THE son of the Los Angeles gangster facing life in prison for the murder of Tupac Shakur has protested his innocence – attacking police and prosecutors claiming they have framed him.
In a shocking exclusive interview on camera, which can be watched above, Duane Davis Junior has leaped to the defense of his father Keefe D – who has confessed multiple times to being the key figure in the 1996 death of iconic rapper Tupac.
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Duane Davies Jr gave his first full on-camera interview to The U.S. SunCredit: JDMC
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Tupac was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting in 1996 in Las VegasCredit: Getty
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Keefe denies murdering Tupac, and the trial will begin in MarchCredit: AFP
Duane Jr did not hold back as he made multiple claims about the criminal case led by the Clark County District Attorney team.
Duane’s first full-length public interview appears to suggest how Keefe wants his lawyer, Carl Arnold, to set out his defense case in March’s upcoming trial.
It comes days after Arnold filed a motion to dismiss the case, blasting prosecutors and alleging they have provided insufficient evidence or corroboration for their case against Keefe.
In the court papers filed in Las Vegas last week, Arnold claims Keefe has an immunity deal – which stands to this day – protecting him from any prosecution in connection with Pac’s death.
Duane Jr has supported his dad – dubbed The Godfather Of Compton by his own lawyer – since he was charged with the murder last September.
In the impassioned interview, Duane Jr predicts that the entire case will be dropped by the DA team.
He also claims that investigators have gathered no evidence.
Currently, the court has evidence of a two-hour-twenty-minute confessional interview – from a 2008 LAPD gang probe – where Keefe is heard admitting he was the shotcaller for Tupac’s murder.
However, Duane has called into question the validity of the statements on tape, saying: “Is that a confession – we do not know that?”
The father-of-one also made wild and unsubstantiated allegations against the ex-LAPD police officers Greg Kading and Daryn Dupree, involved in the recorded interview – speculating that they offered him cash to lie about his involvement so they could make a Hollywood movie deal.
Diddy could be connected to Tupac’s murder, says rap legend’s brother
While Keefe and his lawyer have previously claimed he lied to police in the interview – they have never accused the officers of offering cash.
Duane, who lived with his dad in Las Vegas, alleged: “They are two dirty cops that wanted to put the blame on someone.”
COPS HIT BACK
Greg Kading, who was given numerous commendations, including The Police Star, during his time with the LAPD and recognized with a Federal Medal of Valor, denied Duane Jr’s allegations when approached by The U.S Sun.
“I am not at all surprised to see that the apple has not fallen far from the tree,” Kading said.
“Duane Junior seems to have inherited his father’s ignorance.”
He added: “I retired honorably 2010. Darren retired honorably in 2024.
If we’re dirty cops, we sure were squeaky clean about it.
Former LAPD Greg Kading
“Darren continued to work on the job, so that seems to be quite a stretch from his aspirations to become a Hollywood star.
“And claims that we are dirty cops – if we’re dirty cops, we sure were squeaky clean about it.”
He added: “I would say that clearly, they’ve reached a level of desperation where they’ve lost complete touch with reality.”
‘WHERE’S THE EVIDENCE?’
Despite this, Duane Jr remains confident that authorities will drop the March murder trial of his father.
Speaking exclusively at the premiere of the new movie Tupac: Cover Up, Duane said: “I don’t even think it’s going to go to trial, to be honest with you.
“Because what evidence (have they got)? Where’s the evidence?”
Prosecutors have entered Keefe’s recorded police interview, made to then serving officers Kading and Dupre, into evidence.
Throughout the tape, Keefe outlined how he orchestrated the infamous shooting close to the Vegas strip.
But his son said: “I’m just making you think. That is not a confession. It was two dirty cops who wanted to put the blame on someone and promised him things and didn’t get it.
“So that’s why he went on interviews trying to get his little money off of what they promised.
“And now my dad is in a f***ed up situation.”
KEEFE’S CONFESSIONS
Keefe alleges that Kading and Dupree promised him freedom from prosecution for a drugs’ case and a “cut” of profits from alleged TV and movie projects as the ones to solve the case.
His lawyer has submitted no evidence to support these claims.
The far-fetched claim – which both Dupree and Kading vehemently deny – then prompted Keefe to confess multiple times in media interviews and a memoir to being the mastermind of the shocking assassination.
Asked to explain why his father would confess to being the key player in the Tupac death, Duane responded: “The story was already something that was told by Kading and my dad just went with whatever he said because he promised him that he wouldn’t go to jail.
I just want the world to know that and the world to know that my dad’s a good, good guy.
Duane Davis Jr
“And these two cops basically wanted to make it in Hollywood, and they made that up for my dad to go with.
