Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Tupac Shakur Murder: 'Keffe D.' and Son Talked About Killing Witness on Jail Call: Prosecutors

Episode Date: January 5, 2024

Prosecutors in Tupac Shakur's murder case are opposing a request by Duane "Keffe D." Davis to be released on bail. The district attorney said in court papers that Davis and his son talked about having a "green light" to kill a witness who's now being protected by the federal government. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy talks with former Compton gang unit officer Bobby Ladd about Davis's history with the Southside Compton Crips and Las Vegas defense attorney Adrian Lobo in this episode of Crime Fix - a daily show that looks at the biggest stories in the world of crime. HOST:Angenette Levy: twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. My first shot, it hit big boy in the head. I thought he was dead. Like, damn, he's dead. Dwayne Keefie D. Davis, accused of ordering the murder of Tupac Shakur, wants out of jail on bail. But prosecutors say they have him on jail calls talking about possibly killing a witness. So will Keefie D be released? And just how tough of a gangster was he? A former copped and gang cop is here to tell us. I'm Anjanette Levy. It's Friday and this is Crime Fix, law and crime's look at the biggest stories in the world of crime.

Dwayne Keefie D. Davis faces a murder charge in Las Vegas. He's accused of ordering the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur back in 1996. We've told you before that Tupac, Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, and others jumped Keefie D.'s nephew Orlando Anderson after the Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand on a night in September of 1996. Kifidi, according to prosecutors, and his own words for that matter, wasn't having it. He's accused of ordering the murder of Tupac Shakur and giving his nephew the gun to carry it out. Kifidi, Orlando Anderson, Terrence Brown, and DeAndre Smith were all riding in a white Cadillac when they pulled up next to the BMW

Suge Knight was driving and Orlando Anderson fired. Kiffy D wrote about this in his book, Compton Street Legend, and he's talked about that night in several interviews. They was actually, y'all was actually waiting at 662 for Tupac and Orlando can fight, right? Yeah. Tell me about that, because Orlando actually wanted to fight Tupac, right? Yeah, he was going to get his ass knocked out laying at hands, one punch. Oh, for real, he had hands? Oh, hell yeah, like, ah, yeah.

So tell me about that, Orlando saying he wanted to fight Tupac and have a heads up with him. We was just, I was going to tell shit, let him get down, that's all. He was just going to beat his ass. Now, it's important to point out that Keefie D thought he had immunity, but he didn't, since he'd told this story to police back

in the mid-2000s as part of a proffer in his drug case. Keefie D is asking a judge to let him out of jail on bail. He says he's 60 now, he's in remission for cancer and isn't a danger to the community. But prosecutors are opposing that request. They say Keefie D is on jail calls, furious with witnesses who testified at the grand jury against him. And his son is talking about a green light on their side. A green light, prosecutors say, is an authorization to kill. And the feds are even providing resources to one witness so he could move. So how big of a gangster was Keefie D in all actuality? I talked to former Compton gang unit officer Bobby Ladd, author of Once Upon a Time in Compton, to find out. I had many, many,

many contacts with Keefie D. I say I grew up with him because I was only 23 years old when I started and he was a few years younger than me. But I started and I watched this guy grow up in the neighborhood. We used to chase him around in the South Side area. We even arrested him at one time. You know, so it's like I saw him become this start just selling narcotics as a street little dealer. And I saw him become this huge narcotics dealer that he ended up selling narcotics all the way across the country. So I watched him become a shot caller within the Southside Crips gang. So tell me, how big of a drug dealer was Keefie D? Some people think that he has kind of bragged

and overstated his importance or his kind of level that he reached in that drug trade. I mean, was he as big of a drug dealer as he claims to be? He really was. He was the real deal. The reason I know this, because Compton, like I say, was a small city and we worked the gang unit and we were inundated with shootings and murders. We didn't have the resources or the manpower to go after somebody that's selling narcotics across the country like Kifidi was. So during my time in the gang unit, I was hit up numerous times by FBI task force and DEA task force that wanted to go after Kifidi. So they would tell me what he was doing. And so we would exchange information. We'd give

him all the people he's hanging around with and his associates. We'd exchange information. And they told us way back then that, hey, man, this guy's running major kilos and ECP all the way across the United States. So he really was the real deal. Ladd testified at the grand jury as a gang expert about life in Compton and what happened after Tupac was murdered. Now, the night Tupac was shot, my partner Tim and I, we were on our days off, and we get a call from our boss, Reggie Wright Sr., and he tells us about the shooting, and he goes, hey, man, we're here

in the Southside Cribs. That's the information I'm getting, and the war is coming back to Compton. You guys just beware, get ready, because it's coming back. And sure enough, a couple days later, we had had our first shooting we were on our days off but reggie had called us in one of the ogs from south side cribs was shot and a 10 year old little girl got shot the crossfire she was in critical condition so he said hey man you guys need to get your butts down here so these guys see you driving around the city, right? And we got there that day. It was kind of eerie because Compton's usually bustling, man, people everywhere, people at the parks, everything.

