Sean “Diddy” Combs’ name resurfaced in court as prosecutors presented evidence in the trial of former Los Angeles gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis over the 1996 murder of renowned rapper Tupac Shakur.
Retired Los Angeles Police Department Detective Daryn Dupree told the court that Davis had previously claimed Combs offered a Sh129.7 million ($1 million) cash reward to anyone who would eliminate both Shakur and Death Row Records chief Marion “Suge” Knight.
Dupree said law enforcement officers even flew Davis to New York as a secret informant in an attempt to arrange a sting operation targeting the person allegedly responsible for delivering the money.
“Davis said he could rekindle that relationship with a contact named Zip Martin and discuss the money that was given from Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs to Mr Martin that never got to Mr Davis,” Dupree told the court.
However, the planned meeting fell through, and the investigation produced no further breakthrough.
Combs has consistently denied any involvement in the 1996 shooting and has never been charged with a crime related to Shakur’s death.
The allegations emerged as Davis’ trial reached a critical stage, with prosecutors presenting recorded confessions and investigator testimony they say directly connect him to the drive-by shooting that killed the 25-year-old rapper and injured Knight.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Davis is facing first-degree murder charges with a deadly weapon and has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Prosecutors allege that Davis planned and organised the drive-by attack off the Las Vegas Strip after a brief fight inside the MGM Grand hotel earlier that evening.
Members of Shakur’s group had attacked Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, near the casino floor. Prosecutors said Davis then sought quick revenge, gathering a small team, obtaining a high-powered firearm and renting a white Cadillac to search the city streets for Shakur and Knight.
The jury listened to hidden police recordings from 2008 in which Davis detailed his alleged role in the deadly shooting.
In the audio, Davis explained that he secured the weapon used in the attack and helped track down Shakur’s car. He said Anderson, who was sitting in the back seat, fired the shots when the two vehicles stopped next to each other at a traffic light.
Davis also said that if the target car had stopped on his side of the vehicle, he would have fired the weapon himself.
“He leaned over on the window. He rolled down the window, popped ’em. If they drove on my side, I would have popped ’em, know what I’m saying. But they was on the other side,” Davis said in the recording.
The Diddy allegations have also received renewed public attention through the Netflix docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning, produced by rapper and filmmaker Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.
The series features audio of Davis allegedly claiming that Combs offered $1 million to kill Shakur and Knight, alongside interviews with insiders, former LAPD investigators and Bad Boy co-founder Kirk Burrowes.
Combs’ legal team has denied the claims, dismissing them as debunked conspiracy theories driven by Jackson.
On Instagram, Jackson also commented on the ongoing trial, appearing to mock Combs by writing: “Imagine you wake up in jail and see this …”
The high-profile trial is scheduled to continue in Las Vegas on Monday, August 31, when prosecutors are expected to call additional witnesses before the jury.