“And [they] told my dad, if you didn’t go with this, he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night, or he would go to jail for the drug case that they pinned against him.
“There’s two dirty cops basically dad conspired to have this story that they made up, and that [is why] we are here now.”
LIES, LIES, LIES
He insisted Keefe lied nonstop about Tupac, adding that all his confessions had “no truth to it.”
He went further, accusing Kading of inventing Keefe’s claim that Sean “Diddy” Combs offered him a million dollars to shoot Tupac.
“I was too young at that moment, but all I could tell you is…Kading came up with all this s**t,” Duane Jr said.
Duane Jr also attacked the judge’s handling of the bail hearing, accusing her of “making her own laws.”
Keefe was denied bail twice after Judge Carli Kierny ruled there was doubt about the source of the $112,500 needed to free him on house release.
Duane fired back: “A bond hearing is supposed to be where you get the money from. That’s it.
“It was like a trial. That is why I don’t feel like my dad’s getting a fair swing at anything. It’s no fairness. None.”
‘JAILHOUSE BEATING’
He stands by his father’s claim that he was beaten up in his cell by Metro officers in the summer.
And he insists that the image, often painted by his father as a ruthless, gun-toting criminal mastermind, is false, and he is a loving dad who likes gardening.
“Yes, he was attacked by police officers in there,” Duane said.
“It has been bad for my family, and I’m here to stand up for my family. I’m here to put the truth out.
“It’s been a tragedy for my family because my dad is a hundred percent innocent, and I just want the world to know that and the world to know that my dad’s a good, good guy. He’s a very good guy.
“And I’m not just saying that. My dad pruned roses. He’s a gardener. He’s not the type of guy people try to make him out to be. That’s all I am saying.”
‘GREEN LIGHT ORDER’
Duane also blasted prosecutors Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorneys Marc DiGiacomo and Binu Palal for claiming his dad planned to kill witnesses in his case.
An audio file, where father and son discussed a “green light” order behind bars, was submitted as evidence alleging that Keefe was aware of a potential death order for people planning to testify against him.
A “green light” is known within gang circles as an instruction or authorization to murder.
But livid Duane fired back: “If I put out a green light order, why am I not in custody? They know what I said when I first talked to my dad, I said, it’s a green light on us. And I said, yeah, it’s a green light on our side.
“They want to paint this picture to the public so they can f**k over my dad.
Duane Davis Jr
“Where do you get that that it’s a green light on someone? What name? On who? So they knew what they were doing.
“They want to paint this picture to the public so they can f**k over my dad.
“Just like Greg Kading did and Darren Dupre.”
Duane Jr, who is not a gang member, explained that the confusion was down to his conversation with an old friend – now connected to rivals the Mob Piru – when discussing his father’s plight.
“I told my dad, I said, it’s a hit on us not putting out a hit… it’s a hit on us,” he said.
“They didn’t offer us to move when they raided our house; they put our address out.
“The Vegas PD just f***ed up with a lot of things for my family.
“The next day we had people, Tupac fans, riding by our house playing Tupac music.
Why it’s taken so long for justice in the Tupac Shakur case
By The Sun’s Senior Reporter Emma Parry, who has been reporting on the Tupac murder for the past 10 years
TUPAC fans have been waiting for justice for the iconic rapper for almost 28 years.
Finally in September 2023 there appeared to be progress with the arrest of Duane “Keefe D” Davis – a former Southside Crip gangster from Compton, LA – who had been telling the world for years that he and his fellow “gang soldiers” were responsible for the hit.
I’ve been reporting on the case for several years and it always appeared pretty cut and dry…Keefe had spent the past decade gaining notoriety by boasting about his alleged involvement in the shooting – now he was finally getting what he deserves. But despite Keefe running his mouth for years, I now believe a guilty verdict in November’s trial is far from guaranteed.
Keefe describes in great detail in his memoir Compton Street Legend what went down the night Pac was shot, extracts from which The U.S. Sun has published.
He claimed that he was offered a million dollars by rapper Diddy to “handle” Tupac and Suge Knight and when he and his Crip gangsters came across the pair driving near the Strip in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, Keefe alleged he passed the gun to his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson who took the shot. Keefe said if Pac had been on his side: “I would have blast”.
Keefe repeated the claims multiple times over the years, on YouTube channels, documentaries, and even in taped confessions to police, when he believed he could not be prosecuted. In one confession to the LAPD, Keefe appeared completely remorseless telling detectives: “We didn’t give a f**k…The ambulance [for Tupac] was parked right here next to us. That s**t was as funny as a motherf**ker.”
The Sun has been publishing stories about Keefe’s self confessed involvement in the crime since 2018.
I sent many links to his confessions to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, asking them why this man had not been arrested yet. They would thank me for the info but say that they could not comment because the case was still active. From the outside, it looked like no action was being taken at all.
