidence file relating to Tupac’s murder, including paperwork which may never become public.
“They include accusations against some of the biggest names in music from the 1990s.
“It has been an epic workload, taking over three years to assemble and collaborating with retired LA officers and mining vaults for evidence, which is still coming to light almost 30 years on from the incident.
“Broadly they feel their case strongly outlines a precise trail of evidence confirming Keefe was a central figure in Tupac’s death from witness statements and circumstantial evidence.”
Legal insiders have revealed that California law enforcement had a full insight into the actions and movements of the killer criminal gang – who Keefe boasted he led on the quest to shoot Tupac – in 1997.
However Los Angeles cops’ discoveries were never turned into a full scale multi-state criminal prosecution.
The current Clark County District Attorney’s office has spent three years liaising with former cops to bring in as much evidence, which they feel will have a significant bearing on the case.
Self confessed Compton gangster Keefe, who has confessed in two police interviews to being the “shot caller” of the Tupac assassination, has pleaded not guilty to murder.
A Vegas legal source told The U.S. Sun, “Los Angeles law enforcement teams had decades of intel following Keefe and his connected criminal associations and an understanding of the key players in those circles.
“The crime was committed in Vegas, but on the ground in Compton the aftermath played out in gang circles both for Keefe’s Cripps and their rival the Mob Piru.
“This murder trial is the first time that all the key law enforcement officers across both states have collaborated to deliver a raft of evidence from many years to build a full case.
The DA’s team are sat on biggest ever evidence file relating to Tupac’s murder, including paperwork which may never become public…They include accusations against some of the biggest names in music from the 1990s.
Law enforcement source
“Keefe’s defense really have their work cut out to convince a jury of their stance that there is no proof he wasn’t in Vegas on the night of the Tupac shooting and he invented his confessions for fame and fortune.
“There is a confidence from prosecutors that they have the evidence that will ‘nail’ him.”
The source added, “The witness list for the trial is being prepared by the DA.
“It will feature former officers from Los Angeles’s police and specialist divisions explaining their insight into Keefe’s criminal past – which he boasted about in interviews and his memoir; and now that he is charged with murder suddenly denies.”
Why it’s taken so long for justice in the Tupac Shakur case
By The Sun’s Senior Reporter Emma Parry, who has been reporting on the Tupac murder for the past 10 years
TUPAC fans have been waiting for justice for the iconic rapper for almost 28 years.
Finally in September 2023 there appeared to be progress with the arrest of Duane “Keefe D” Davis – a former Southside Crip gangster from Compton, LA – who had been telling the world for years that he and his fellow “gang soldiers” were responsible for the hit.
I’ve been reporting on the case for several years and it always appeared pretty cut and dry…Keefe had spent the past decade gaining notoriety by boasting about his alleged involvement in the shooting – now he was finally getting what he deserves. But despite Keefe running his mouth for years, I now believe a guilty verdict in November’s trial is far from guaranteed.
Keefe describes in great detail in his memoir Compton Street Legend what went down the night Pac was shot, extracts from which The U.S. Sun has published.
He claimed that he was offered a million dollars by rapper Diddy to “handle” Tupac and Suge Knight and when he and his Crip gangsters came across the pair driving near the Strip in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, Keefe alleged he passed the gun to his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson who took the shot. Keefe said if Pac had been on his side: “I would have blast”.
Keefe repeated the claims multiple times over the years, on YouTube channels, documentaries, and even in taped confessions to police, when he believed he could not be prosecuted. In one confession to the LAPD, Keefe appeared completely remorseless telling detectives: “We didn’t give a f**k…The ambulance [for Tupac] was parked right here next to us. That s**t was as funny as a motherf**ker.”
The Sun has been publishing stories about Keefe’s self confessed involvement in the crime since 2018.
I sent many links to his confessions to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, asking them why this man had not been arrested yet. They would thank me for the info but say that they could not comment because the case was still active. From the outside, it looked like no action was being taken at all.
We spoke to former detectives involved in the case and documentary makers who all felt utterly frustrated at the lack of progress in the case. We even published a plea from former LAPD detective Greg Kading, who had probed the murders, urging Las Vegas cops to arrest Keefe, back in 2020.
For years, the case appeared to have been forgotten and ignored, to be left forever unsolved.
