Tupac Shakur murder trial begins: Ex-gang leader accused of ordering the hit

Thirty years after the murder of Tupac Shakur, a Las Vegas courtroom is hearing the case against Duane "Keffe D" Davis, a former gang leader accused of orchestrating the fatal shooting. Prosecutors laid out their case on the trial's opening day, portraying Davis as a man driven by revenge.

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Let's be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he planned the murder as retaliation for the assault of his nephew.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told the jury that while Davis did not pull the trigger, he "planned the murder as retaliation for the assault of his nephew." Palal indicated that evidence would come directly from Davis himself, referencing passages from his own memoir that detail the night of the attack. The prosecution emphasized that a culture of silence within gangs, where "silence means survival," contributed to the lack of charges for decades.

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What evidence do they have after 30 years?

Davis's defense team, however, dismissed the prosecution's narrative as "fiction," attributing the case to a flawed and incomplete investigation. They questioned the evidence after 30 years and highlighted the lack of corroboration. Davis himself has distanced himself from his book, claiming parts were fictionalized for commercial reasons.

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We'll handle it.

The trial delves into the intense East Coast-West Coast rivalry in the rap scene and the conflicts between the Bloods and Crips gangs that defined much of the 1990s hip-hop landscape. The prosecution contends that a pervasive distrust of police and a code of silence among Shakur's entourage hindered the investigation, with some members accusing authorities of treating them as suspects rather than witnesses.

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silence means survival