The murder trial of former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis has opened in Las Vegas, nearly 30 years after rapper Tupac Shakur was fatally shot.

Prosecutors allege that Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, organised the September 1996 drive-by shooting in retaliation for a fight between Shakur and Davis’s nephew, Orlando Anderson, earlier that night. They say Davis did not fire the fatal shots but planned the attack and handed a gun to Anderson.

Davis, 63, has pleaded not guilty and denies the allegations. His lawyers argue that the case is based on a flawed investigation, unreliable witnesses and disputed evidence. They also say Davis’s 2019 memoir, in which he described his involvement, contains fictionalised material and should not be relied upon.

The prosecution, however, says Davis’s own statements over the years helped revive the long-running investigation. Police had struggled to solve the case, partly because witnesses and people close to the gangs were reluctant to cooperate.

The trial's first witnesses included former Las Vegas police officer Garry Dale, who testified that Shakur refused to identify his attackers after being shot. Another witness, Ingrid Stokes, described hearing gunshots while driving through Las Vegas with friends. She recalled that “all hell broke loose” when the shooting began.

Shakur, one of hip-hop's most influential artists, was 25 when he was shot after attending a Mike Tyson boxing match on 7 September 1996. He died six days later.

The trial is expected to hear evidence from witnesses, investigators and experts as prosecutors and the defence present competing accounts of one of the most prominent unsolved murders in music history.