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LAPD
detective Russell
Poole was assigned
to the case,
and his tireless
investigation
led him to believe
that the man
in the bow tie
who fired the
shots was Amir
Muhammad, a.k.a.
Harry Billups,
a southern California
mortgage broker
and close friend
of former LAPD
police officer
David Mack,
who witnesses
also put at
the scene of
the crime. Mack
might have been
the "fan"
who had enticed
Biggie to roll
down his window.
Detective Poole
discovered that
as well as being
a police officer,
Mack was a member
of the Mob Piru
Bloods and had
a close association
with Death Row
founder Suge
Knight. Poole
learned that
Mack was one
of many LAPD
officers who
were also gang
members. When
police obtained
a warrant to
search Mack's
home, they found
a "shrine"
to Tupac Shakur.
But by the time
investigators
caught up with
Mack, he was
serving a 14-year
prison term
for bank robbery,
and he refused
to cooperate.
Police efforts
to find Amir
Muhammad were
unsuccessful.
He had simply
vanished. |
| Above:
Composite of
suspect in B.I.G.
shooting |
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Notorious
B.I.G.'s body
was flown back
to New York
where he was
given a grand
funeral in his
native Brooklyn.
To this day
his mother,
Voletta Wallace,
demands to know
who killed her
son, but the
case remains
unsolved. Was
his murder payback
for the killing
of Tupac Shakur?
Or, as Detective
Poole came to
suspect, were
the motives
for both murders
more insidious
than that?
In 1999, Detective
Russell Poole
resigned from
the LAPD in
anger and frustration
over what he
perceived to
be the city's
deliberate unwillingness
to let him get
to the bottom
of the Notorious
B.I.G. murder.
The shooter,
Amir Muhammad,
was connected
to Mob Piru
cop David Mack
who was connected
to Suge Knight.
The evidence
Poole had collected
increasingly
pointed the
finger at the
Death Row founder.
But Knight had
friends in high
places. |
| Above:
Officer David
Mack |
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According
to Randall Sullivan
in LAbyrinth,
Knight had a
guardian angel
in LA County
Deputy District
Attorney Lawrence
Longo. When
Knight was facing
sentencing for
the brutal beating
of record promoter
Mark Bell, Longo
"recommended
a nine-year
suspended sentence,
with five years
of probation"
even though
ten months earlier
Knight had pleaded
guilty to felony
assault. (In
Have Gun Will
Travel, Ronin
Ro reports that
in July of 1992
Knight had "pistol-whipped"
George and Lynwood
Stanley, a rap
duo, then forced
them to strip
naked and robbed
them because
they had dared
to use a pay
phone at the
Death Row offices
when Knight
was expecting
a call.) Knight
served a one-month
sentence at
a halfway house
as a result
of the Bell
assault. A few
months later,
Deputy DA Longo's
daughter became
Death Row Records'
first white
recording artist,
and Suge Knight
moved into Longo's
Malibu Colony
home, renting
it for $19,000
a month. |
| Above:
Amir Muhammad |
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But if Knight in
fact was the man who
ordered Notorious
B.I.G.'s murder, what
was Knight's motive?
Some have speculated
that it was simply
payback for Tupac
Shakur's murder. Knight
had lost the best-selling
rapper in the Death
Row stable, so he
wanted Puffy Combs
and Bad Boy Entertainment
to suffer an equal
loss -- an eye for
an eye.
Others believe that
the Crips were responsible
for both murders.
One theory holds that
Notorious B.I.G. had
agreed to pay the
Crips for killing
Shakur, then changed
his mind and reneged.
His punishment for
stiffing the Crips
was a death sentence.
Another theory claims
that Bad Boy Entertainment
had asked Crip members
to work as bodyguards
while they were in
L.A. for the Soul
Train Music Awards,
but the gang's price
was more than Puffy
Combs had wanted to
pay, so he hired off-duty
Inglewood cops instead.
Killing Biggie was
the Crips' response
to getting their walking
papers. |
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