Thug Life Army

One of two men whose bodies were found at a housing tract under construction in Las Vegas was identified Tuesday as a Kansas City, Mo., rap artist once charged with murder and listed by police as a person of interest in the killing of a hip-hop performer Mac Dre from the San Francisco Bay area.

The bodies of Anthony Watkins aka Fat Tone, 23, of Kansas City, Mo., and Jermaine Akins, 22, hometown unknown, were found early Monday by a security guard who noticed a car parked with its lights on in the tract's construction area.

One man was found inside the car. The other was lying on the ground just outside the vehicle.

Hip-hop rap artist Fat Tone died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Clark County Coroner's Office. A cause of death was pending for Akins.

Fat Tone (Anthony Watkins), was considered a person of interest in Andre Hicks'' death but was never called a suspect, Kansas City police told The Kansas City Star.

Hicks, who performed as Mac Dre, was killed in November in a drive-by shooting on U.S. 71. The 34-year-old rapper, who was in Kansas City for a series of concerts, was returning to his hotel.

After his death, a number of fans posted messages on hip-hop and rap Web sites calling for retaliation.

An unknown suspect fired through the vehicle on U.S. 71, a four-lane highway running through the middle of town. Though the driver crawled to safety, Mac Dre was thrown from the van and pronounced dead at the scene. Kansas City police reported that Dre died from a bullet wounds.

Hicks was the second California rap artist fatally shot in Kansas City last year. Ramone C. Davis 31, of San Diego, was killed March 22, 2004, by a man police said was trying to rob him of marijuana.

Watkins had been wounded in Kansas City in 2003 when a gunman opened fire on a vehicle carrying him and other performers from an interview at a radio station.

Watkins and another man had been charged with first-degree murder in November 2002 for the shooting deaths of a woman and her unborn child. Those charges were dropped months later after authorities said witnesses stopped cooperating with them.

Police officials are investigating.