A former gang member who says he worked “under the table” security for Suge Knight during Death Row Records’ heyday testified Tuesday he knew “everybody that was there” the night Tupac Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas — but he’s not naming names.
Taking the witness stand on the second day of Duane “Keffe D” Davis’ murder trial in Clark County, Nevada, James “Mob James” McDonald told jurors he was working at Knight’s Vegas nightclub, Club 662, when he learned Shakur and Knight had been wounded in a drive-by shooting on Sept. 7, 1996.
McDonald, a member of the Mob Piru Bloods, made it clear he was testifying against his will under a court order. He grew visibly exasperated when Davis’ defense lawyer, Michael Sanft, pressed him on cross-examination about what he heard in the aftermath of the shooting.
“Are you sure you want me to answer that?” McDonald replied, according to the trial livestream from CourtTV. “I don’t want to send him to prison, even though we don’t like each other,” he said, referring to Davis. “You’re asking me questions that can hurt him. … You’re asking something that’s gonna hurt this dude.”
McDonald said he was only willing to speak generally about how, after the shooting, a “gang war” erupted between the Mob Piru Bloods, affiliated with Knight, and the South Side Compton Crips, of which Davis was a high-ranking member.
“Do you know who it was that was there?” Sanft pressed, referring to alleged eyewitnesses who eventually traveled back to Compton.
“I know everybody that was there,” McDonald shot back. When Sanft again asked him to get specific, McDonald appeared stunned and seemed to address Davis, seated in a black suit and tie at the defense table
“Talk to your lawyer, man. This dude is tripping,” McDonald said. “I’m not gonna explain that. I can’t answer that.”
McDonald said he left gang life and is now raising his grandchildren. He said he only agreed to testify because he didn’t want to go on the run to avoid his subpoena. After the shooting, he said, “it wasn’t a problem for people to find out what happened. No problem at all.” He said Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, whom prosecutors allege fired the shots that killed Shakur as Davis allegedly watched from the front seat, quickly became a target for retaliation. (Prosecutors claim Davis, who is Anderson’s uncle, procured the weapon and directed the shooting.)
“When we got back to Compton, it was a gang war. People were getting hurt. People were looking for certain individuals,” he said. “Orlando, and certain other people, were being sought, because people wanted to kill them.”
After McDonald was excused, Knight’s official head of security at the time, Reggie Wright Jr., took the witness stand and said he also was at Club 662 the night of the shooting. He identified McDonald’s brother, Alton “Buntry” McDonald, as one of the members of Shakur’s and Knight’s entourage who was present when the men attended a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand earlier that night. After the bout, Shakur got in a fight with Anderson inside the casino that was captured on surveillance video, prosecutors allege.
Wright, who was a sworn Compton police officer in the early 1990s, reviewed the video from the witness stand and said he recognized McDonald’s brother, Alton, as one of the entourage members who also took part in the altercation. He further identified another member of Knight’s private security, Roger “Neckbone” Williams, as taking part in the melee.
Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder with use of a deadly weapon. He’s been in custody since his arrest in September 2023. Prosecutors allege he was a leader of the South Side Compton Crips when he allegedly orchestrated the deadly drive-by shooting.
In his opening statement Monday, Clark County Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal said Davis obtained the .40-caliber Glock used in the attack and was riding in the front passenger seat of a white Cadillac with Anderson and two other men when Anderson allegedly opened fire.
Palal told jurors that Davis later confessed to his role when he gave a “secret 2008 interview” to authorities in connection with a California drug case that could have sent him to prison for life. Davis subsequently repeated key details in public interviews and his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, Palal said. Jurors heard portions of the 2008 recording Monday, including Davis describing how the Cadillac made a U-turn before he handed off the gun because he didn’t have a clear shot from his position.
“If [Shakur] would have been on my side, I would have blasted,” Davis said in the recording.
Palal said the shooting was clear retaliation for the MGM Grand brawl, the latest incident in a simmering East Coast-West Coast feud pitting Knight’s record label against Sean Combs’ Bad Boy Records in New York. The prosecutor said Davis had agreed to provide “unofficial security” for Combs and his artists when they traveled to the West Coast, particularly to prevent problems with the Mob Piru Bloods, who were affiliated with Death Row.
Asked about the rivalry Tuesday, McDonald said the Crips and Bloods in Compton were peaceful before Bad Boy and Death Row started trading barbs. “When the two record companies got into it, Bad Boy went to Keffe D, and Suge came to us. So that intertwined everything, and we had issues,” he said.
Wright testified Tuesday that he was at the 1996 Soul Train Awards in Los Angeles with Death Row artists and witnessed someone in the Bad Boy entourage allegedly brandish a gun during a tense confrontation. He claimed Davis was there.
“I believe he was with them, but I don’t believe he was the one with the gun,” Wright testified as Davis shook his head at the defense table.
Palal said Monday there was “no question” the beating of Anderson “required” a response. In his opening statement, Sanft disputed that claim, arguing that Davis’ statements taking responsibility were fabricated for entertainment and, ultimately, financial gain. He also questioned why authorities did not charge Davis after the 2008 interview and said investigators made no meaningful effort to corroborate his account.
“It’s because they knew he was full of crap,” Sanft told the jury.
The defense lawyer said prosecutors couldn’t even prove Davis was in Las Vegas that night, claiming they had no receipts, credit card records, or photographs placing Davis at the MGM Grand despite his claim in his book that he attended the Tyson fight. Davis also had claimed Bad Boy Records CEO Sean Combs had once offered $1 million to have Knight and Shakur killed. Combs has denied the allegation. Davis said he was never paid.
The first witnesses at the trial included former Las Vegas police officer Garry Dale, who said he rode in the ambulance with Shakur and repeatedly asked who had shot him. According to Dale, Shakur refused to identify anyone and said, “No, we’ll take care of it.”
Former homicide detective Brent Becker testified that visiting gang investigators from Compton quickly identified Anderson from video of the MGM Grand fight, making him an early suspect. Becker also said Knight came in for questioning three nights after the shooting but claimed he could not identify anyone involved.
“I thought he lied to us,” Becker testified.
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