Global News Podcast: Man charged with murder of rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996

BBC BBC 9/30/23 - Episode Page - 32m - PDF Transcript

Hello, this is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service, with reports and analysis

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Live's Less Ordinary is the podcast from the BBC World Service, bringing you extraordinary

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podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Nick Miles and in the early hours of Saturday the 30th of September, these are our main stories.

A man in the US state of Nevada has been charged with the murder of the rapper Tupac Shakur,

who was killed in a drive-by shooting 27 years ago. A state of emergency has been declared

in New York City, where flash floods have caused major disruption. Washington says there has been

a buildup of Serbian forces on the border with Kosovo. Also in this podcast, it's nearly every

metal detectorist dream to find some hidden treasure, maybe some gold or something that was

held by a Saxon or Roman. So what did a Norwegian family come across while searching for a missing

earring? We begin in the US. It's a case that has frustrated investigators and fascinated the public.

Tupac Shakur, one of the most acclaimed rappers in hip hop, was gunned down on the Las Vegas strip

27 years ago. The identity of his killer has remained a mystery. It's been the epitome of a

cold case, a long unsolved but still open criminal investigation, until now, perhaps,

because police have arrested a man over the drive-by murder of Tupac Shakur.

Steve Wilson is the Las Vegas Clark County District Attorney. It has often been said

justice delayed is justice denied. It's a quote we hear often and for many, many years

when talking about our legal system, but not in this case. Today, justice will be served

in the murder of Tupac Shakur. Our North America reporter, Reagan Morris, is in Los Angeles and

told me the latest. They've arrested Dwayne Keefe D. Davis. He is an associate who knew Tupac

and he's a man that lives in the Las Vegas area. They raided his wife's home about two months ago,

so that we sort of knew something was happening with the investigation and that caught many by

surprise. And in that raid, they took some cell phones, computer hard drives, a computer,

and a copy of Keefe D's memoir. He had a 2019 memoir where he admitted to being in the Cadillac

that the shots that were fired that ultimately did kill Tupac. And Reagan, remind us of the

circumstances of Tupac Shakur's death. Yeah, it was 27 years ago and they were, he was driving in a

convoy of cars on the sunset strip and they were at a red light and a Cadillac pulled up

and someone in that Cadillac opened fire and those were the shots that ultimately killed Tupac.

He lived a few days later in hospital, but no one ever knew. There was so much mystery who did

shoot him. And Keefe D has written in his memoir and has talked about that he was in that Cadillac,

so it's been known, he's been known to investigators. And I suppose a lot of surprise

for some people that it's taken so long to get anywhere with this case. What are the theories

behind why that might be? Oh, there's so many conspiracy theories about east coast, west coast,

grudges between rappers. I was listening to an interview, an earlier interview with Tupac's brother

after they had the police raid in Las Vegas a couple months ago of Keefe D's house and, you

know, he wasn't surprised at all. He's more surprised that they never took the investigation

as seriously as he would have liked and found more evidence and he thinks there's people out there

that know what happened, but isn't necessarily surprised that they didn't. I think there's a

lot of distrust in that family and within many in the black community over police and

who knows what happened with that investigation, but it seems like something is happening now and

maybe we will find out finally who killed Tupac. Reagan Morris in LA. Staying in the US, as we

record this podcast, a flashed flood emergency is enforced in New York as multiple waves of

heavy rain hit the city. The downpours began during Friday morning's rush hour.

Emergency services responded to the dangerous conditions and people were rescued from basements.

The mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, made this appeal. I want to say to all New Yorkers,

this is time for height and alertness and extreme caution. If you are home, stay home. If you are

at work or school, shelter in place for now. Some of our subways are flooded and it's extremely

difficult to move around the city. Well these New Yorkers were in despair. I'm lost. I'm lost.

I feel terrible. I don't even know where I'm going because I'm accustomed to catching a particular

train. Now I come, the train is delayed. I don't know when. It's disgusting. I don't know what New

York needs to do to mitigate this problem. I understand it happens a couple times a year.

So it seems like there should be plenty of information to know how to mitigate the flooding

when these disastrous intense rains happen. Correspondent Nedda Tothiq is in New York and

she told me there's been chaos across the city. This made commuting this morning nearly impossible

for New Yorkers. As passengers went out on the roadways, they found that they had been

just essentially covered, turned into rivers and just bumper to bumper traffic. Some people even

found themselves stranded and needing help on the subways. I mean every single line was impacted.

