The gangbanger who allegedly ordered the murder of Tupac Shakur undermined his own defense in a braggadocious phone call to his mistress, The Post can exclusively reveal.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis contradicted his stance that he lied about orchestrating rapper Shakur’s Las Vegas 1996 drive-by shooting, stated in his own memoir, which he has since claimed was all penned by a ghost writer.
In the seven-minute jail call to his female pal, whose ID is not revealed, she asks him: “What’s this book they say you wrote?” to which Keffe replies: “Oh, yeah, I did.”
After his death, Tupac Shakur became a legend. During his rap-star prime, he was beloved by girls and gangsters.
Prosecutors allege Davis — a member of South Side Compton Crips gang — was in a car with his nephew, Orlando Anderson, and threw him the gun used to shoot 25-year-old Shakur four times.
Davis, 63, was first named as being behind the hit in Los Angeles detective Greg Kading’s 2011 book “Murder Rap.” In the jail call, made days after his 2023 arrest, he railed on the former cop over the heat it brought on him.
“He had my life f—ed up. I crawled up under a rock for six years. I just got tired of it. You don’t say that s—t … they don’t know the mother—ing truth,” he tells the woman, who refers to Davis as her “husband,” despite him being married to someone else.
The call, obtained by The Post, also corroborates Davis’ link to other key people, including Devonta “Dirt Rock” Lee, who gave key testimony in the Grand Jury indictment and will be a witness in the trial, as well as other Crip gang affiliates.
Besides overflowing with talent, Tupac Shakur exuded no small amount of charisma.
The “Thuglife” tattoo on Tupac Shakur’s torso told a lot about how he wanted to be perceived. This morgue image of him has been entered into evidence for the Duane Davis murder trial. Provided to NY Post
It is expected to be used by prosecutors as evidence against Davis when his murder trial begins on Monday in Las Vegas.
“California Love” rapper Shakur was riding with label boss Marion “Suge” Knight on the Las Vegas strip when he was shot after a Mike Tyson boxing match on Sept. 7, 1996. He died from his injuries in hospital six days later.
On the night of Shakur’s shooting he’d had an altercation with Anderson, Davis’ nephew, in the lobby of the MGM Grand hotel immediately after the Tyson fight.
As Davis recounts in his book, “Compton Street Legend,” following Anderson’s beating — which was caught on security camera — he told him: “We couldn’t let no record company studio gangsters do us like that,” and went to find their adversaries.
Tupac Shakur was enough of a star that his killing made The Post’s wood.
Davis and his crew took their rented white Cadillac and looked for Shakur and Knight.
“According to Keffe D., he’s in the front passenger seat with a 40-caliber Glock they picked up in Vegas,” a law enforcement insider close to the case told The Post.
Davis claims in his book he “tossed the Glock in the backseat” after they stocked up on Dom Perignon at a liquor store.
They then encountered Knight and Shakur, who were on their way to night spot Club 662, around 11:15 p.m. Davis allegedly pulled up alongside their black BMW with Knight behind the wheel. “Pac pulled out a strap,” his book claims, referring to a gun, “and that’s when the fireworks started.”
Vegas-based attorney Michael Sanft sits stonefaced alongside his amused client Duane “Keffe D” Davis. Sanft has said that he dies not advise settling for anything less than an acquittal. Sam Morris/Pool Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP
Duane Davis appears for a calendar call and motion hearing for his upcoming trial on murder charges. In a call to his mistress, he complained about prison-food being so lousy that he lost weight. via REUTERS
Davis has always maintained Anderson — who died aged just 23 in a gang shootout two years later — pulled the trigger.
Two other people were in the car with Davis and Anderson that night, but have also died, leaving he and Knight the only people alive who can testify.
A family friend told The Post Davis’ wife, Paula “is livid with Keffe for opening his big mouth and causing this problem.”
At the time of Shakur’s death, he was caught up in the notorious East Vs West coast gangster rap war, which pitted him and Knight’s Death Row Records against New York’s Bad Boy Records, founded by Sean “Diddy” Combs and led by his protégé Christopher “Biggie Smalls” Wallace.
