The Mysterious Death Of Tupac Shakur - Part 1

## *Note: the original title of the video is "The Strange Disappearance of Tupac Shakur Part 1," Uploaded on May 11th, 2013, at 3:24 am EST.*

**The Mysterious Death Of Tupac Shakur | Part 1** is a video made by Ryan Bergara and Brent Bennett, uploaded onto YouTube on May 11, 2013. It was the sixth episode of the first season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime, and was the seventh episode overall. It was the first episode of a two-parter series "The Mysterious Deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls" (the second being The Mysterious Death Of Biggie Smalls). You can find it here.

## Description

Do you who killed Tupac? You guessed it! it was Puff Daddy.

## Notable Incidents

This episode was one of the only episodes where Brent Bennett co-hosted. The two also brought along Daysha Veronica, a BuzzFeed coworker, due to her "superfan" status. It was the first episode filmed out of state, and the first to film in Minnesota, the first to have a special guest (besides previous co-host Brent), and the first that employed Ryan's famous "theory voice."

## The Story

On September 7, 1996, at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Tupac Shakur attended a boxing match, leaving with Suge Knight, CEO of Death Row Records, which was the label they were both assigned to.

On their way out, Tupac and some of his bodyguards got into a fight with Orlando Anderson, member of the Southside Crips gang, in the lobby. After the fight, Tupac and Suge Knight left, with their entourage driving behind them.

While stopped at a red light at Flamingo and Koval, an unidentified shooter in a white Cadillac shot out of the window into the passenger's side of their car, hitting Tupac four times and grazing Suge Knight. A member of Tupac's entourage, Yaki Kadafi, claimed he could identify the assailant, but was murdered two months later, November 10, before he could be interviewed.

Eighteen years after, in 2014, retired LVPD sergeant Chris Carroll came forward to say he had been at the scene. Caroll claimed that when he opened the car door, Tupac fell out, covered in blood, and when asked who had shot him, Tupac responded "fuck you" before going unconscious. He was then taken to the university medical center, and on September 13, 1996, he died.

Famously, the Las Vegas police never charged anyone in connection with the murder. A Las Vegas detective, in response to allegations they received of poor work on the case, said that "[the case got] the same treatment as any other homicide [t]here."

Orlando Anderson, Biggie Smalls/Christopher Wallace, Suge Knight, Sean Combs, and the Jewish Defense League were all suspected for killing Tupac, some in conjunction with each other; Anderson for his previous altercation with Tupac; Smalls for his year-long feud and previous fights; Knight for a debt he held for Tupac; Combs due to multiple accusations; and the Jewish Defense League for threats they had made to Tupac previously.

Ryan, Brent, and Daysha drive around Las Vegas and visit the site where Tupac was shot. They remark that if they had heard gunshots, they would definitely notice. They also visit a casino, where Brent says he's lost fourteen dollars, and Daysha says she's won three dollars.

In May 1998, Orlando Anderson was shot to death. Up until his death, he claimed innocence, and was never charged with any crime in connection to the case. Biggie Smalls was shot to death in March 9, 1997. Tupac was cremated, and his ashes were spread in his mother's garden, in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

