A new group of detectives
from the Los Angeles Police Department’s robbery-homicide division have been assigned
to investigate the murder of the late Notorious B.I.G.
When questioned
how the city lost a costly lawsuit alleging LAPD involvement in the case, assistant
city attorney Don Vincent told (LA) City Council public safety members Thursday
(March 16) that the new group would take over the case.
Despite the formation
of a new team, Vincent added that there was no evidence that police played any
role in the slaying.
"They are
investigating it, following up on the leads," he said.
The new investigation
is the latest development in the continuing saga of B.I.G.’s unsolved murder.
The rapper, born Christopher Wallace, was killed March 9, 1997 after a record
industry party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
In the years following,
Biggie’s mother, Volleta Wallace, his sister and his widow, singer Faith Evans,
filed a suit alleging that LAPD Officer David A. Mack orchestrated Wallace’s
killing on behalf of Death Row Records chief Marion "Suge" Knight,
and that department brass covered it up.
Last summer, authorities
discovered previously undisclosed statements from an informant who said another
LAPD officer, Rafael Perez, had confessed to participating with Mack in the
killing.
Despite claims
by city lawyers that the statement was unreliable, the transcript of it had
been misplaced inadvertently, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled the evidence
was concealed deliberately, declared a mistrial and later ordered the city to
pay a $1.1-million sanction to the Wallace family.
The transcript,
which was found in LAPD detective Steven Katz’s desk, revealed that an informant
in prison with Perez told the LAPD in 2000 and 2001 that Perez acknowledged
working for Death Row Records on the night of the murder and that he placed
a call to Mack shortly before Biggie was gunned down.
Various allegations
poured in concerning the case, including one that former LAPD Police Chief Bernard
Parks may have had a personal interest in covering up the murder and the police
corruption. Parks has denied any involvement or any notion of a cover up.
Sloppy detective
work was the reason for the city’s loss, according to councilman Dennis Zine,
who added that the sanction was "a tremendous amount of money and it’s
not over yet." "I’ve got some real serious questions about how this
goes down, and what the Police Department has done," he said.
A retrial for
the case is expected later this year.
