Ex-gang leader found guilty in 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur

A jury heard closing arguments on Monday in the trial of a former Los Angeles gang leader accused of involvement in the sensational murder three decades ago of chart-topping rapper Tupac Shakur.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, a one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips, is accused of ordering the September 7, 1996 killing after his nephew had been beaten by members of Shakur’s entourage in Las Vegas.

“Duane Davis, in the culture of gangs, could not let that stand,” prosecutor Binu Palal said. “So what did he do? He acquired a firearm, got his group together, and went hunting for Mr Shakur.”

Palal was the first to address his closing arguments to the jury in a Las Vegas courtroom and will be followed by Michael Sanft, the defence lawyer for Davis.

Shakur, who was in Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson fight, was shot about two hours after the confrontation by a gunman in a white Cadillac that pulled up at a red light alongside the BMW in which the rapper was travelling in the front passenger seat.

According to prosecutors, Davis handed the gun to someone sitting in the back seat of the Cadillac and ordered that person to shoot Shakur, who died six days later.

The driver of the BMW, Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight, was wounded.