In the sanctioned fight before the unofficial scuffle that preceded the shooting of Tupac Shakur, Mike Tyson sets up Bruce Seldon for a first-round knockout. AFP via Getty Images
MGM Grand in Las Vegas is where the Mike Tyson fight took place and where, soon after the match ended, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson took a beat down from a crew that Included Tupac Shakur. Getty Images
Associates of Bad Boy and Wallace were present when Shakur was shot multiple times at Quad Studios, New York, in Nov. 1994 — initially sparking that feud, which led to multiple shootings and rap diss tracks including Shakur’s infamous “Hit ‘em Up.”
Shakur and Knight were also associated with the Bloods street gang, while Diddy is rumored to have then had ties to the Crips, both based out of Los Angeles and at war with each other.
Despite the animosity, no-one in the rap or gang worlds would speak to the cops, making investigating the murder much harder.
Knight is currently serving a 28-year sentence behind bars after fatally running over a rival record label owner with a truck in 2015.
In Las Vegas, during 1996, the same year he would be shot dead in the city, following a Tyson fight. Tupac Shakur chilled with Iron Mike. Getty Images
Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, a self-admitted Compton gangster, co-authored this book that he is now trying to distance himself from. KingDoMedia
The East-West rap battle claimed its second most high-profile victim, Wallace, in March 1997. He was also killed in a drive-by shooting, which took place outside the Peterson Automotive museum in Los Angeles, and he was also shot four times. He had just attended a party to mark the release of his second album “Life After Death.”
Wallace’s murder remains unsolved, but the motive is widely accepted as being in retaliation for the murder of Shakur.
It was during the investigation into Wallace’s death Davis first came to the attention of authorities. The Los Angeles Police Department brought him in for questioning in December 2008, and knowing of his gang ties, asked him about the murder.
“The LAPD was working on a case against Davis for allegedly trafficking large quantities of PCP and cocaine. He said, ‘I can’t tell you anything about [Biggie]. But I can tell you about the case in Las Vegas,’” the law enforcement source told The Post.
A bullet-riddled car in which rapper Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in September 1996. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP
Davis was given a proffer agreement, a process in which anything self-incriminating a subject says during interviews cannot then be used to prosecute him.
“Keffe’s nephew was always the primary suspect,” the insider added. “He was a known shooter, he was already a suspect in at least one other murder, and he was the one attacked by Tupac.
“He also was a known gang member. So, Orlando had motive and means. So Keffe D. basically corroborated what everybody always suspected … but he tossed the gun onto the backseat,” indicating, as the senior gang member, he wanted Anderson to carry out the shooting.
Sources believe Davis misunderstood how the terms of his agreement with cops worked when he suddenly started talking about being the “shot caller” years later.
From left, Suge Knight, Tupac Shakur and producer Dr. Dre enjoy refreshments on the set of Tupac’s “California Love” music video. Getty Images
“He started going on different platforms and talking about the murder. I think his narcissism and hubris blinded him to the reality that you can’t talk about this stuff.”
While material submitted in a proffer session can’t be used in court to prosecute the crime police are investigating at that time, law enforcement sources made it clear that admitting to a crime publicly will always make you liable for it.
On September 29, 2023, police arrested Davis in front of his home in Henderson, Nevada, near Las Vegas.
At a press conference in Clark County, Nevada, police officials presented a video image of Suge Knight behind the wheel and Tupac Shakur in the front passenger seat before the shooting.. Getty Images
In his jailhouse call he was confident of beating the rap, saying: “I got some good ass attorney … He came out of retirement to help me and he got all my stuff. So I got a big ass win. And I am gonna sue the s—t out of their asses.”
Top Vegas lawyer Mike Sanft is representing Davis. He would not comment about the phone call to The Post but called the Clark County District Attorney’s case “weak,” maintaining they don’t have enough evidence for a conviction.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis posed for a mugshot following his 2023 arrest in Henderson, Nevada. / SplashNews.com
Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur looked tough for the camera. Both wound up dead from drive-by shootings. Film Four/Lafayette/Kobal / Shutterstock
Sanft claimed Davis was “exercising his First Amendment right to free speech, even though it is not in good taste,” with his book.
The trial is expected to provide some explosive moments, with Knight on the witness list to give evidence.
Hip hop fans are also intrigued to hear if Wallace’s former boss, Diddy — currently in federal prison on prostitution related charges — is brought up during trial.
But mostly they are excited about finally finding out what actually happened on the night Shakur’s legend was cut short.
