Diddy's Ex-Bodyguard Says Prosecutors Want Him To Testify In Tupac Trial

BY Gabriel Bras Nevares
Link Copied to Clipboard!
Diddy Ex Bodyguard Prosecutors Want Him Testify Tupac Trial
Sean "Diddy" Combs performs at the Bring It Home Midnight Rally held for Andrew Gillum at Florida A&M University's Lawson Center in Tallahassee, Fla. the night before the 2018 midterm election Monday, Nov. 5, 2018. Famu Gillum Rally 110518 Ts 004. Tori Schneider/Tallahassee Democrat/USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Prosecutors allegedly want Gene Deal's testimony in Keefe D' trial for the murder of Tupac Shakur, which Diddy has denied involvement in.

Duane "Keefe D" Davis is currently facing trial for the murder of Tupac Shakur, which he has pleaded not guilty to. However, amid both sides of the court's efforts to make their cases, there has been a lot of speculation about where things might go next. One of these claims is from Gene Deal, the former bodyguard of Diddy who recently spoke to The Art Of Dialogue in a new interview.

In it, he claimed he's facing pressure to testify in the Keefe D trial and speak on Diddy's alleged involvement in Tupac's murder. Furthermore, Deal alleged prosecutors want him to take the stand and speak on Eric "Von Zip" Martin being the alleged middleman between Keefe and Sean Combs.

"They want to put an association with Keefe D and Diddy," he alleged. "What they wanted Diddy at that time for is, Diddy would be the scapegoat of why there was such a thing called the East Coast and West Coast war. If he had Tupac killed, if he put up the money for Tupac to be killed, then it's easier for them to say the gangbangers and somebody associated with Death Row killed Biggie. So now, we got to keep this going. We got to use Keefe D and his association with Diddy.

Diddy's Tupac Allegations

"We got to keep their association going along with each other," Gene Deal continued. "So that's why he was saying that they wanted Diddy. [Biggie Smalls' mother] had that $400 million lawsuit against the LAPD. So they wanted to implicate Diddy in that whole stuff with Keefe D so they can get out of that whole situation of that lawsuit. They want me to show that Keefe D and Diddy had a relationship [and] establish what I know about Keefe D and Puff with each other, when they're around each other, gambling, laughing, drinking... The whole nine yards... The lawyers' job is to get up there and make his client as innocent as he possibly can... Keefe D wasn't never no crip. Keefe D stopped cripping when he was 17 years old."

Gene Deal has criticized Diddy's misconduct before. But these comments suggest he doesn't think Combs had anything to do with 'Pac's murder, and it seems like he has an issue with how this trial has been going so far. We will see how arguments on both sides continue to evolve.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.