Tuesday, October 08, 2024 - Sean 'Diddy' Combs' alleged links to the murder of late rapper Tupac have once again resurfaced following the music mogul's arrest last month.
Combs is currently being held at the Metropolitan
Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York. for sex trafficking and
racketeering charges.
He has long denied having any involvement in Tupac's death
in 1996. Tupac passed away six days after a gunman shot him four times in
the chest at a stoplight in Las Vegas.
In a new podcast series, Greg Kading, one of the
investigators assigned to Tupac's murder, examines the renewed spotlight on
Combs' alleged connection to Tupac's infamous murder. He begins by noting how a
rivalry between Combs' Bad Boy Records on the East Coast and Marion 'Suge'
Knight's Death Row Records West Coast dominated the 1990s Hip Hop world.
Combs was the manager and mentor of Tupac's rap rival, the
Notorious B. I.G., who was also tragically killed in a drive-by shooting in Los
Angeles on March 9, 1997, at the age of 24 - less than one year on from Tupac's
murder in September 1996. The host of the podcast explains how Tupac once
accused his former friends Biggie and Combs of shooting and robbing him in a
1994 attack.
"Many thought Diddy and Bad Boy were somehow involved
with the attack. Shakur even openly accused Biggie and Puffy of having prior
knowledge of the shooting, something they both denied," Marjorie Hernandez
states on the podcast.
“The Quad studios shooting sparked the infamous and deadly
East Coast vs West Coast rivalry that would ultimately cost Tupac and Biggie
their lives in drive-by shootings within months of each other in 1996.”
Retired LAPD homicide detective Greg Kading investigated
both Tupac and Biggie's murders in the 1990s.
Speaking on the podcast The Trial of Diddy, Kading alleged
Combs hired members of the street gang Crips for protection during a stop of
the Summer Jams tour in Anaheim, California in 1995. Prominent Crop members at
the time included Duane 'Keefe D' Davis and his nephew, Orlando 'Baby Lane'
Anderson.
Kading claims: "Keefe D was dealing both PCP and
cocaine from Los Angeles to another drug dealer, a figure out in New York, a
guy named Eric Martin. They called him Zip. Zip was a very well-known drug
dealer, hustler, shot caller out in New York who happened to be affiliated with
Puffy Combs' dad.
"And after Puffy's dad died, Zip kind of took over as
kind of like a play uncle figure for Puffy Combs. Also, he became very close
with Christopher Wallace and Faith Evans and was even the godfather of
Christopher Wallace's son. So that was the connection. Keefe knew a drug
dealer, that drug dealer was affiliated with Puffy and Biggie and that was how
the introduction happened when Puffy said that he needed some security on the
West Coast because of all the problems that he was having with Suge Knight and
Death Row Records. His friend Zip, his play uncle said, hey, I've got just the
perfect people for you. I know some gang members out there that can handle that
kind of work. Let me introduce you to them. And that's how the association
began."
Host Hernandez then tells listeners that following Tupac's
murder, 'Keefe D - along with three others - were identified as the suspects in
the escape vehicle.
'Keefe D confessed to investigators that it was his nephew,
Baby Lane, who fired the fatal shots at Tupac and Suge Knight.
Almost three decades post Tupac's assassination, Keefe D was
apprehended and is now facing murder charges in Nevada.
Prosecutors claim that Keefe D was the brains behind
Shakur's shooting, and he is the only surviving individual from the alleged
suspect vehicle today.
Interviews of Keefe D were submitted by prosecutors, where
he claimed that Combs offered him $1 million to kill Tupac.
According to the podcast, court documents reveal that when
police asked if Combs "play[ed] a role in this thing?", Keefe D
replied: "Yeah, I think he did."
Hernandez continues to claim: "Davis said Puffy
contacted him about Pac’s death, and that Combs 'reached out wondering if the
South Side Crips were responsible for Shakur’s death by asking, ‘Is that us?’
[Keefe D], beaming with pride, answer[ed], ‘Yes.’" Kading adds how Combs
would have "known that he was targeted when he came to the West
Coast" so met up with Keefe D when "things got really bad".
Kading claims: "Puffy called him aside and made it more
pronounced, made it more emphatic. Hey, really need you to take care of this
problem. Because, you know, I'm a dead man walking if you don't. That was kind
of the gist.'
According to Keefe D, and this is where I give this caveat.
This is a conversation where I think emotions are going on desperation and
fear. And Keefe D says that he offered him a million dollars. And of course,
Keefe D is not going to turn that down. So that was the kind of number that was
thrown out there."
The Las Vegas Police Department made a significant move on
July 18, 2023, by executing a search warrant at a residence in Henderson,
Nevada, linking the premises to their longstanding probe into the murder of
Tupac Shakur. Mystery unravelled as it turned out the property was owned by
Duane 'Keefe D' Davis' wife.
This led to Keefe D's arrest on September 29, 2023, with
subsequent charges of murder placed against him; he professed his innocence
when he pleaded not guilty on November 2, 2023. Fast forward to November 7,
2023, and Judge Carli Kierny of the Clark County District Court pencilled in
June 3, 2024, for Keefe D's trial commencement.
Combs has always denied having any involvement in the
murders of both Tupac and Biggie. During a radio interview in 2023, Combs was
questioned about Tupac's death but quickly shut down his interviewers, saying:
"We don't talk about things that are nonsense, we don't entertain
nonsense, with all due respect, but I appreciate you as a journalist asking,
thank you."
The rapper was arrested on Monday, September 16, in New York
City, and is facing serious allegations of sex trafficking and racketeering.
Despite several attempts, bail has been denied, and Combs is now locked up at
the Metropolitan Detention Centre (MDC) in Brooklyn.
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