Tupac Shakur's accused killer was out for 'revenge,' jury hears

August 23, 2026 | 10:44am Duane Davis (L) looks on as he appears in court with his attorney Michael Sanft during his murder trial, related to the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada. The trial of the former gang leader accused of orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur began on August 10, 30 years after the high-profile killing. The proceedings, expected to last a month, aim to determine who fired the shots that killed the California hip-hop legend on September 7, 1996, during a Mike Tyson boxing match in Las Vegas. Jurors heard that Duane Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, ordered the murder after his nephew, Orlando Anderson, was publicly beaten by a rival gang member. Prosecutor Binu Pilal stated that Davis did not pull the trigger but handed a gun to someone in the back seat of his car, ordering them to shoot Tupac Shakur. Davis confessed repeatedly to his role in the revenge killing, despite denying the charges. His lawyer, Michael Sanft, argued that the prosecution lacked credible evidence, claiming the investigation was flawed. The killing of Tupac Shakur, also known as 2Pac, remains one of America’s most debated cold cases. It was part of the East Coast vs. West Coast hip-hop rivalry, involving Death Row Records (founded by Suge Knight) and Bad Boy Records (led by Sean Diddy Combs). Davis was hired by Bad Boy Records as a bodyguard for Christopher Wallace (The Notorious B.I.G.), who was murdered in 1997. Davis’s memoirs, published in 2019, detailed his involvement, though he later claimed the claims were fabricated. The trial will revisit the gang dynamics, including the involvement of Mob Piru and the Bloods alliance, which protected Death Row Records. The case was revived after Davis’s book, which included his confession, was published, reigniting interest in the unsolved murder.