We spoke to former detectives involved in the case and documentary makers who all felt utterly frustrated at the lack of progress in the case. We even published a plea from former LAPD detective Greg Kading, who had probed the murders, urging Las Vegas cops to arrest Keefe, back in 2020.
For years, the case appeared to have been forgotten and ignored, to be left forever unsolved.
But finally, in the summer of 2023, we got word from our sources that there had been a huge development in the case. A secret grand jury was due to be held on whether or not Keefe should be indicted. I was dubious at first but around the same time a house in Henderson, Nevada, linked to Keefe, was raided in July as part of the Tupac investigation.
Things were heating up.
Later that summer, behind closed doors, jurors listened to hours of testimony from former cops, detectives, and coroners involved in the Tupac case and gangsters and associates of Keefe’s and Pac’s from back in the day. They were shown graphic photos of Tupac’s bullet-ridden body. After days of evidence, they decided there was enough evidence to prosecute Keefe.
Once the secret documents were released I poured over the transcripts. While interesting, many of the witnesses were telling stories they’d heard second-hand. None of the prosecution witnesses had a clear look at who shot Pac. One witness Devonta Lee claimed another gangster called Big Dre took the shot – not Orlando. Maybe things weren’t as clear-cut as I first thought.
Keefe was then arrested on September 30, 2023 at his home. Bodycam footage we obtained from the scene showed Keefe bragging to cops even as he was handcuffed in the back of a police car – telling officers he was involved in the “biggest case in Las Vegas history”.
Following Keefe’s multiple appearances in court, he seems to have lost much of that bravado and now cuts a sad, lonely figure.
Suffering from various health problems as a result of cancer, he’s struggling to cope with the brutalities of jail life and can’t get together enough money to afford his bail. He feels some of his old Southside Crip associates – men he handed wads of cash to in his glory days, have just abandoned him.
Keefe is now desperate to get out of jail, and his defense stems is leaning on his claim that he completely made up his involvement in the Tupac murder for fame and money. He saw other people cashing in on the murder so he thought he would too. He reckons his confessions to police were all lies – he made it up because he was under a plea deal and thought it would help him beat his other charges.
And, according to his lawyer Carl Arnold, he wasn’t even in Las Vegas on the night of the shooting. Arnold remains convinced he will see his client walk free and their secret weapon could be former Death Row Records boss Suge.
As the only other person still alive from either car, Suge, currently in prison for a fatal hit and run, would be a key witness. Suge is the only person still alive who knows what went down – he saw the shooter. While he’s said he won’t testify at the November trial, Suge has claimed in a TMZ interview from prison that Orlando was not the shooter, which again throws into doubt Keefe’s version of events.
Keefe and his lawyer are hoping they might be able to change his mind and persuade him to testify for the defense. And Suge holds the power to blow the prosecution’s case apart.
And if Keefe walks free, will there ever be justice for Pac?
“I’m a Tupac fan. So it was just a wild experience that the police would do that.
“I don’t think that’s ethical.”
The explosive allegations will likely further inflame long-term tensions between prosecutors and the Davis family.
It is the first time Keefe’s family has broken their silence on camera and opened up about Keefe’s confessions and the murder trial.
Duane says he is supporting the new documentary Tupac: Cover Up out on TUBI from Richard “RJ” Bond, which raises questions about the criminal case and actions of all law enforcement working the case.
“The important message for me is to let people know my father is innocent and framed by two LAPD crooked officers and to get the truth out by my dad’s innocence,” Duane said.
Bond also believes Keefe should walk free, saying he is positive that he invented his gangland mob boss persona.
He said: “The legend of Keith Davis is much bigger, even by his own admission, and for people who have built him up to be way more than what he really is.
“Keefe D was a good dad. And so for whatever he might have been sometime in the Nineties at one time or another, even that’s been exaggerated.”
Bond added: “It doesn’t really hurt anybody” to boast of being “the King of Compton back in the nineties.”
Bond added that his movie, out now, “is not about who did it, it’s about who didn’t do it in this particular case.”
The movie features new and unheard interviews with celebrities, and unheard and unreleased material from former Tupac bodyguards, friends and family.
A hearing on the motion for dismissal will take place on January 21.
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Tupac was at the height of his career when he was gunned downCredit: Getty
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Tupac was in the passenger side of a car driven by Marion Suge Knight when the shooting occurredCredit: Getty
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Keefe was arrested in September 2023 after a grand jury on his involvement had been held behind closed doorsCredit: Getty
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Keefe in the courtroom in Las Vegas with his lawyer Carl ArnoldCredit: The US Sun – Commissioned by The US Sun Digital edition