By Prosecutors in the Tupac Shakur murder case have received thousands of pages of files from Los Angeles police investigations, including evidence that may implicate major music industry figures from the 1990s, according to sources close to the investigation.
Marc DiGiacomo, Chief Deputy District Attorney for Clark County, revealed in a recent court hearing that his team had been given “thousands and thousands of pages” from various Los Angeles police probes, primarily related to the murder of Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G.
The files, which include testimony dating back to late 1997, were crucial in building a case against Duane “Keefe D” Davis, who is charged with Shakur’s 1996 murder in Las Vegas.
A Las Vegas law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the ongoing investigation, told The Associated Press that the files contain accusations against some of the “biggest names in music” from the 1990s.
“Without the help of the ex-Los Angeles cops, the case against Keefe would be less concrete,” the source said. “Their knowledge of evidence, witness statements, and Keefe’s criminal past have prosecutors confident that ‘Keefe has almost no defense.'”
The source added that prosecutors have assembled the most comprehensive evidence file relating to Shakur’s murder to date, including documents that may never become public.
Legal insiders revealed that California law enforcement had extensive insight into the actions of the criminal gang allegedly involved in Shakur’s death as early as 1997. However, these discoveries never led to a full-scale multi-state criminal prosecution at the time.
Davis, who has previously confessed in interviews to being the “shot caller” in Shakur’s assassination, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
The prosecution’s case reportedly includes evidence from retired officers from both the Los Angeles Police Department and the now-disbanded Compton police force. These officers have been collaborating with Las Vegas prosecutors for over three years to build the case against Davis.
An unearthed audio recording from November 1997, obtained by the YouTube channel Murder Rap’s Deep Dive series, reveals that Los Angeles detectives were aware of the involvement of Davis’s criminal associates in Shakur’s murder within a year of the shooting.
The recording captures a detective confronting Deandre “Big Dre” Smith, an alleged accomplice who was in the car used in Shakur’s shooting. The detective states that multiple informants had identified Smith as the shooter.
Mike Dorsey, a long-term investigator of the Shakur case, commented on the significance of this recording: “It’s incredible that LA detectives investigating Biggie’s homicide in 1997 already knew who was involved in Tupac’s murder, thanks to a ton of informants who came forward.”
As the case proceeds, prosecutors are preparing a witness list that is expected to include former officers from Los Angeles police and specialist divisions. These witnesses are anticipated to provide insight into Davis’s criminal past, which he has discussed in interviews and his memoir but now denies following the murder charge.
The trial date has not yet been set, and representatives for Davis have not commented on the new developments.
Source: the-sun.com
