News of July 14, 2010
John Potash and His Theory of the "FBI War on Tupac"
In 2010, author John Potash claimed in a self-published book that Tupac's death was directed by the government. He provided no verifiable evidence.
Six publishers had rejected it, so John Potash published his book himself. The FBI War on Tupac Shakur and Black Leaders was released through his own small publishing house, Progressive Left Press. In July 2010, AllHipHop founder Grouchy Greg Watkins spoke with the 44-year-old author from Baltimore County.
What Potash Claims
Potash considered Tupac to be the most influential Black American of his time and saw that as the reason for the attacks against him. He spoke of five state-sponsored attempts to kill Tupac and claimed the government had directed his death. Death Row Records was allegedly an intelligence front company against Black activism; in this, he cited former police officer Russell Poole. He saw similar patterns in other cases in hip-hop history and pointed to methods akin to the former FBI program COINTELPRO.
Context
The conversation contained no evidence that would withstand scrutiny. Watkins himself wrote that Potash’s material was as difficult to disprove as it was to prove. According to Potash, Afeni Shakur had not commented publicly on the book. In 2026, former gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis was found guilty by the jury in Las Vegas; the verdict is not final, an appeal has been announced. The Theories page shows what theories existed and what remains of them.