DIDDY has been named 47 times in a secretly recorded police interview accusing him of offering "millions" for the murders of Tupac Shakur and record boss Suge Knight.
The rap mogul - real name Sean Combs - was apparently livid that Tupac had badmouthed him and wanted revenge, according to a transcript of a "surreptitiously recorded" interview filed by prosecutors in the murder trial of Duane "Keefe D" Davis.
Keefe filed for the case against him to be dismissed last week, but prosecutors hit back today in a 180-page filing where they claim the gangster has "confessed to being involved in Shakur’s murder in nearly every forum imaginable."
A full transcript of one of the "confessions," which Keefe made during a secretly recorded interview with Las Vegas police in 2009, was included in the latest court filing, revealing some bombshell allegations surrounding Tupac's September 1996 murder.
Diddy, 55, is currently in federal custody in New York City after his September indictment on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
He denies the recent charges and has previously dismissed claims he orchestrated Tupac's murder as "completely ridiculous" and "pure fiction." He has never been arrested or charged over Tupac's death, and Las Vegas cops have previously said he is not a suspect in the case.
The new court papers in the Tupac case, obtained by The U.S. Sun, detail how Diddy was a central discussion point in the previously unreleased police interview, raising questions about his role in the killing.
Keefe, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, boasted on tape to Detective Long of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department how he was the “boss” overseeing three other Southside Crips on the crime - but that Diddy allegedly played a role in the murder.
When Long asked directly, “Does he play a role in this thing?” referring to Diddy, Keefe replied, “Yeah," according to the transcript.
Keefe then goes on to claim Diddy’s hatred of West Coast record label rival Suge Knight was so extreme he instructed him, “Ah, s**t, I'll give anything for that dude head.”
Diddy - then known as Puffy - allegedly told Keefe that the price on their heads was “mother-f**king millions” in front of 45 people who were gathered in a room with them, according to the transcript.
He added of Suge, who was driving the car when he and Tupac were gunned down, allegedly by Keefe’s men, “He didn't say no specific dollar amount, but he, he wanted the man's head though," adding that "he was real scared of that guy.”
Keefe is then asked, "What about, did Puff have any problems, Puffy have any problems with Tupac?"
"About that, ah, yeah, that record came out, told him he's a f**ker and all that s**t," Keefe replied.
Tupac released his infamous diss track Hit Em Up in June 1996, in which he took aim at Diddy, Notorious BIG, and a host of other East Coast rappers.
In the transcript, which has now been entered as evidence in the murder trial, Keefe said that Diddy’s view on Tupac was “f**k that dude.”
By The Sun's Senior Reporter Emma Parry, who has been reporting on the Tupac murder for the past 10 years
TUPAC fans have been waiting for justice for the iconic rapper for almost 28 years.
Finally in September 2023 there appeared to be progress with the arrest of Duane "Keefe D" Davis - a former Southside Crip gangster from Compton, LA - who had been telling the world for years that he and his fellow "gang soldiers" were responsible for the hit.
I've been reporting on the case for several years and it always appeared pretty cut and dry...Keefe had spent the past decade gaining notoriety by boasting about his alleged involvement in the shooting - now he was finally getting what he deserves. But despite Keefe running his mouth for years, I now believe a guilty verdict in November's trial is far from guaranteed.
Keefe describes in great detail in his memoir Compton Street Legend what went down the night Pac was shot, extracts from which The U.S. Sun has published.
He claimed that he was offered a million dollars by rapper Diddy to "handle" Tupac and Suge Knight and when he and his Crip gangsters came across the pair driving near the Strip in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, Keefe alleged he passed the gun to his nephew Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson who took the shot. Keefe said if Pac had been on his side: "I would have blast".
Keefe repeated the claims multiple times over the years, on YouTube channels, documentaries, and even in taped confessions to police, when he believed he could not be prosecuted. In one confession to the LAPD, Keefe appeared completely remorseless telling detectives: “We didn’t give a f**k...The ambulance [for Tupac] was parked right here next to us. That s**t was as funny as a motherf**ker.”
The Sun has been publishing stories about Keefe's self confessed involvement in the crime since 2018.
I sent many links to his confessions to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, asking them why this man had not been arrested yet. They would thank me for the info but say that they could not comment because the case was still active. From the outside, it looked like no action was being taken at all.
We spoke to former detectives involved in the case and documentary makers who all felt utterly frustrated at the lack of progress in the case. We even published a plea from former LAPD detective Greg Kading, who had probed the murders, urging Las Vegas cops to arrest Keefe, back in 2020.
For years, the case appeared to have been forgotten and ignored, to be left forever unsolved.
But finally, in the summer of 2023, we got word from our sources that there had been a huge development in the case. A secret grand jury was due to be held on whether or not Keefe should be indicted. I was dubious at first but around the same time a house in Henderson, Nevada, linked to Keefe, was raided in July as part of the Tupac investigation.
Things were heating up.
Later that summer, behind closed doors, jurors listened to hours of testimony from former cops, detectives, and coroners involved in the Tupac case and gangsters and associates of Keefe's and Pac's from back in the day. They were shown graphic photos of Tupac's bullet-ridden body. After days of evidence, they decided there was enough evidence to prosecute Keefe.
Once the secret documents were released I poured over the transcripts. While interesting, many of the witnesses were telling stories they'd heard second-hand. None of the prosecution witnesses had a clear look at who shot Pac. One witness Devonta Lee claimed another gangster called Big Dre took the shot - not Orlando. Maybe things weren't as clear-cut as I first thought.
