LAS VEGAS — A Las Vegas jury has found former gang leader Duane Keith Davis guilty of orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur, the first conviction in a case that has intrigued hip-hop fans for nearly 30 years after the famous rapper was gunned down.The jury took about three hours to reach a guilty verdict in a case that relied heavily on multiple confessions from Davis himself, including his description of the killing in the 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend.The jury found Davis guilty of one count of murder with a deadly weapon for the rap superstar’s death in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on 7 September 1996.Clad in a black suit, the 63-year-old stood impassively in the Las Vegas court as the verdict was read, before saying he would appeal. Shakur’s relatives held hands, some hugging and crying.Shakur was 25 when he was slain at the height of his career as one of rap’s most influential voices. He has sold more than 75 million records worldwide.Prosecutors had argued during the trial that although Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips street gang, did not fire the gun that killed Shakur, he ordered the shooting and supplied the gun that his nephew Orlando Anderson used to open fire.They told the court that Davis had planned the shooting as retaliation after Anderson was involved in a fight with Shakur and the rapper’s crew in Las Vegas just hours earlier.Shakur was born in 1971 in East Harlem, New York, and rose to fame in the early nineties, with poetic flow that doubled as sharp commentary on social injustice, including systemic racism, police brutality and the struggles felt by marginalized communities.Regarded among the greatest rappers to ever live, Shakur affected generations and continued to be celebrated around the world even years after his life was cut short. He was only 25 years old when he died in the hospital days after being shot four times near the Las Vegas Strip.
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