Gang boss who ordered Tupac's killing gets 40 years to life, 30 years after rapper's death

Keffe D Davis, 63, the gang boss convicted of ordering the 1996 murder of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur, was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.

Nevada District Court Judge Carli Kierny handed down the sentence Tuesday (local time) in a Las Vegas courtroom, according to ABC News and NBC News.

Kierny added 20 years to the sentence on the grounds that Davis had profited from the killing. Davis had spoken about the events of that night in media interviews and a memoir, earning money from those accounts over the years.

Davis appeared in court in handcuffs and a navy prison jumpsuit. When asked whether he had anything to say to Tupac's family, he declined to speak.

Tupac was shot on Sept. 7, 1996, while riding in a vehicle near the Las Vegas Strip when a car pulled alongside and opened fire. The vehicle he was in was being driven by the head of his record label. He died six days later at the age of 25.

Davis, a former Los Angeles gang boss, had repeatedly stated — while the case remained unsolved — that he was in the front passenger seat of the gunman's vehicle that night and had handed his nephew the weapon used in the shooting.

He made the same claims in his autobiography, "Compton Street Legend." Prosecutors argued that a physical altercation between Davis's nephew and Tupac earlier that night had set the killing in motion.

Davis was arrested in September 2023 and was indicted on charges of murder. He maintained his innocence, but after roughly two weeks of trial, a jury returned a first-degree murder verdict in August following less than three hours of deliberation.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors relied heavily on statements Davis had made directly to police and documentary filmmakers. He is the only person to have been convicted in connection with Tupac's killing.

Tupac is widely regarded as one of the most influential rappers in hip-hop history. Born in New York in 1971, he sold more than 75 million records worldwide during and after a career that spanned just over five years.

His US sales stand at 37.5 million copies, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, making him the second best-selling hip-hop artist in the country. The Guinness World Records recognized him in 2001 as the best-selling rapper in the United States.

Tupac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017 as the first solo rapper to receive the honor, and in 2023 his name was added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.