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# Former gang leader convicted in 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur
- URL: https://www.theglobalvoice.com/former-gang-leader-convicted-in-1996-murder-of-rapper-tupac-shakur/
- Published: 2026-09-02T03:26:09.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-05T06:34:53.000Z
- Description: Las Vegas jury convicts former gang leader Duane Davis in rapper's 1996 killing after nearly 30 years without arrests.
- Author: TGV Desk
- Tags: politics, americas, Culture, snap

A Las Vegas jury has found former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of murdering rapper Tupac Shakur, bringing the first conviction in one of the most notorious unsolved killings in music history nearly 30 years after the shooting.

Jurors in Clark County, Nevada, deliberated for less than three hours on Monday before convicting Davis, 63, of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. The verdict followed an 11-day trial in which prosecutors accused Davis of orchestrating the September 1996 drive-by shooting.

Prosecutors argued that Davis, then a leader of the South Side Compton Crips, organised the attack in retaliation for a confrontation earlier that night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Shakur and members of his entourage had attacked Davis's nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, following a Mike Tyson boxing match.

According to prosecutors, Davis obtained a firearm and joined three other men in a white Cadillac as they searched for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight. The Cadillac eventually pulled alongside Knight's BMW near the Las Vegas Strip, where Shakur was sitting in the passenger seat. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later at the age of 25\. Knight was wounded.

Davis was not accused of firing the shots himself. Prosecutors instead portrayed him as the organiser who supplied the gun and directed the operation. His own statements became crucial evidence after he repeatedly discussed his involvement in interviews and in his 2019 memoir, *Compton Street Legend*.

Davis's lawyers argued that those statements were exaggerated or fabricated for publicity and maintained that there was insufficient independent evidence linking him to the murder.

Davis has said he intends to appeal. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 13 and faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.