A former Compton gang homicide detective testified Tuesday in the trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis that he had “no doubt” that the gang Davis led was behind the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur because of the bloody gang war that followed.
Shakur was riding with Death Row Records mogul Marion “Suge” Knight on Sept. 7, 1996, just off the Vegas Strip. Death Row is a label strongly associated with the Mob Pirus gang. Prosecutors say Davis led Southside Crips-Burris Street. He is accused of being in the Cadillac that pulled up alongside Shakur’s car and handing the gun to two men in the back seat, one of whom was his nephew, who fired the fatal shots.
“The Mob Pirus had to retaliate” after Shakur was killed, testified retired Compton Police Det. Robert Ladd at the Las Vegas trial. “They had 54 other gangs to choose from. But they went right after the Southside Crips. So there is no doubt in my mind who was responsible for shooting Tupac.”
Ladd, testifying on on the seventh day of the trial, said that two days after Shakur’s shooting, a leader of a local Crips gang — as well as a 10-year-old girl — were hit in a drive-by shooting.
“We had three murders and 10 attempted murders,” he said, “drive-by shootings that happened within 10 days in Compton … back and forth related to the Mob Pirus and Southside Crips.”
Law enforcement agencies knew it was coming, he said. Within hours of the Shakur shooting, his then-boss, Compton Police Lt. Reggie Wright Sr., warned that Southside Crips were behind the killing and there was going to be a war.
Ladd said, seeking to curtail the violence, Compton police began serving numerous search warrants and developing information for the Las Vegas police on Shakur’s fatal shooting,
He said Compton detectives searched 38 homes and apartments in Compton, Long Beach, Lynwood, Downey, Paramount and Lakewood.
One search of a home associated with Davis turned up mail pertaining to the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas for Orlando Anderson — Davis’ cousin and fellow Southside Crip was a person of interest in Shakur’s killing, Ladd testified, and was detained. Another search of Davis’ associated home turned up a Monte Carlo receipt for the time Shakur was killed.
Michael Sanft, Davis’ attorney, has insisted throughout the trial that began last week that prosecutors cannot prove Davis was in Las Vegas, let alone in the Cadillac with the shooter. He has insisted Davis made up statements to Los Angeles police in 2008 and to Las Vegas police a year later that put him at the scene of the crime. His memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” detailing the Shakur killing was mostly fiction, Sanft has said.
Sanft questioned Ladd about the Excalibur letter, and the retired detective conceded he did not have the items and none of them referenced Davis. Ladd testified that although he got an MGM Mike Tyson fight ticket from Suge Knight’s home, he found no proof in all his searches that Davis was in Las Vegas during the shooting.
It was outside the Tyson fight the night of Shakur’s killing that prosecutors say Anderson had been jumped, spurring Davis and cohorts on a hunt for revenge against Shakur.
Ladd also conceded he had no evidence Davis ordered any shootings. The lawyer questioned whether Shakur was a gang member. Ladd said he wasn’t a gang member, although his entourage was the Mob Pirus.
Ladd testified that the three men authorities allege were in the Cadillac with Davis are now dead.
Anderson died in a Crip-on-Crip shootout over drugs and money, he said. Terry “Bubble Up” Brown died in a cannabis dispensary shooting, while Deondre Smith died of natural causes.
Ladd said in his book, “Once Upon a Time in Compton,” written with partner Tim Brennan, who is now deceased, he heard from people on the street that Davis’ cousin Anderson was involved in a fight with Travon Lane, a Mob Piru, at the Lakewood Mall Foot Locker months before that night in Las Vegas.
“Did Keffe D ever order a hit before or after the shooting of Tupac Shakur?” Sanft asked.
“Not that I know of,” replied Ladd.
Ladd, however, was then asked by a prosecutor about the hundreds of shootings he investigated and said: “Most of our gang crimes get solved by self-admission.”
Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Binu Palal then asked Ladd who would have called the shots among the four people allegedly in the Cadillac — Davis, Anderson, Terence Brown or Deondre Smith?
“Who is the lead in that car?” he asked.
“Mr. Davis,” Ladd replied.
“Who is the shot caller in that car?” Palai asked.
“Mr Davis,” Ladd said again.
Palai then added, “If shots are coming out of that car, who has to give the authorization?”
“Mr Davis,” Ladd said. “If he tells them not to do it, let’s handle it back in Compton, there wouldn’t have been a shooting.”
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