Plus, a conviction in the Tupac Shakur murder trial.

© Al Drago/The New York Times

Duane Keith Davis, 63, was found guilty of first-degree murder after he went on an interview tour discussing his role in the 1996 drive-by shooting.

© Pool photo by Bizuayehu Tesfaye

A Las Vegas jury on Monday found Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis guilty in the 1996 murder of the hip-hop icon

• Jury finds Duane Davis guilty of murder of Tupac Shakur

Thirty years after the killing of Tupac Shakur, conspiracy theories and rumors about the perpetrator’s identity, one man has now been held criminally responsible for the rap icon’s death.

A Las Vegas jury convicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a 63-year-old former South Side Compton Crips gang leader, of murder for his role in the drive-by shooting. During the two-week long trial, prosecutors argued Davis was the “on-the-ground, on-site commander of the effort to kill Tupac” and had sought revenge after the musician was involved in a fight with his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Eli Reed/Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Eli Reed/Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Eli Reed/Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock

Shortly before he was murdered in 1996, the rapper had released “All Eyez on Me,” a landmark album that turned him into a superstar.

© Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

Duane Keith Davis, once a high-ranking member of the South Side Compton Crips, long said he was in a Cadillac with the shooter in 1996. Then he began to recant his accounts.

© Pool photo by John Locher

Las Vegas jury returns verdict against ex-South Side Compton Crips gang leader in killing of US rap legend

• Thirty years of waiting, a memoir and a trial: conviction in Tupac Shakur killing brings closure

A Las Vegas jury has found former South Side Compton Crips gang leader Duane Keith Davis guilty of the murder of Tupac Shakur, bringing the case to a close nearly 30 years after the famous rapper was gunned down.

The jury took about three hours to reach a guilty verdict in a case that relied heavily on multiple confessions from Davis himself, including his description of the killing in the 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Caroline Brehman/Pool Reuters/AP

© Photograph: Caroline Brehman/Pool Reuters/AP

© Photograph: Caroline Brehman/Pool Reuters/AP

A jury has found Duane "Keffe D" Davis guilty of orchestrating the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur. The verdict Monday marks the first and only conviction in a case that has gripped hip-hop fans for years.

Former gang leader Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, 63, is accused of ordering the killing of the hip-hop star in 1996

A Las Vegas jury is now deliberating after hearing closing arguments in the trial of the South Side Compton Crips gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of ordering the murder of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur.

Davis, 63, is accused of leading a group of men to kill Shakur in retaliation for the beating of his nephew, though not of pulling the trigger himself. Davis has pleaded not guilty.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting

Continue reading...

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: AFP/Getty Images