RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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After three decades, there is a conviction in one of the country's most infamous unsolved killings. A Nevada jury found Duane "Keffe D" Davis guilty of orchestrating the 1996 murder of hip-hop superstar Tupac Shakur. Prosecutors argued he ordered the killing and sought revenge after Shakur and members of his entourage attacked Davis's nephew. Amna Nawaz discussed more with Joel Anderson. Amna Nawaz: After three decades, there's now a murder conviction in one of the country's most infamous unsolved killings. A Nevada jury has found a former gang leader, Duane "Keffe D" Davis, guilty of orchestrating the 1996 drive-by shooting of hip-hop superstar Tupac Shakur. Davis was found guilty of first-degree murder, but he wasn't accused of pulling the trigger. Prosecutors argued he ordered the fatal shooting and sought revenge after Shakur and members of his entourage attacked Davis' nephew earlier that night. Shakur was killed at the peak of his career, having just released a landmark double album, "All Eyez on Me," and starred in a string of popular movies. He was just 25 years old. For more on this case and why it's resonated for so many years, we're joined by Joel Anderson. He's a senior staff writer at The Ringer and a former host of Slate's "Slow Burn" podcast, including a season on the murders of Tupac Shakur and the rapper The Notorious B.I.G. Joel, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us. Joel Anderson, The Ringer: Thanks for having me, Amna. Amna Nawaz: So it's been almost 30 years since Tupac was killed, for decades, no suspects, no convictions. Why Duane Davis and why now? Joel Anderson: Well, Duane Davis -- and I hope you don't mind if I call him Keffe D -- he could not stop talking about his involvement in the murder. Originally, he got caught dealing drugs in 2007-2008. And when the feds brought him in, they asked him if he had any involvement in the murder of The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls. That was in L.A. six months after Tupac's murder. And he says, that wasn't us, but I can give you info on the other one, which was taken to mean Tupac. And so that was the first time that he admitted to having a role in Tupac's murder. Now, because he gave that information up as part of a deal that he brokered with law enforcement that was going to cut down his sentencing, he was under that arrangement for a very long time. But a couple things happened when he sold a book called "Compton Street Legend" in 2019 detailing his role in the murder, it opened up the deal again. And then he moved from L.A. into Nevada. So then he moved within the legal jurisdiction of the place where the murder had been committed. And so that's what exposed him to the legal peril that he's currently in right now. Amna Nawaz: And we should note there's no statute of limitations on murder trials in Nevada. But you mentioned how much Davis, or Keffe D, talked about this. The prosecution's case was largely built on his own words, in those interviews, in that memoirs, as you mentioned, him bragging about the role he played in Shakur's death. And actually today, the Clark County chief deputy district attorney, Binu Palal, mentioned that. Here's what he had to say. Binu Palal, Chief Deputy District Attorney, Clark County, Nevada: To all of us, to me, Tupac Shakur was an icon or an idea. But to that family, Tupac Shakur was a brother, a son, a cousin, a loved person that was ripped from them 25 or 30 years ago around. And I think Mr. Davis' arrogance and celebration of that murder is ultimately what did him in. Amna Nawaz: Joel, how did Davis or Keffe D's defense team navigate that, handle everything he had to say about this murder? Joel Anderson: By basically saying he made it all up, that he was a liar, that he was a former drug dealer. He's getting into his middle age. He doesn't have really many ways of making money legitimately. This is the thing that he had, his proximity to this case. And, of course, his nephew is one of the people that was involved in the fight with Tupac earlier on the night that he died. So he has this story, right? And he can tell it and make money off of it. But the attorney said -- his attorney said, look, he's making all that up. It's just about the money. He needed it right now. And so you have to believe that my client is a liar, is essentially the defense. Amna Nawaz: Also, he didn't pull the trigger that night. No one alleged he did. So what about everyone else in the car? How was that handled in this case? Joel Anderson: Well, so I mean, everybody else in the car is dead right now. His nephew, Orlando Anderson, was killed a couple years later at a Compton car wash. Another one died of actually health-related issues, and then another one was actually killed in a medical marijuana shop in Compton in 2015. So there's nobody left. Amna Nawaz: I was just want to take a brief step back here, because, as we mentioned, Tupac was just 25 when he was killed. Joel Anderson: Yes. Amna Nawaz: He was really at the cultural peak of his career, had multiple Platinum albums to his name, starred in multiple starring roles in big movies. Give us a sense of how big a star he was at that moment and what his murder meant for so many people. Joel Anderson: Yes, I mean, he was a massive superstar and global icon. I mean, he dated Madonna. He was Janet Jackson's love interest in a movie. He was always on the covers of magazines, newspapers. If you grew up in that era when "MTV Jams" or BET "Rap City" was on, he was always on there. Like, you could not get away from Tupac. He was probably at that point the biggest star the genre had ever produced. And even if you get beyond the music or the movies or the superstar of it, he'd had legal troubles that put him in there. I mean, he'd previously gotten shot in 1994 in a shooting that is believed to have been one of the inciting incidents in the old West Coast-East Coast rap war. He had all these legal troubles. He'd shot at a couple of cops, off-duty cops, in A...
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