So the delays were just intense. 17 lines in Brooklyn were suspended altogether and people

were just taking videos. You can see all over social media, the water rushing into the station,

the tracks covering the roadways and then on top of that people who were trying to leave the area

with the airports found that in LaGuardia, for example, one of the terminals was completely

shut. All air traffic was delayed. So it really has been a chaotic morning and for some people

a scary and dangerous morning as they set off on their commutes. And Nedda, everybody saw the

satellite pictures ahead of this. They pretty much knew it was likely to happen but there's not much

you can do in the short term to prevent it, much like the last big flood after the Hurricane Sandy

back in 2012. Yeah, that's right. And I mean even if we look back to the recent hurricane, Hurricane

Ida, the issue in New York is when you've had several days of rainfall already, the area is

saturated, the infrastructure saturated. And so when you have rainfall that's intense in such a

short amount of time, this New York City's sewer system just can't cope to be frank. I mean we

heard that from officials in the briefing today. And so when I've been kind of going around here

in Gowanus in Brooklyn, one of the areas that has been the most affected, you see basements just

absolutely flooded. You see cars that were covered up to the doorways and water. And even though it's

begun to recede now, these are areas that people keep expensive business equipment. So one of the

businesses, they lost freezers, a heater, merchandise. And it's going to cost tens of thousands of

dollars. Yet this is an area where you can't get something like flood insurance. So New York is

increasingly seeing these rain events become pretty expensive and damaging to the economy and the

livelihood of people. And New York can expect worse in the years to come. What's actually changed

since the Hurricane Sandy 11 years ago? I mean it always is an issue of money. You know I always

point to the Gateway Project, which was supposed to build another tunnel between New York and New

Jersey because the one that's operating now was damaged significantly by Hurricane Sandy. And yet

the entire Tri-State area is relying on that tunnel. It's been over a decade and that project is

still just getting started. Certainly when you look at new buildings in New York, there's been a lot

of research into how to make buildings more resilient to sea level rises and climate change.

And those things are taking place. But the simple issues that we see again and again, too many

basement apartments in New York City when there's already a housing crunch, the sewer system unable

to cope, these are issues that aren't being fully resolved yet. And it is happening again and again

when the rain overwhelms the system. Nettatorfic in New York. Diane Feinstein, the longest serving

female senator in US history, has died at the edge of 90. A passionate advocate for gun control,

Ms. Feinstein was sworn in as San Francisco's mayor in 1978. Shortly after her predecessor Harvey

Milk and then the country's only openly gay politician was gunned down inside City Hall.

Later as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, she released a report detailing

the CIA's secret overseas detentions of terror suspects. President Biden led tributes to his

fellow Democrat, describing her as a pioneering American. She was a historic figure, trailblazer

for women and a great friend. Diane made her mark on everything from national security to the

environment, gun safety to protecting civil liberties. The country's going to miss her

dearly. And so will Jill and I. Well, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, spoke in front

of her desk just after her death was announced on Friday. Today we grieve. We look at that desk

and we know what we have lost. But we also give thanks. Thanks to someone so rarefied, so brave,

so graceful a presence served in this chamber. I heard more from our North America correspondent

Barbara Plettusher on Senator Diane Feinstein's prolific career. She got started in California

politics in the 1960s and then ultimately spent 30 years in the Senate. And as you were mentioning,

she was a vocal advocate for gay marriage, for environmental protection and for greater gun

controls. She was passionate about these priorities and others, but she was also pragmatic about

getting stuff done across the aisle, which made her quite an effective legislator. And here

she was addressing the Senate Judicial Committee ahead of a vote on gun control in March 2013.

We've seen it in universities. We've seen them in elementary schools. And now we have seen them

used against first graders. The time has come, America, to step up and ban these weapons.

She also helped document the CIA's torture of foreign terrorism suspects when she was chair

of the Senate Intelligence Committee. She led a five-year investigation. And in 2014,

she spoke out following publication of the report, which was into post-911 interrogation tactics.

The report exposes brutality that stands in stark contrast to our values as a nation.

It chronicles a stain on our history that must never be allowed to happen again. This is not

what Americans do. It's a very strong on policy. She was also very much a trailblazer for women

in American politics, wasn't she? She certainly was. And that is something that many people

have been saying in their tributes. Even the Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said

that she inspired women from both sides of the aisle. She was the first female mayor of San

Francisco. She was the first female candidate of a major party for governor of California. She

was one of California's two first female senators. She was the first woman to head the Senate Intelligence

Committee. She was the first woman to serve as the judiciary committee's top Democrat. So

lots of firsts in her career. She broke gender barriers.

And we heard from Chuck Schumer earlier on a very moving tribute. What have other people been saying?

Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic House Speaker, talked about her as a pioneering woman

leader and the fierce champion of gender justice. And as I mentioned, you had a couple of Republicans

also giving her tributes. Marco Rubio, the Republican senator, called her hardworking,

always treating everyone with courtesy and respect. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican

leader, also called her his friend, said she was a trailblazer with dogged advocacy and a

diligent service. And you saw that the Senate has taken physical steps, putting the flag at half

mask and also put it draping her chair in black velvet with a vase of white roses.

And briefly, Barbara, what will happen now? How will she be replaced?

The governor of California will probably appoint somebody to take her place until an election

for her replacement can be held. He'll want to do that as quickly as possible because the Senate

is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. So they want to keep that Democratic vote.

But she will almost certainly be replaced by a Democrat because California is strongly Democratic.

That was Barbara Pletusher. The United States says it's monitoring a Serbian military build-up

along the border of Kosovo as tensions rise between ethnic Serb and Albanian communities.

The White House said there was an unprecedented deployment of tanks.

Our Balkans correspondent Guy Delaney has more details.

The United States is urging Serbia to withdraw a large military deployment near its border with

Kosovo. White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby described the unprecedented

staging of advanced Serbian artillery as a very destabilizing development. Tensions are high

after the deaths of a Kosovo police officer and three members of an armed group in majority Serb

North Kosovo last Sunday. Britain has confirmed it's sending a battalion to join NATO's K-4

peacekeepers. It said it was a response to the current situation in Kosovo.

Guy Delaney. Next to Slovakia and Slovaks go to the polls today in early elections following

the collapse of the centre-right coalition earlier this year. Leading the polls is the left-wing

populist smear party of Robert Fidso who was forced to step down as Prime Minister following

the murder of the investigative journalist Jan Kucjak in 2018. As Rob Cameron reports from

Bratislava Mr Fidso has grabbed the headlines with a pledge to end Slovak military support for

Ukraine immediately. The closing weeks of a bad-tempered election campaign in Slovakia

coming to a head is an outdoor press briefing by Robert Fidso's smear party. The event was

gate-crashed by Igor Matovic, another former prime minister who ended up being punched in the head.

But the incident was a little more than a sideshow. Igor Matovic's star has fallen. Robert Fidso,

however, could be on the verge of a comeback, one that could have far-reaching consequences.

We need to stop sending the weapons and the military equipment to Ukraine and we need to stop this

war whatever price. Smear didn't respond to requests for an interview but this is the party's MP

Lubos Blaha speaking to the BBC this summer. I can understand that Ukrainians wouldn't be happy

that they will lose for example Donbas or Crimea but still we need to be realistic and we see that

this war is not only the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. We see it as a proxy war of United

States against Russia in a Ukrainian plant and this is something very different. Robert Fidso's

threat that he will not send one more round of ammunition to Kiev has sent alarm bells ringing.

This is a country that has so far been a loyal and steadfast ally sending its entire fleet of

MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. But some say that threat is a red herring. Slovakia has already

donated so much there's almost nothing left to give. The cupboards bear as one unnamed Western

official told me the thundering populist rhetoric is just that they say rhetoric. Others aren't so

sure. Several foreign diplomats ask me aren't you crying wolf too early? Biata Balogovar editor-in-chief

of the Slovak Daily's smear she says it's dangerous to assume that once in office Fidso the populist

will give way to Fidso the pragmatist. It's a very wrong assumption because right now Robert Fidso

doesn't have a better version he has to keep feeding his electorate. Across the border in the

Czech city of Brno smear's main challenger progressive Slovakia was drumming up support

amongst Slovak university students. Their vision of an open tolerant cosmopolitan Slovakia

is dismissed as liberal fascism by smear who offer stability order and social security instead.

Progressive Slovakia's deputy leader Tomasz Valasek says Robert Fidso has been inspired

by another illiberal politician in Hungary. My concern is that Viktor Orban has said an example

that you can pursue illiberal policies cement your hold on power by by rigging the electoral

system and still get away with it without being really in trouble with the EU and NATO and therefore

we've made it far too easy for Robert Fidso to pursue Viktor Orban's example. With a third of

voters undecided and as many as 10 parties potentially entering parliament in Slovakia

nothing is for certain. Rob Cameron in Bratislava now to Norway where a family searching for some

lost jewellery in their garden have stumbled upon a much older find instead. Rebecca Wood reports.