## Theories

* Orlando Anderson, the Southside Crips gang, and Biggie Smalls all worked together to orchestrate Tupac's murder. This theory was made by Chuck Philips, a former *LA Times* journalist.
	+ Based on anonymous sources, the *LA Times* decided that members of the Southside Crips were involved as retaliation for the fight between Tupac and Orlando, that Orlando was the shooter, and that Biggie Smalls paid one million dollars for his murder and supplied the gun.
	+ Biggie was thought to have a role because of his year-long feud with Tupac, which reportedly got to the point of verbal altercations and "diss tracks." Tupac claimed in his song "Hit 'Em Up" that he had slept with Biggie's wife, Faith Evans.
* Suge Knight set up the murder, despite being grazed in the shooting. This theory was made by Russell Poole, former LAPD detective.
	+ Suge Knight apparently owed Tupac money―by some accounts, 3 million dollars, making it a possible motive for the murder. Afeni Shakur, Tupac's mother, had sued Death Row Records in 1997 for mishandling Tupac's funds. Tupac had been intending to leave Death Row Records and had fired his lawyer, David Kenner, who was also Suge Knight's lawyer.
	+ After the fight between Tupac and Orlando, Suge Knight had stopped to make a phone call in the MGM lobby, and had insisted Tupac ride in his car.
	+ Orlando Anderson contradicted himself in his testimony and said at first that Suge Knight was part of the fight, then later said Suge was trying to break up the fight. Some believe he was paid off to say this.
	+ Poole claims that the wound caused by Suge's graze by the bullet was never verified by the hospital, police, or any witnesses. However, this contradicts the 2014 report from Chris Carroll, who claimed Suge Knight's head was "gushing blood" and that he had "clearly been hit in the head." Carroll also speaks to the sincerity of Suge Knight's concern, saying "it wasn't acting... This is not the guy who had him killed, it's ridiculous."
* Sean Combs, A.K.A. P. Diddy or Puff Daddy, CEO of Bad Boy Records, orchestrated Tupac's death. This was made by Greg Kading, a former LAPD detective.
	+ Keith Davis, a member of the Crips gang, confessed on tape that P. Diddy paid him 1 million dollars to carry out the murder of Tupac and Suge Knight. Davis also said that Orlando Anderson, who was his nephew, pulled the trigger; and that he was in the car the night Tupac was shot, saying "Orlando rolled down the window, and popped him. If they would have drove on my side, I would have popped them." According to Davis, P. Diddy's hit came from fear that Suge Knight would strike first, and Tupac was only killed because of "Hit 'Em Up."
	+ Before Tupac was killed, he was shot multiple times on November 30, 1994, at Quad Recording Studios in New York City, and made statements saying he suspected people involved with P. Diddy were perpetrators. This was corroborated by Dexter Isaac's 2011 confession that Isaac was hired by a P. Diddy associate to rob Tupac that same night. However, if Isaac had not "revealed his secrets," he would have been possibly charged for 25 years to life in prison for unrelated charges, making the confession somewhat dubious.
	+ P. Diddy has denied all involvement with the murder, saying "this story is pure fiction and completely ridiculous."
* The Jewish Defense League, or the JDL, an extremist pro-Israel terrorist group, killed Tupac. They had previously made death threats to Tupac.
* Tupac is still alive, and instead faked his own death. Some believe he is now in Cuba.
	+ In 2015, some news outlets reported that a man named David Myers claimed he helped Tupac, among others, and including Suge Knight, fake his own death. However, the story seemed to originate from a fake news site.

## Quotes

* Ryan (narrating): "A Las Vegas homicide detective who oversaw the case claimed it got 'the same treatment as any other homicide here.'"
	+ Daysha: "What does *that* mean?"
	+ Brent (over Ryan's laughter): "'We don't care about *anyone* who died! We don't care if he was famous, we treat everyone the same!'"
* Brent (on Tupac's "Hit 'Em Up"): "How does that one go? Like *hit 'em up, hit 'em up...* or is that a different one? I'm actually curious."
	+ Ryan (over Daysha's laughter): "I think you should just never do that again."
* Daysha (on Carroll's claim): "Why would he be like, 'it's not acting?' That sounds like something that someone would pay you to say, like―"
	+ Ryan (over Daysha's laughter): "You don't trust that Chris Carroll was a licensed casting director who wouldn't notice bad acting from good acting?"
* Ryan (narrating): "The next theory I'm gonna go over is pretty silly."
	+ Brent (over Daysha and Ryan's laughter): "Aliens! Finally, I believe you! Yes, of course! Together, working at last!"

## Trivia

* This is one of the few episodes where Brent is the co-host rather than Shane.
* This is one of the few episodes that was part of the BuzzFeed IRL series instead of having its own show separate from BuzzFeed Multiplayer.
* In chat, Ryan remarked that this two-parter series was one of his favorite cases covered.
* Also in chat, Ryan said that while shooting the episodes, the crew constantly got lost, and "during this drive back from Vegas, [the crew] actually ended up a couple miles short of Tijuana because Brent unknowingly drove for HOURS in the wrong direction."