The man accused of murdering rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996 allegedly implicated Sean “Diddy” Combs during a 2009 interview with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, a court document claims.
A document filed by the Clark County District Attorney’s Office on July 18th, seen by Fox5Vegas, includes a notable footnote where prosecutors claim Duane “Keffe D” Davis contradicted himself in the 2009 interview – which is part of newly obtained evidence.
Davis allegedly insinuated to Las Vegas police that Combs, the head of Bad Boy Records, was willing to pay for the shooting due to a feud with Marion “Suge” Knight, the head of Death Row Records. There have long been suggestions of Diddy’s tie to the case but he has never been charged in connection or named as a suspect by police.
However, Davis has publicly maintained that he only, “told on himself and wasn’t trying to provide evidence against anyone else in his conversations with police.”
“This statement belies this claim, as [Davis] suggested that Sean Combs paid Eric Von Martin a million dollars for the killings as well as offered to set up a surreptitious phone call with Terrence Brown, the driver, who, at the time, was still alive,” the footnote of the document says.
Representatives for Combs responded to the allegation by pointing to a quote the rapper provided AllHipHop.com in 2008.
“This story is beyond ridiculous and completely false,” Combs said at the time in response to a now-retracted LA Times article that contained similar allegations.
“Neither Biggie nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during or after it happened. It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself,” Combs said.
The district attorney’s filing was in response to Davis asking the judge overseeing his case to reconsider the conditions of his bail.
Last month, Davis asked the judge if he could post $112,500 of the $750,000 bond to be released from jail to house arrest. Davis claimed the money was being funded by an entertainment manager named Cash “Wack 100” Jones.
But the judge denied Davis’s request, expressing concern over the exact source of the bail bond money.
She said she wanted to “lay to rest the court’s concern” that Jones was “acting as a front or middleman for some other entity or person.”
On Tuesday, she said she would give Davis’ lawyer, Carl Arnold, one week to provide documentation about the source of the money.
Davis was arrested and charged last September for the shooting and killing of Shakur in 1996. Prosecutors allege that Davis was the leader of the South Side Compton Crips and orchestrated the shooting after his nephew was beaten up by Shakur and his associates that same night.
Davis is the only person charged in connection with Shakur’s death. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder with the use of a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang.
This article was amended on July 29th to include a statement from a public relations group representing Combs.
