EXCLUSIVETupac murder suspect Duane 'Keefe D' Davis 'could've spilled his guts' about Sean 'Diddy' Combs before feds raided music moguls Miami and LA mansions, retired FBI agent claims 

  • Phil Carson, an ex-FBI agent who worked on Tupac's case told DailyMail.com murder suspect Duane 'Keefe D' Davis could've 'spilled his guts' about Diddy
  • Pointing to Davis's looming life sentence, Carson said: 'Who's to say Keefe didn't start throwing stuff out there... to potentially save his a**?'
  • Davis, who was arrested and charged in Tupac's 1996 murder last year, had previously claimed the killing was a $1million hit ordered by Sean 'Diddy' Combs

Federal raids on Sean 'Diddy' Combs's mansions could be linked to the recent arrest of a gangster over rapper Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder, a former FBI agent who investigated the killing has told DailyMail.com.

Phil Carson, a retired head of the Los Angeles FBI office, said that information backing search warrants for Combs's LA and Florida properties may have come from the alleged murder accomplice, Duane 'Keefe D' Davis, who was charged last year. 

Carson is an expert on hip-hop criminals and kingmakers of the 1990s, after spending years probing police corruption around the shootings of Shakur and his East Coast rap rival Biggie Smalls, aka, Christopher Wallace.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, he pointed to Davis's arrest on September 29 last year over his admitted involvement in Shakur's murder – which he claimed was a $1million hit ordered by Combs, though the music producer denies it.

FBI agents raided Sean 'Diddy' Combs's properties in Los Angeles and Miami this week as part of a sex trafficking investigation involving the music mogul

FBI agents raided Sean 'Diddy' Combs's properties in Los Angeles and Miami this week as part of a sex trafficking investigation involving the music mogul 

The dramatic raid has sparked theories that law enforcement may have obtained information from Duane 'Keefe D' Davis (left), the former gangster charged in rapper Tupac Shakur's murder – which Davis claims was a $1million hit ordered by Combs
Authorities finally made a breakthrough in the case of Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder in Las Vegas in 2023

The dramatic raid has sparked theories that law enforcement may have obtained information from Duane 'Keefe D' Davis (left), the former gangster charged in rapper Tupac Shakur's murder – which he claims was a $1million hit ordered by Combs

Tupac was infamously gunned down at the height of the East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry in the 1990s. He is pictured with Diddy and his rap rival Biggie Smalls, aka, Christopher Wallace

Tupac was infamously gunned down at the height of the East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry in the 1990s. He is pictured with Diddy and his rap rival Biggie Smalls, aka, Christopher Wallace

Carson described how a looming life sentence could now be forcing former gangster Davis, 60, to spill new secrets about Combs, 54, to investigators.

'It's not like the olden days of the Italian mafia where everybody kept their mouth shut,' the ex-Bureau agent said. 

'As soon as somebody has handcuffs on them, they'll sell out their own mom now.

'Keefe's arrested, and that's a game-changer, because they have something over him. And that's when he may start spilling his guts.

'He's an OG from out here,' added Carson, referring to the shorthand term for 'original gangster'. 

'He's rubbed shoulders with a lot of the big shots. Every one of those guys has a story to tell about how the streets were run back then. 

'So who's to say Keefe didn't start throwing stuff out there that he hasn't talked about before, to potentially save his a**?

'That's not to say it's the reason federal law enforcement executed these warrants on Diddy's house,' he cautioned. 

'But it would be interesting to know what the evidence is, and where that evidence came from, that they put in these affidavits to get both these search warrants. It's got to be something of substance.'

As part of a 2008 temporary immunity deal, Davis told LAPD detectives that Combs offered him $1million to murder Death Row Records boss Suge Knight. 

Armed agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered Combs's luxury properties in both Miami and Florida on Monday, with video footage showing helicopters circling overhead

Armed agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered Combs's luxury properties in both Miami and Florida on Monday, with video footage showing helicopters circling overhead

Diddy was not at his Star Island mansion in Miami (pictured) when the raid occurred

Diddy was not at his Star Island mansion in Miami (pictured) when the raid occurred 

Homeland Security agents also descended on Combs's Holmby Hills property in LA (pictured)

Homeland Security agents also descended on Combs's Holmby Hills property in LA (pictured)

'He took me downstairs and he's like, "Man, I wanna get rid of them dudes, man." 