But finally, in the summer of 2023, we got word from our sources that there had been a huge development in the case. A secret grand jury was due to be held on whether or not Keefe should be indicted. I was dubious at first but around the same time a house in Henderson, Nevada, linked to Keefe, was raided in July as part of the Tupac investigation.
Things were heating up.
Later that summer, behind closed doors, jurors listened to hours of testimony from former cops, detectives, and coroners involved in the Tupac case and gangsters and associates of Keefe’s and Pac’s from back in the day. They were shown graphic photos of Tupac’s bullet-ridden body. After days of evidence, they decided there was enough evidence to prosecute Keefe.
Once the secret documents were released I poured over the transcripts. While interesting, many of the witnesses were telling stories they’d heard second-hand. None of the prosecution witnesses had a clear look at who shot Pac. One witness Devonta Lee claimed another gangster called Big Dre took the shot – not Orlando. Maybe things weren’t as clear-cut as I first thought.
Keefe was then arrested on September 30, 2023 at his home. Bodycam footage we obtained from the scene showed Keefe bragging to cops even as he was handcuffed in the back of a police car – telling officers he was involved in the “biggest case in Las Vegas history”.
Following Keefe’s multiple appearances in court, he seems to have lost much of that bravado and now cuts a sad, lonely figure.
Suffering from various health problems as a result of cancer, he’s struggling to cope with the brutalities of jail life and can’t get together enough money to afford his bail. He feels some of his old Southside Crip associates – men he handed wads of cash to in his glory days, have just abandoned him.
Keefe is now desperate to get out of jail, and his defense stems is leaning on his claim that he completely made up his involvement in the Tupac murder for fame and money. He saw other people cashing in on the murder so he thought he would too. He reckons his confessions to police were all lies – he made it up because he was under a plea deal and thought it would help him beat his other charges.
And, according to his lawyer Carl Arnold, he wasn’t even in Las Vegas on the night of the shooting. Arnold remains convinced he will see his client walk free and their secret weapon could be former Death Row Records boss Suge.
As the only other person still alive from either car, Suge, currently in prison for a fatal hit and run, would be a key witness. Suge is the only person still alive who knows what went down – he saw the shooter. While he’s said he won’t testify at the November trial, Suge has claimed in a TMZ interview from prison that Orlando was not the shooter, which again throws into doubt Keefe’s version of events.
Keefe and his lawyer are hoping they might be able to change his mind and persuade him to testify for the defense. And Suge holds the power to blow the prosecution’s case apart.
And if Keefe walks free, will there ever be justice for Pac?
The prosecutors’ bail reconsideration motion papers, filed last month and obtained by The U.S. Sun, reveal how Keefe was an LAPD informant in the 2000s and outlines how officers managed to persuade him to speak about his crimes.
Evidence of how the LAPD was aware of Keefe’s Compton criminal crew being responsible for Tupac’s death back as far back as 1997 – a year after the shooting – has emerged from an unearthed audio clip which can be heard at the top of this article.
In the recording, obtained by YouTube channel Murder Rap’s Deep Dive series, Los Angeles detectives made it clear to Keefe’s gangster ally Deandre “Big Dre” Smith, who was in the rear of the white Cadillac used to hunt Tupac, that they knew the Crips murdered the rapper.
An officer, on tape, told Smith, informants claimed he fired the deadly shots from the rear passenger seat.
The November 1997 taped interview had Dre confirm he was in Las Vegas on the night of the shooting.
However Dre denied knowing fellow back seat passenger Baby Lane had fought Tupac with other Crips at the MGM Grand.
Dre insisted that he was not involved in any assassination: “I ain’t done nothin’. I got a lawyer man.”
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The detective then launches a monologue at Dre insisting that sources and informants have confirmed that he was part of the kill squad.
He added, “We’ve been told by more than one person that you were the one that pulled the trigger. I know you got the balls to do that. You will die in prison.”
Smith, 30, died on November 7, 2004, from health issues in Los Angeles, so cannot be called as a trial witness.
Long term Tupac case investigator Mike Dorsey discovered the clip for the Deep Dive YouTube series in police records.
Dorsey said, “It’s incredible that LA detectives investigating Biggie’s homicide in 1997 already knew who was involved in Tupac’s murder, thanks to a ton of informants who came forward.
“It’s shocking to hear audio of a detective telling a Tupac murder suspect to his face 27 years ago that they know he and his associates were responsible for it.”