Duane âKeffe Dâ Davis is a former gang leader who was convicted of first-degree murder for orchestrating the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur. That year, on September 7, Shakur was shot multiple times while sitting in his vehicle at a stoplight in Las Vegas; he died six days later. The motive was widely believed to be gang-related, with the Southside Crips allegedly responsible for the murder. Davis was a leader of the Crips in Compton, California. Shakur was tied to the Mob Piru Bloods, a rival gang that often battled with the Crips.
Davis was also an uncle of Orlando Anderson, who was a member of the Crips. On the night of the shooting, Shakur and his Bloods bodyguards beat Anderson in the lobby of a Mike Tyson prizefight venue. Afterward, Anderson allegedly went to his fellow gang members and demanded retaliation. According to sources, several Crips began driving around in a white Cadillac, searching for Shakur. When they located the BMW carrying Shakur and Suge Knight, the Crips pulled up alongside the vehicle and opened fire, fatally wounding Shakur.
Years later Davis made claims in a memoir and interviews that he was in the white Cadillac when the shooting occurred. He also said that the gun was provided to him beforehand by an associate of Sean âDiddyâ Combs, who denied any involvement with the shooting.
In 2023 Davis was arrested and charged with murder, following an indictment by a grand jury in Nevada. He pleaded not guilty. In an interview with ABC News in 2025, he said, âThey canât even place me out here. They donât have no gun, no car, no Keffe D, no nothing.â During his trial in 2026, his lawyer said that Davisâs stories were embellished or fabricated. Prosecutors claimed that Davis gave the gun to another person inside the Cadillac, possibly Anderson, and ordered the hit. He was found guilty and sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.