Just hours before he was murdered, Tupac Shakur and his Death Row entourage allegedly beat up Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Anderson’s uncle, Duane “Keffe D” Davis, appeared in court on Monday to face murder charges, 30 years after the killing.
Davis allegedly orchestrated the murder as revenge for his nephew. The killing has sparked countless conspiracy theories over the years, with the subsequent murder of Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious BIG, also implicated.
Prosecutors say they may never have been able to bring charges after multiple investigations yielded no definitive evidence. However, Davis implicated himself in the crime when publishing his memoir in 2019.
Book Reveals Involvement of Davis
Davis co-authored the book, which says that Tupac and his entourage “crossed the line” when they beat up Anderson.
“We couldn’t let no record company studio gangsters do us like that,” the book says. Davis was in the passenger seat of the white Cadillac that pulled up alongside the black BMW carrying Tupac and Suge Knight.
In the book, it says that Davis passed a gun to the back seat of the car. When they encountered Tupac and Knight, Davis claimed to see Tupac reach for a weapon and wrote that “one of my guys from the back seat grabbed the Glock and started bustin’ back.”
No weapon was found in the black BMW, however. Tupac died in the hospital six days later, while Knight survived with minor injuries. He is now serving a 28-year prison sentence for killing businessman Terry Carter in a hit-and-run in 2015.
Book Was Just Trying to Make Money, Claims Davis
Davis’ lawyers attempted to block the book from being used as evidence in the trial. They argued the book was fictionalized and had a co-author, making it impossible to know which parts Davis wrote.
Davis says he embellished his role in the killing to try to make money from the book. The full title of the book is “Compton Street Legend: Notorious Keffe D’s Street-Level Accounts of Tupac and Biggie Murders, Death Row Origins, Suge Knight, Puffy Combs, and Crooked Cops.”
In a recent interview, he said he had no reason to kill Tupac, as he helped Knight set up Death Row Records. “Why would I kill our money like that?” he told 8NewsNow.
A 2008 police interview is also expected to be used as evidence. His lawyers argued the interview was supposed to be confidential and not used against him.
Suge Knight to Be Called as Key Witness
Knight is the only other survivor from either of the two cars involved in the shooting. His testimony may therefore be key to the case.
Anderson was allegedly in the back seat of the Cadillac along with Davis and Deandrae “Freaky” Smith. Anderson was killed in a gang shooting two years after Tupac in 1998, though his murder is not alleged to be related to the rapper’s death. Smith, meanwhile, died of natural causes in 2004.
Prosecutors also plan to call Denvonta Lee, a former South Side Compton Crips associate. Lee alleges that Davis was the shot caller and Smith was the eventual shooter. He testified that Davis passed the gun to Anderson, but he could not get a clear shot, so he handed the gun to Smith, who opened fire.
The fight at the MGM Grand is far from an isolated case of violence at a casino, and 30 years later, there continue to be violent incidents at or near gambling venues across the US. Last year, a man was shot dead in the food court of MGM National Harbor in Washington, D.C., which followed a string of incidents throughout the year.
Diddy Also Implicated in Davis’ Book
In his book, Davis also implicates Sean “Diddy” Combs. He says that Diddy wanted Tupac and Knight dead. At the time, Diddy was the manager of Bad Boy Records, Biggie’s record label.
The rival East and West Coast record labels had a very public dispute, and many have accused Diddy of being part of Tupac’s killing. He, however, has denied any involvement. Davis also said he did not think Diddy was involved in the interview with 8NewsNow.
Prosecutors have not called Diddy as a witness at the trial. He is currently serving a 50-month federal prison sentence for two counts of transporting people across state lines for the purposes of prostitution.
Davis was indicted for the murder in September 2023 and has been held in custody since then. The 63-year-old said he refused to take a plea deal for fear that he would die in prison. The trial has attracted so much interest that a lottery system has been put in place to determine who will get to watch in the main courtroom.
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Just hours before he was murdered, Tupac Shakur and his Death Row entourage allegedly beat up Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Anderson’s uncle, Duane “Keffe D” Davis, appeared in court on Monday to face murder charges, 30 years after the killing. Davis allegedly orchestrated the murder as revenge for
The post Tupac Shakur Murder Trial Begins With Casino Fight Alleged to Have Sparked Killing appeared first on CasinoBeats.