It's nearly every metal detectorist's dream to find some hidden treasure maybe some gold

or something that was held by a Saxon or Roman but one family from Norway have fulfilled that

goal without even trying. The Arsvik family from the small island of Jomfruland got out their metal

detector to hunt for a lost gold earring in their backyard. The telltale beep of a potential

find went off near a big tree in the centre but instead of unearthing their piece of missing

jewellery they found two small metal artefacts instead one round one oval and both with intricate

cross detailing. Archaeologists have taken a look and identified the pieces as a Viking era

clasp and buckle objects from the grave of a woman buried over 1000 years ago. Although

long belief to be the case it's the first evidence that the area was inhabited during

Viking times but what of their missing gold earring? Well that's still not been found

but give it another thousand years and you might hear another similar sounding news report on the

airwaves. Rebecca Wood. Still to come. So will we really hear the actor Christopher Plummer as

Captain Von Trapp singing in his own voice in a new remix version of the sound of music film?

The attacker had very good knowledge of banking systems. $3.1 billion in stolen funds. Money

laundering operations. A cybercriminal group. These are smart guys. Seasons one and two of

the Lazarus heist from the BBC World Service are available in full right now. Following the twists

and turns in the incredible story of the Lazarus group hackers. The Lazarus heist from the BBC

World Service. Catch up with the whole series now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Welcome back

to the Global News podcast. The Afghan embassy in India has suspended all operations and the

ambassador and other senior diplomats have left the country. Officials say Delhi will now take over

the diplomatic compound in a caretaker capacity. Lipika Pelham has more details. The Afghan ambassador

Farid Mamunze who was appointed by Afghanistan's previous western backed government has been

battling to stay in office in defiance of the Taliban in Kabul. Embassy officials in Delhi

say Mr Mamunze and at least five other diplomats have now gone to Europe and the United States

where they have received political asylum. India doesn't recognize the Taliban and closed its own

embassy in Kabul after the Islamist group took power in 2021. The Taliban have taken control

of 14 of Afghanistan's overseas missions but Delhi isn't one of them.

Lipika Pelham. The International Paralympic Committee has voted to allow Russian athletes to

take part in next year's Paris Games despite the invasion of Ukraine. Member nations meeting in

Bahrain voted against a full suspension of Russian competitors but decided that they will have to

compete as neutral participants. Athletes from Russia will not be permitted to wear Russian emblems

on their clothing nor display the Russian flag. Belarusians will also be allowed to take part

under those conditions. Ukraine has responded to the ruling saying that allowing Russians to

compete just prolongs the war. Our sports news correspondent Alex Kapstik told me more.

It's pretty close this isn't in the end Nick. 74 to 65, 13 abstentions at this meeting in Bahrain

and that was against the motion to slap a full ban on Russia who had been barred from all

Paralympic competitions since the invasion of Ukraine. They then came back for a second vote

on whether they should compete under neutral conditions and that was much more emphatic 90

to 56 in favour and it means that individual Russian athletes who haven't shown support for

the war in Ukraine they'll have to participate without wearing their national team gear. There

will be no anthems or flags. Teams are not allowed and there was a similar decision regarding Belarus.

And Alex this was the Paralympic committee's decision. What about the Paris Olympics?

Yeah it doesn't affect what will happen at the Paris Olympics. The IPC and the IOC that's the

International Olympic Committee they're very separate organisations but I do think today's

events give us a pretty strong indication of which way the wind is blowing here. The IOC have been

encouraging individual sports to welcome back athletes from Russia and Belarus all be uttered

under strict conditions of neutrality. Their president Thomas Bach keeps repeating his mantra

that sportsmen and women should not be punished for the actions of political

leaders but the decision as I said is not expected until next year although they are

meeting to discuss this in Mumbai at their annual meeting next month. I should say there's been

criticism of the decision by the IPC to include Russian and Belarusian athletes. Paralympics

GB said it was disappointed and global athletes which says it represents athletes from around the

world accused the IPC of lacking reason and principle and said that it was lending its support

to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. And Alex on an entirely different matter another controversial

difficult decision has been made with regard to whether or not hijabs or head coverings can

be worn at the games by some Muslim women. Well this follows a decision and announcement by

the French Sports Ministry that French athletes would not be allowed to wear headscarves or hijabs

which was in line with the country's regime of strict secularism. The IOC has responded by saying

as you say that they will be allowed certainly in the athletes village delegations athletes from

all countries will be allowed to wear a veil a hijab. As far as competition sporting competitions

are involved well that's a decision for the individual sports and that's based on safety

but French athletes will not be allowed to wear hijabs at the Olympics. Alex Capstick

An international trial has found that some men who undergo treatment for prostate cancer could

safely be given far less radiotherapy. The trials which were led by a team in London

found that by changing the timings of the treatment doses could be cut by three quarters.

