A
new task force of senior homicide detectives has been created to investigate the
still-unsolved murder of the late Notorious B.I.G.If
new evidence is found, it could strengthen the Los Angeles Police Department’s
claim that its officers had nothing to do with the rap icon’s death, the LA
Times reports.The
launching of the task force comes nine years after B.I.G. was gunned down after
leaving a music industry party at the Peterson Automotive Museum. The
case has generated a host of theories speculating how the rapper (born Christopher
Wallace) and former friend and rival MC Tupac Shakur were killed. No
one has been charged in either slaying.The
LA Times reports that theories being looked at include the possibility
of B.I.G. being killed by a member of the Southside Crips gang as part of a bicoastal
feud linked to Shakur’s death, according to law enforcement sources, who are also
investigating allegations that rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight paid a
Bloods gang member $25,000 to carry out the murder. Knight
was the head of Shakur’s label Death Row Records.Crips
gang members told the LA Times that B.I.G. promised $1 million to the Crips
for killing Shakur. The members further stated that the lyricist and his associates
paid the Crips only $50,000 and stiffed them for the balance. So
the Crips killed him too, the gang members said.A
few months following B.I.G.’s death, police seized a black Chevy Impala from the
backyard of a house in Compton linked to Dwayne Keith "Keefee D" Davis,
a Southside Crips shot-caller.Records
indicate that Davis, who was with a group of Crips in Las Vegas the night Shakur
was slain, was also at the Petersen museum the night B.I.G. died.Although
he was questioned on both cases, authorities did not arrest Davis, who was later
convicted in federal court of drug dealing and sentenced to five years in prison.In
addition to the theories, authorities are checking a home video taken by three
Texas tourists moments before B.I.G. was killed. The trio filmed many of the attendees
at the March 9. 1997 party until about one minute before the ambush.Most
recently, the six-member task force began meeting with gang experts as well as
contacting informants and interviewing witnesses from Compton to Brooklyn. The
group also reinstated a $50,000 reward for anyone with information leading to
a conviction.The
trail of the case led detectives to Houston in June as they interviewed witnesses
and followed up on leads about potential suspects, including rap label head Tony
Draper. Draper,
who headed up Suave House Records, was the owner of a blue 1996 Bentley that is
seen on the tourist video near the crime scene the night of the shooting. Although
he admitted to being at the Petersen party, Draper denied having anything to do
with the crime.LAPD
Chief William J. Bratton and other officials refused to discuss the case, citing
sensitivity to the pending Wallace family lawsuit. Nevertheless, LA City Councilman
Jack Weiss voiced his support of the department’s new efforts."It’s
very good that Bratton has brought renewed focus to this case," Weiss told
the Times. "Hopefully it will lead to identification of the actual
killer or killers. At a minimum, it should provide some definitive reasons to
rule out the more outlandish theories that have evolved over the years."The
months following the murder have been tumultuous for B.I.G.’s family, who are
in the middle of an ongoing wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles.
The suit claims that LAPD officers were connected to the shooting.A
new trial was set for early next year after a mistrial was declared in July 2005,
when U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper discovered documents that implied
LAPD involvement by a police informant were deliberately hidden by a detective.Amir
Muhammad, one of the men named in the suit, was arrested Wednesday (July 26) by
Department of Motor Vehicle investigators on unrelated perjury charges connected
to his possession of four false identifications. He was released on $50,000 bail.He,
along with former LAPD officer David Mack and Knight, has denied taking part in
the killing.