And we were driving around and there was nobody out. I mean, it was weird. We were like looking at each other going, man, these people know. The streets talk, you know. We were driving around and we didn't see anybody out at the time. It was kind of weird. So we knew something was coming. And sure enough, it did.

Vlad also told me they knew days after Tupac was shot, who was responsible. We had an informant call us that two days later, right, Cadillac was already gone. So on this street on Alondra, there was a car shop where they repaired cars and a lot of crips and hung out there. It was a known place. We got a call from our informant and they said that Gary Monk and I think it was Orlando brought this car into their place and had a bullet hole in the back, right? And they repaired it and let him go, but our informant didn't call us until two days later. So we were pissed about that, right? So we were never able to track down that Cadillac with supposedly a bullet hole in it because I guess Muntry was supposedly shot back at the Cadillac after they shot Tupac and Suge in Vegas. So if they knew all of this, why was no one arrested for 27 years?

Vlad says the answer is simple. No one was cooperating. You know, you have to have people who are there that's going to ID somebody, you know. So I always put it on Suge Knight because he was the one that was there. And I believe that he saw EPD. You know, they grew up together. And Suge Knight's the kind of person, he already said it, hey, let the police do it. But he could have said it, he could have told the truth 27 years ago. And we probably wouldn't be going through this now.

That's what I just put it on Su not because gang cases are really, really hard. I've investigated thousands of gang cases and they're hard to prove, man, because nobody wants to be involved. Joining me to discuss this claim by prosecutors in KPD's case is Adrienne Lobo. She's a criminal defense attorney in Las Vegas. Adrienne, welcome back to Crime Fix. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. Adrienne, prosecutors are saying,

look, there is plenty of evidence to show that Kifidi ordered Tupac Shakur's murder. And not only that, but we have jail calls where it appears he's talking with his son about possibly harming a witness. We don't know exactly which witness it is, but they say that the feds have stepped in and are helping provide protection to at least one witness in this case. So what do you make of the prosecution's claim and how that bodes for Keefie D's effort to get out on bail. Right. Words matter. They're critical within the context of the call. And a whole transcript should be produced and the actual audio recording of that call. Within the context of the quotes

that are mentioned in the opposition, it appears as though that they're saying that the green light on them. And so it says on them. So that semantics matters, right? The way when I initially read it is that it could be interpreted that somebody put a hit on, of course, Dwayne Davis's family or somebody associated with them. And perhaps in retaliation, we have this quote I mentioned talking about, you know, we're made for war, but saying we're made for war, they say we're made for war. So it's not as though it's an affirmative possessory statement that they're making that would affirmatively show that. Words do matter. I know that there is concern. That's always something in any criminal

case about witness intimidation and dissuasion and, you know, keeping people safe. You know, the prosecution was concerned enough, though, that they got some type of federal assistance to keep Devontae Lee safe. Devontae Lee testified at the grand jury that one of the people in the white Cadillac that night said, you know, that he's saying that DeAndre Smith said, Big Dre said, no, it was actually me who shot him, not Orlando. However, you know, he's still putting Keefie D in the car and saying Keefie D is the one that, you know, said this should all happen. And that's hearsay, of course, but it's still somebody who testified at grand jury. The thing that I think is so wild about this is that Keefie D's mouth

is what's gotten him in trouble up to this point. Now he can't stop talking in jail on jail calls. Everybody knows those are recorded. He knows the drill. He things those things are recorded and why the hesitation on my part is is that you really be that excited right and I have to imagine I've been a defense attorney for 17 years I know the defense attorneys in his case and I know that we strongly admonish our clients to not speak about any sort of matters such as, you know, the litigation of the case, witnesses, for hiring, et cetera, because it's all free game, right? And we say, do not talk about those phone calls, period.

And so the fact that this statement was made as an attorney or a defense attorney, I would want to know what the surrounding framework of that conversation was looking at to it. And if federal assistance was given, that is okay. That's routinely given, both in state and federal matters. In criminal cases, witnesses can apply for funds to supplement rent, moving expenses, things like that. So it's pretty routine, at least the state side of things that I've seen. So I don't necessarily know that that is something that is going to be like the linchpin, but I understand the need for it, you know, to err on the side of caution in the meantime, to make sure that, you know, this is appropriately vetted. Adrienne Lobo, thanks again for coming on. We appreciate it.

Thank you so much for having me, Anjanette. Kifidi will be back in court next Tuesday. At that time, the judge will decide whether or not to allow Kifidi to be released on bail. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix on Friday, January 5th, 2024. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you back here on Monday. Until then, have a great weekend. You can download Crime Fix on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your favorite podcasts and new episodes post each weeknight at 6 Eastern time on Law and Crime's YouTube channel. Daniel Camacho does our video editing. Our head of social media is Bobby Zoki. Our senior director of social media is Vanessa Vine.

Savannah Williamson is one of our producers. Diane Kay and Alyssa Fisher book our guests. And Brad Mabey is our audio editor.