Whoa.
”A barrel-chested black man with a front tooth missing, relaxed yet instinctively cautious, is seated across from four spellbound cops in a glass-walled conference room at 8200 Wilshire Blvd.”
So begins today’s LA Weekly expose on new revelations in the double murder investigation of L.A. rapper Tupac Shakur and his New York competition, Biggie Smalls.
For West Coast hip-hop loyalists, the confession of interest is that of Duane Keith ”Keffe D” Davis, who says Sean ”Diddy” Combs offered him $1 million to kill Tupac and his manager, Suge Knight. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg: Keep Reading for full story.
A three-hour recording of Keffe D’s admissions, lifted from LAPD archives by ex-Detective Greg Kading and reviewed by the Weekly, paints a colorful backstory of the events leading up to Shakur’s murder. Here are 10 insane highlights.
10. Cops have been following Keffe D for the last year, gathering enough evidence about the PCP ring he’s been running to put him away for 25 years to life — motivation for him to become an informant on the Shakur case. In this clip, Detective Kading and Keffe D establish the terms of the agreement.
Detective Kading: ”What about that whole shit about Tupac?” [Referring to a statement the gangster gave to the FBI in 1997, saying he had nothing to do with the murder and guessing that Suge Knight may have killed Shakur for threatening to leave Death Row Records.]
Keffe D: ”Oh, that was bullshit.”
Detective Kading: ”OK. … Keffe, today what we’re going to do, we’re just going to go over with a fine-toothed comb the Las Vegas incident. … But we do have to emphasize to you that everything in this report has to be right on, because if down the road it’s determined that some of these details are incorrect, then everything’s off the table. So everything in this report cannot be like that report.”
Keffe D: ”Like I said that day, don’t bullshit me, and I won’t bullshit you.”
9. Keffe D makes sure detectives know who they’re dealing with.
Keffe D: ”I’m a dangerous motherfucker without smoking weed, dude. I get mad easy, you know what I’m saying?”
LAPD Detective Daryn Dupree: ”We know you, man. We know what you can and can’t do.”
Federal agent: ”That’s how [Detective Kading] is without coffee.”
Keffe D: ”Keep me calm. Keep me from hurting people, man.”
8. Keffe D describes the moment his nephew, Orlando ”Baby Lane” Anderson, allegedly shot Shakur. (See official cast of characters for more.)
Detective Kading: So Orlando shot across Dre?
Keffe D: ”He leaned over, and Orlando rolled down the window, and popped him. If they would have drove on my side, I would have popped them. But they was on the other side.”
…
Federal agent: ”Where does [Baby Lane] get the gun from?”
Keffe D: ”A little secret compartment that popped up.”
Federal agent: ”In the armrest?”
Keffe D: ”Yeah.”
Detective Kading: ”Was it a Glock?”
Keffe D: ”Yeah.”
Detective Kading: ”.40?”
Keffe D: ”Yeah. And I ain’t ever told nobody that story, man.”
6. Keffe D says he was introduced to Combs through another Crip named ”Zip,” who was also in on the million-dollar deal. However, Keffe D adds that he personally got on Combs’ good side by lending him his car to use in Usher’s first music video.
Keffe D: ”We met the boy [Combs] at the — he gave a BET party, or the BET awards, its like ’92 or ’93, at the club on Santa Monica. And uh, Mary J was [there]. And the tall dude, used to have the dreads, he’s with Aftermath now, what’s his name?”
Federal agent: ”Busta Rhymes?”
Keffe D: Busta Rhymes. … Me and him almost got in a fight. I was suited … He thought he was all big shit. I was all, ’We going to beat the fuck out of that boy.’ He threw his drink on me, and I was like, ’Motherfucker!’ Yeah, that’s the first day I met Puff [Combs]. … And after that they used my car in the video.”
Detective Dupree: ”Which car was that?”
Keffe D: ”A ’64 Chevy I had.”
Detective Dupree: ”What color was it?”
Keffe D: ”Brown. ”Usher, he had Usher… It was Usher’s video, and Puff [Combs] was driving the car.”
Detective Dupree: ”You remember the song?”
Keffe D: ”’Can I Get With It.’ That was his first song ever — Usher’s first song ever. He was in a Lakers uniform, and [Combs] had the little kid dancing on the car. When I got it back, it was fucked up, and he paid to get it repainted. He sent me $2500 for that.”
