(CNN) — Almost 30 years after hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur’s murder, the only person ever charged in his death is going to trial.
Duane Keith Davis, also known as “Keffe D,” is accused of orchestrating Shakur’s killing via a drive-by shooting on September 7, 1996, after his nephew got into a fight with Shakur and his entourage following their attendance at a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. While prosecutors don’t allege Davis fired the gun, they argue he planned the attack and supplied the weapon. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further, or assist a criminal gang.
The lore of rappers and gangsters looms large over this trial. Law enforcement says the violent rivalry between two Los Angeles-based gangs — the Bloods and the Crips — contributed to the violence leading to Shakur’s death, but some involved have contested that assertion.
Here is a refresher of the case’s key players.
Tupac Shakur
While Shakur was only 25 years old when he died, the legendary musician was responsible for 11 platinum albums, including seven released after his death. Some of his most famous – and most controversial – albums include “All Eyez on Me” and “Me Against the World.” He also had acting roles in films like “Poetic Justice” and “Above the Rim.”
His music touched on social justice issues, street life and the struggle of living in the world as a Black man, with some dubbing him a “street poet.” Shakur drew inspiration from his mother, Afeni Shakur Davis, who was part of the Black Panthers as a young adult and remained an activist throughout her life.
While Shakur was born in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem in 1971, he moved throughout his youth, ultimately laying claim to Oakland, California, as his home. “I give all my love to Oakland, if I’ma claim somewhere I’ma claim Oakland, even if I don’t live there,” Shakur said in a 1993 interview.
Shakur was one of the biggest faces of West Coast rap during an ongoing rivalry with stars on the East Coast, namely with Christopher Wallace, also known as “The Notorious B.I.G.” or “Biggie Smalls.”
The public debated if Shakur was part of a gang, given his lyrics about gangster life and his affiliation with Marion “Suge” Knight, the owner of Death Row Records, the record label with which he signed. But the rapper rejected that designation. “I am not a gangster and never have been,” he told the Los Angeles Times in a 1995 interview. He added that his music reflects the hard parts of life, which include “lots of killing and drugs.”
Shakur also faced legal troubles over the last several years of his life, including being convicted of sexual abuse and serving eight months in prison. He was out on bail at the time of his death after appealing that conviction.
Shakur and his art are still beloved by many – so much so that Coachella featured his hologram entertaining attendees in 2012, 16 years after his death.
Duane Davis
Much of what we know about Davis, who was 33 years old at the time of Shakur’s killing, comes from his 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” as well as from several media appearances. Davis’ co-author, Yusuf Jah, is among the witnesses that could potentially be called during the trial to testify. The book details Davis’ life as a member of the South Side Compton Crips, the people he hung out with and how those relationships came into play the night Shakur was killed.
Discussing Shakur’s death in his book, Davis says he had a conversation with Sean “Diddy” Combs, then one of the biggest rappers and producers on the East Coast. Combs had his own record label and represented artists like Biggie Smalls. Combs allegedly asked Davis for help with “a couple of problems I need to be handled,” referencing Knight and Shakur, Davis said in the book.
“‘I looked at him in his eyes, and without hesitation, I responded, ‘That’s not a problem. We can make that happen!’” Davis said in the book. Although Davis didn’t say a specific price was mentioned during the conversation, he later references it as “a million-dollar bounty.”
Combs, who is listed as a potential witness for the trial, called allegations of any involvement by him “nonsense” in a 2016 interview with the syndicated radio show “The Breakfast Club.” He has never been charged in connection with the case. CNN has reached out to Combs for additional comment.
While Davis wrote that Combs came to him for help, he pointed to the fight between Shakur, his entourage and Davis’ nephew, Orlando Anderson, at the MGM Grand as the main grounds for wanting to confront Shakur.
More than two hours after the boxing match, Davis wrote, he and his group, riding in a white Cadillac, drove up on the BMW sedan carrying Shakur and Knight. While Davis was in the front passenger seat, one of the backseat passengers grabbed a black .40 Glock that Davis had thrown in the back earlier and started shooting at their target, according to his account, with shots coming from the other vehicle as well.
“No words were exchanged, the time for talking had passed, the (sh*t) was on!” he said in the book.
In addition to Davis’ account in his book, he also confessed to his role during a 2009 proffer agreement – an agreement with law enforcement to share information in an investigation that generally can’t be used as evidence against the suspect – former Los Angeles Police Department Detective Greg Kading told CNN.
Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny ruled last year Davis hadn’t provided proof of immunity deals with California law enforcement, according to the Associated Press. Kading said detectives “substantiated nearly every single thing he said,” so they have more evidence than just his statement.
But despite his previous statements, Davis claims he had nothing to do with the killing of Shakur, even saying in a recent interview with 8 News Now that he “wasn’t even in Nevada” at the time Shakur was killed. Davis told the outlet he participated in writing the book because he “was just after the money,” saying most of the details came from the ghost writers. “I didn’t write that book,” he said.
Marion ‘Suge’ Knight
Knight and Davis are the only remaining people alive who were directly involved in the encounter that led to Shakur’s death.
Knight is the powerhouse who ran the West Coast-based Death Row Records, which in addition to signing Shakur, also had Andre “Dr. Dre” Young and Snoop Dogg, whose full name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., as part of his label.
While running the influential rap label, he built a reputation of using or threatening violence. He spent nearly five years in prison for assaulting a man shortly before he and Shakur were shot in Las Vegas, and he was sentenced to 28 years in prison for killing a man during a 2015 hit-and-run incident. Knight is still serving time in a state prison in San Diego.
Knight, a Compton native, was “closely affiliated” with Mob Piru, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lieutenant Jason Johansson said at the time of Davis’ arrest. Others also said Knight was associated with the gang, including Davis and Denvonta Lee, a Crip who testified before the grand jury in Davis’ case in 2023.
On the night of his death, Shakur rode in the passenger side of the black BMW while Knight drove. Knight was also shot during the incident but only suffered minor injuries.
While Knight’s testimony could prove valuable to the trial and he’s on the witness list, he previously told TMZ in a phone call from prison that he is not interested in testifying in the case against Davis.
“I wouldn’t wish somebody going to prison on my worst enemy,” he told the outlet.
Orlando Anderson, Terrence Brown and Deandre Smith
These three men were in the car with Davis the night Shakur and Knight were shot. They have all since died, but they were named as co-conspirators in the indictment against Davis.
A key person in the group was Davis’ nephew, Anderson, who had gotten into a fight with Shakur, Knight and their entourage at the MGM Grand.
The fight started because of a separate fight at a mall in Los Angeles County earlier that month, according to two grand jury witnesses. During the mall encounter, a friend hanging out with Anderson, along with other South Side Crips, stole Trevon Lane’s Death Row chain, said Lee in his grand jury testimony. Lee, who was a Crip, said he was at the mall when the tensions built.
When the Death Row group was at the hotel, Lane saw Anderson there, and decided to act, Reggie Wright Jr., who ran security for Death Row Records, said during grand jury testimony.
Video footage of the hotel shown by police at the time of Davis’ arrest shows Anderson laying on the floor as people kick him from all sides, including Knight and Shakur, Johansson said.
When the group got in the car later that night to find Shakur and Knight, Terrence “Bubble Up” Brown was driving, and he made a U-turn at Davis’ direction when they accidentally drove past their targets, Davis’ book said.
Anderson, known as “Baby Lane,” and Deandre “Big Dre” Smith, also known as “Freaky,” were in the backseat when shots rang out, according to Davis’ account, in which he implies the first shots came from the other vehicle.
“One of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back,” Davis wrote.
Davis was asked who shot the gun in an interview for BET’s “Death Row Chronicles,” but he declined to answer.
“Going to keep it for the code of the streets,” he said. “It just came from the backseat, bro.”
Anderson, in an interview with CNN, denied being involved in the killing before he died in a gang-related shooting in 1998. Smith and Brown have also since died, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said.
Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G.
While The Notorious B.I.G. wasn’t directly involved in the shooting that killed Shakur, his name could be mentioned in the case.
Wallace died about six months after Shakur in Los Angeles in March 1997, also in a drive-by shooting.
Clifford Mogg, a retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police detective, testified before the 2023 grand jury that detectives who investigated Shakur’s killing “believed that people associated with both murders were involved.”
Mogg affirmed the “theory was accurate that they were related,” but didn’t expand on what he meant. He also said Davis was not involved.
“When you say they were related, you’re not saying perpetrated by the same individuals?” Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo asked at the time, and Mogg responded, “That’s correct.”
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