Tupac Shakur murder trial opens as prosecutors say 'Keffe D' ordered 1996 killing

The murder trial over Tupac Shakur's 1996 killing opened with prosecutors arguing that Duane "Keffe D" Davis planned the shooting .

Almost three decades after the drive-by shooting they opened their case by telling jurors the rapper was shot dead in an act of gang revenge masterminded by a mobster.

“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal said.

Davis, a one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips gang, is charged in Clark County, Nevada, with a single count of murder using a deadly weapon.

Davis ordered the killing after his nephew, Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, had been beaten by a rival gang, Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told a court in Las Vegas Tuesday.

Palal showed videos Tuesday of Shakur's entourage attacking Anderson.

"Then, two and a half hours later... Tupac is gunned down in a drive-by shooting from a white Cadillac in an act of revenge," the prosecutor told jurors.

Palal said that Davis —  who has been dubbed by the authorities as a "shot caller" — did not pull the trigger but "he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew".