Posted on: September 17, 2024, 02:15h.
Last updated on: September 17, 2024, 02:38h.
A lot more justice may end up getting meted out by the new case against Sean “Diddy” Combs than one might expect. According to The Sun, federal investigators looking into the rapper’s alleged sex trafficking and racketeering crimes are “secretly liaising” with prosecutors in the trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the first and only person ever charged in connection with the 1996 drive-by murder of rap legend Tupac Shakur.
A source told the British newspaper that the Clark County District Attorney’s office in Las Vegas is sharing information about wider claims, brought up in Davis’ trial testimony that tie Diddy to individuals wanting Shakur dead.
According to The Sun, Diddy’s name was mentioned 77 times in documents submitted by prosecutors in opposition to Davis’ third bail request, which was denied last month.
What Diddy Do?
Combs, 54, was arrested on Monday in Manhattan, six months after federal agents conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his homes in LA and Miami.
The hip-hop impresario “presided over a sordid empire of sexual crimes, coercing and abusing women for years while using blackmail and shocking acts of violence to keep his victims in line,” according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The music mogul pleaded not guilty in New York City federal court on Tuesday.
In old interviews with both the LAPD and the media, Davis, an admitted gang leader, claimed that he orchestrated Shakur’s murder at Combs’ request, but that Combs refused to make good on the $1 million he initially offered Davis for the hit.
Prosecutors believe that Davis made these statements under the erroneous assumption that the immunity he was granted by the LAPD — in exchange for help with its 2008 investigation into the murders of Shakur and Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace — applied to Davis’ prosecution for Shakur’s murder by another jurisdiction.
Davis’ attorneys argue that their client was lying in an effort to profit from the claims.
Combs and Davis were acquainted because Combs’ record label, Bad Boy Records, hired Davis to work security sometime in the 1990s.
Combs denies ever making the offer to Davis and no charges were ever brought against him in connection with Shakur’s murder.
“This story is beyond ridiculous and completely false,” Combs told the website AllHipHop in 2008. “Neither Biggie nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during, or after it happened. It is a complete lie.”
For three decades, however, the streets have assumed that Combs bore some responsibility for Shakur’s killing. That’s because Wallace’s drive-by murder, which occurred in LA only six months after Shakur’s, seemed so retaliatory in nature.
To Combs, Wallace represented exactly what Shakur was to rap impresario Marion “Suge” Knight — a beloved friend and golden goose. In addition, both the slain rappers and their label bosses were highly visible opposition leaders in the East Coast/West Coast hip-hop feud at the time.
The feds know who (Las Vegas police) investigators have spoken to about the case and are aware of witnesses too,” The Sun quotes an unnamed source close to the Las Vegas investigation. “Just what this means for Diddy remains to be seen.”
Earlier this month, Davis’ murder trial was delayed until March 2025 because his attorney, Carl Arnold, requested more time to review the case’s extensive discovery materials.
