By Reuters and The Associated Press<\/p>\n
Published On 13 Oct 202613 Oct 2026<\/p>\n
A former gang leader accused of masterminding the 1996 drive-by shooting<\/a> of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s sentencing capped a 30-year-long cold case that rattled the golden era of rap music in the United States.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n In August, Duane \u201cKeffe D\u201d Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, had been found guilty<\/a> of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon.<\/p>\n Davis, 63, is the sole person charged in the death of Shakur, who died at the peak of his fame at age 25.<\/p>\n Judge Carli Kierny announced Davis\u2019s sentence at a hearing in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she chided him for the murder.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t get to take a man from his family, you don\u2019t get to take his very life, his whole future from him and just walk away from it, especially when that man is Tupac Shakur,\u201d Kierny said. \u201cThe world never forgot about him and his death, and neither did Las Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n During the hearing, prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said that whatever sentence the court imposes, Davis is \u201cguaranteed to die\u201d behind bars.<\/p>\n For nearly three decades, Shakur\u2019s death<\/a> remained one of the music industry\u2019s most notorious unsolved<\/a> mysteries, prompting endless debate over who<\/a> did it and why.<\/p>\n Davis had long been a suspect, but investigators lacked evidence to pursue an indictment.<\/p>\n The investigative deadlock shattered after Davis publicly boasted about his involvement in media interviews. He also recounted his role in the murder in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend.<\/p>\n Previously, Davis entered into a 2008 proffer agreement with federal law enforcement officers, granting him limited immunity for statements he made privately to investigators.<\/p>\n But by repeating his statements outside his meetings with investigators, prosecutors said Davis had effectively voided the agreement\u2019s protections.<\/p>\n DiGiacomo said that Davis was trying to profit from a killing that he committed, and for that, he deserves the maximum possible sentence.<\/p>\n Shakur had been in Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson heavyweight fight on the night of September 7, 1996, when he was shot.<\/p>\n