Keefe was then arrested on September 30, 2023 at his home. Bodycam footage we obtained from the scene showed Keefe bragging to cops even as he was handcuffed in the back of a police car - telling officers he was involved in the "biggest case in Las Vegas history".
Following Keefe's multiple appearances in court, he seems to have lost much of that bravado and now cuts a sad, lonely figure.
Suffering from various health problems as a result of cancer, he's struggling to cope with the brutalities of jail life and can't get together enough money to afford his bail. He feels some of his old Southside Crip associates - men he handed wads of cash to in his glory days, have just abandoned him.
Keefe is now desperate to get out of jail, and his defense stems is leaning on his claim that he completely made up his involvement in the Tupac murder for fame and money. He saw other people cashing in on the murder so he thought he would too. He reckons his confessions to police were all lies - he made it up because he was under a plea deal and thought it would help him beat his other charges.
And, according to his lawyer Carl Arnold, he wasn't even in Las Vegas on the night of the shooting. Arnold remains convinced he will see his client walk free and their secret weapon could be former Death Row Records boss Suge.
As the only other person still alive from either car, Suge, currently in prison for a fatal hit and run, would be a key witness. Suge is the only person still alive who knows what went down - he saw the shooter. While he's said he won't testify at the November trial, Suge has claimed in a TMZ interview from prison that Orlando was not the shooter, which again throws into doubt Keefe's version of events.
Keefe and his lawyer are hoping they might be able to change his mind and persuade him to testify for the defense. And Suge holds the power to blow the prosecution's case apart.
And if Keefe walks free, will there ever be justice for Pac?
Keefe then recalls how he was delighted after seeing his nephew Orlando Anderson fire at Tupac and Suge off the Las Vegas Strip on September 13, 1996, saying, “We was like ‘Damn, we can get paid now.’”
He then clarifies the source of that alleged payday was Diddy.
“When you said paid, paid by Puffy, right?” Long asks, to which Keefe says, “Yeah.”
Keefe then alleges Diddy did not pay him directly.
Instead, a mutual acquaintance named Eric “Zip” Martin, who had supplied Keefe’s crew with the murder weapon, made the payment, according to the court filing.
Keefe claimed “the word on the streets” through gang circles was that Zip kept the alleged million-dollar bounty for himself rather than hand it over, adding on the tape that “Zip got paid by Puff at some point.”
The defendant has confessed to being involved in Shakur’s murder in nearly every forum imaginable.
Las Vegas prosecutors
The 61-year-old said he made several efforts to contact Diddy directly after he was released from a drug conviction prison sentence in 2002.
“[I] called Puff too when I got out,” Keefe said, but Diddy stayed silent.
Sometime “after everything went down” Keefe told Long on the recording that he and Diddy met in the parking lot of the Hollywood House of Blues.
“[Diddy] came to the car, then he acted scared of us," Keefe said.
"He was just, ah, like he was telling us to come, come meet him at the hotel room, Hilton, and woo-woo-woo.
"So he asked us did we have some weed and stuff. But that mother-f**ker he never took his eyes off of us though at all."
He added: “He didn't say nothing. He just back up, he just was in the window, just talking to me.
“He just backed up, and there was girls all over him, he steady watching the car. He wasn't paying no attention none of them girls. Was tripping with her like this mother-f**ker’s scared.”
By The U.S. Sun's Senior Reporter Forrest McFarland, who has been reporting on Diddy's legal battles for years
BEFORE Sean "Diddy" Combs' arrest in September, it was highly speculated that the rap star would find himself in custody after he was repeatedly hit with disturbing accusations - and had two of his mansions raided by the feds.
His mounting legal troubles finally came to a head on September 17, when he was charged with three federal counts, including sex trafficking, for allegedly forcing victims to take part in drug-fueled sex parties he called "Freak Offs."
Hours before his arrest, The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed the feds investigating Combs were secretly liaising with Tupac Shakur murder prosecutors on gangland activities.
The development also came after Combs was named 77 times in documents submitted by prosecutors in the Tupac murder case.
Aside from the Tupac probe, Combs was already facing a slew of lawsuits, including one he settled with his ex, Cassie Ventura, after she accused him of rape and abuse.
Disturbing hotel surveillance video from 2016 showed Combs chasing Cassie down and then punching, kicking, and beating her in a hallway.
Two months earlier, in March 2024, two of Combs' mansions were raided by federal investigators, who seized three AR-15s, drugs, and 1,000 bottles of lube which were part of his "Freak Off" supplies.
In addition to his federal criminal charges, Combs also faces a handful of lawsuits with allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and sex trafficking dating back to the early 1990s.
Music producer Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones filed one suit in February 2024, claiming Combs forced him to hire sex workers and participate in sex acts while he worked on his latest album.
Combs has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the federal sex trafficking charges against him, but his battle is far from over.
He faces life in prison if he's convicted on all counts.
The 143-page transcript is the bombshell evidence that prosecutors feel proves that Keefe - without any immunity protection - must serve life in prison.
However, Keefe's lawyer Carl Arnold has said his client lied about his and Diddy's involvement in the crime for fame and money.
With Keefe's trial coming up in March, prosecutors recently made an unusual declaration about whether Diddy or Knight could testify as witnesses.
“Both Suge Knight and Sean 'Puffy' Combs are not unavailable, although they do face their own legal problems,” they wrote, seemingly leaving open the door to having both testify.
Judge Carli Kierny will listen to both sides’s arguments and rule on whether Keefe’s trial will progress at a Las Vegas District Court hearing on Tuesday.
The Sun has reached out to lawyers and representatives for Diddy for comment.