'I was like, "We'll wipe their a** out quick, man. It's nothing",' Davis told police in a recorded confession reported by LA Weekly in 2011

Davis said that on September 7, 1996, his crew pulled up alongside Knight and Shakur on Las Vegas Boulevard and he handed a Glock pistol to his nephew Orlando Anderson, who unloaded it into Shakur's BMW, killing the West Coast rapper and wounding Knight.

Davis repeated his story outside of the immunity deal, including in a memoir, allowing Vegas police to arrest him for the murder on September 29, 2023.

However, there has been no explicit connection of Shakur's murder investigation with the raids on Monday by Homeland Security (HSI) agents of Combs's Holmby Hills and Miami mansions.

Instead, they were reportedly in connection with a sex trafficking investigation.

The Bad Boy Records founder's lawyer Aaron Dyer released a statement on Tuesday calling the probe 'a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits' – referring to claims of sex abuse by Combs.

Combs was sued by an anonymous woman last year who claimed he and two friends took turns violently raping her when she was 17, after plying her with drugs and alcohol.

Davis told LAPD detectives in 2008 that Combs allegedly offered him $1million to murder Tupac and Death Row Records boss Suge Knight

Davis told LAPD detectives in 2008 that Combs allegedly offered him $1million to murder Tupac and Death Row Records boss Suge Knight

The black BMW in which rapper Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996

The black BMW in which rapper Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996

Davis, 60, brazenly boasted about the 'biggest case in Las Vegas history' when he was arrested on the street in September 2023

Davis, 60, brazenly boasted about the 'biggest case in Las Vegas history' when he was arrested on the street in September 2023

The Jane Doe claimed in a shocking lawsuit that the 54-year-old rapper flew her to his New York studio in 2003 and plied her with 'copious amounts of drugs and alcohol.'

The anonymous accuser, now in her late 30s, backed her bombshell claims with a photo of herself sitting on the I'll Be Missing You singer's lap and goofing around in his Manhattan studio.

She is the fourth woman to accuse him in a lawsuit of sexual assault. 

Her suit followed a legal complaint by R&B singer Cassie Ventura, 37, who said Combs subjected her to savage beatings, drug-addled hotel orgies, and rape.

Cassie settled with him the day after her lawsuit became public in November.

Combs was hit with more legal troubles just days after the settlement, when two women, identified as Liza Gardner and Joi Dickerson-Neal, filed separate lawsuits claiming they were sexually assaulted by the music mogul in the early 1990s. 

Another alleged victim of Combs came forward in December 2023 to accuse the hip hop mogul and his entourage of brutally gang raping her when she was 17 years old.

Rapper Notorious B.I.G, aka Biggie Smalls, was killed in a drive-by shooting in March 1997, just months after his rival was shot dead in his car

Rapper Notorious B.I.G, aka Biggie Smalls, was killed in a drive-by shooting in March 1997, just months after his rival was shot dead in his car 

Diddy's legal troubles began to mount late last year after ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie, 37, filed a lawsuit accusing the Bad Boy founder of controlling and abusing her for over a decade, as well as plying her with drugs and forcing her to have sex with multiple male prostitutes

Diddy's legal troubles began to mount late last year after ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie, 37, filed a lawsuit accusing the Bad Boy founder of controlling and abusing her for over a decade, as well as plying her with drugs and forcing her to have sex with multiple male prostitutes 

Then in late February, Rodney 'Lil Rod' Jones, a music producer who worked with Combs, filed a lawsuit that he was made to 'solicit sex workers and perform sex acts to the pleasure of Mr. Combs' in 2022 and 2023.

He said underage girls were present at these sex parties at Combs' LA, Miami and New York homes, as well as on a rented yacht in the US Virgin Islands.

Combs 'threatened to eat Mr. Jones' face,' according to his lawsuit, and even drugged him before sexual encounters.

Combs' attorney Shawn Holley said 'We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies.'

Douglas Wigdor, an attorney for Cassie and another one of the Jane Does accusing Combs, responded to the HSI raid in a statement to DailyMail.com.

'We will always support law enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those that have violated the law. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr. Combs responsible for his depraved conduct.'