Doctors say it's fantastic news for patients and could ease pressure on the National Health

Service here in Britain. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men around the world

with more than a million new diagnoses every year. More details from our medical editor

Fergus Walsh. Nearly 900 men in the UK, Ireland and Canada took part in the trial. All had medium

risk prostate cancer which had not spread. They got either five high doses of multiple beam

radiotherapy or at least 20 doses of standard radiotherapy. Both groups did really well with

around 95% of patients being cancer free after five years with few side effects. The results

will be released at a conference in the US. Alistair Kennedy Rose was in the five dose group.

It was almost as though I'd never had prostate cancer because I didn't have any symptoms to start

with and the treatment was so easy ultimately so very effective. The international trial was led

by Professor Nicholas Van Asse. When I got the results I was literally I was blown away. I mean

it was probably one of the best days in my career. I think it's fantastic news for patients.

He expects it could apply to 8,000 men a year in the UK who'll be able to have all their treatment

in a week with many fewer hospital visits. It should also mean fewer men receiving hormone

therapy which is used to help stop cancer from coming back but can cause extreme fatigue,

hot flushes and low libido. None of the men on the trial received any hormone therapy

and for nearly all their prostate cancer did not recur. Fergus Walsh. The sound of mucous

is how the actor Christopher Plummer is said to have derided the 1965 film that probably

made his name the sound of music. In it he starred as Captain Von Trapp leading his family across

the Alps fleeing the Nazis with Julie Andrews in tow. The film of the musical was an enormous hit

but not because of Mr Plummer's singing. His voice was swapped for a singer Bill Lee when the

film was released but now it's a case of so long farewell Bill Lee because a new release of the film

will have Christopher Plummer's voice put back in its rightful place. Mike Matacino is the man

performing the remix magic. Johnny Diamond asked him how it all came about. Cue the music.

He went into the project not really keen on doing a musical but he wanted to work on his singing

voice so that he could do them on Broadway which he eventually did so he pre-recorded the songs as

playbacks sang to his own voice during filming and took vocal lessons all through production.

He just felt when he heard them in agreement with the director and the associate producer

Saul Chaplin that it just wasn't quite working with his voice besides Julie Andrews and it should

be replaced and dubbed. So he agreed because I think some versions of the story have it that he was

really hacked off. No I have the memos to back that up so all of that was just hearsay or people

creating a drama where there wasn't any. And voice doubles were pretty common? It was common but it

was also a verboten subject and the people who did it had to remain anonymous until early 1964

where there was actually an expose about it and the center of that was Marnie Nixon who was probably

the most famous of the vocal doubles having done The King and I and West Side Story.

Then the whole thing just sort of gradually opened up a bit but it wasn't until many many years later

where they could really be publicly acknowledged or credited. So instead of Christopher Plummer

the version that everybody knows and so many people love was in fact sung by a completely

different voice it was by Bill Lee. It was Bill Lee who was very very known as a vocal double.

What did Bill Lee have that Christopher Plummer did not?

Just a polish and the ability to do the long sustained notes that Plummer wasn't up to matching.

So it was a matter of that polish and particularly in the sustained

notes and the timbre and just the overall quality and resonance of the voice.

In which case people will be wondering why now bring Christopher Plummer back?

Well only because this project was an attempt to really do the ultimate version of the sound of

music soundtrack as a complete treasury of everything that has survived and we're talking

about nearly 60 years so now fans can hear it and decide for themselves.

Christopher Plummer had a sort of fairly notorious relationship with the film what do you think about

it? Well when I first met him which was in 1993 and he sat down for the interview for the documentary

I did for the 30th anniversary he gave a beautiful interview and that marked a kind of turnaround

where he started looking at it in a different light. Some people think it's a very sentimental film but

I think it's sentimental in the proper way. It seemed light and fluffy at the time but once he

saw just how meaningful it was to people and the longevity that it had I mean I think he just came

to accept his role in it and that what they did was right.

The film historian Mike Mattesino ending that report on the remixed sound of music film.

And that's all from us for now but there will be a new edition of the Global News

podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it you can

send us an email. The address is globalpodcastatbbc.co.uk. This edition was mixed by Chris Lovelock,

the producer was Liam McCheffrey, the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Miles and until next time,

goodbye.

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.

US police say a former gang leader, Duane "Keffe D" Davis, planned the shooting in Las Vegas after his nephew was involved in a fight with Tupac Shakur in a casino. Also: state of emergency in New York over flash floods, and Christopher Plummer's singing voice is included in re-release of "The Sound of Music" soundtrack.