It was ultimately the death of another legendary rapper that helped unravel Tupac’s shooting death.
Months after Shakur was gunned down, Biggie Smalls, or the Notorious BIG, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles.
Both rappers were the stars of their respective rival record labels – Shakur with Death Row Records and Biggie with Bad Boy Records.
Biggie’s case has remained unsolved, with no arrests or suspects.
In the mid 2000s the Los Angeles Police Department reopened the investigation and spoke with Davis, who was at a party with Biggie before the fatal shooting.
While Davis said he didn’t have information about Biggie’s death, he did have knowledge of Tupac’s case and shared that he was in the car when the rapper was shot and killed. He told police the information in exchange that he not be charged.
That deal stuck until years later, when Davis went public with his knowledge.
He co-authored a memoir in 2019 titled Compton Street Legend, that claimed he not only was inside the vehicle when Tupac was shot, but he was also the person who “tossed” the gun used to kill him into the backseat of the Cadillac.
He never claimed to be the person who opened fire.
Davis also elaborated on the shooting to the media, detailing information to reporters in interviews.
Las Vegas police said his public statements had “reinvigorated” the investigation.
Over the next couple of years they spent time corroborating Davis’ account and then in 2023, searched his home and seized multiple computers, two tubs of photographs and a slew of Tupac-related material, including a Vibe magazine.
He was arrested later that year.
Prosecutors have alleged that Tupac’s killing was in retaliation for the beating of Davis’ nephew – Orlando Anderson – just hours before the shooting.
They claim that Davis was the architect of the crime, who ordered the shooting and supplied the deadly weapon to further gang criminal conduct.
