Notorious B.I. G. Was murdered in March of 1997, and the case has been essentially moribund ever since, begging the question, eh? Music superstar biggie Smalls, shot dead in Vegas with a list of potential suspects longer than the honor roll at Death Records, was apparently unsolvable. Until his estate won a ruling against the Las Vegas Police department, and a coupla years later, guess what? New leads appear.
Of all the things that speak loudly in Smith’s death, the loudest is the absolute refusal if anybody in the case to insist upon an accounting by the LAPD as to their actions. Sister, parents, step parents, those closest to him seem to want to run as far away as they can from an end of the story of his death.
Let’s say Smith killed himself. OK, he killed him. We can mourn the fragility of people and move on. Now let’s say he didn’t kill himself… now what? Do we under rug swept it, does it not matter? I bet Elliott Smith wishes Biggies parents had adopted him, perhaps we’d know what happened by now.
Alyson Sez:
CNN is reporting that the investigation into the unresolved death of Notorious B.I.G. was ‘reinvigorated’ a few months ago, as a result of new information about the case.
In 1997, Christopher Wallace was shot dead in his car while driving away from a Los Angeles party.
The theory is that he was involved in a rap war between East Coast (Bad Boy Entertainment founded by Sean “Diddy” Combs and Mark Pitts) and West Coast (Death Row Records founded in 1991 by Dr. Dre and Suge Knight) rap artists, the same war that killed Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas 6 months earlier.
Of course, the Los Angeles Police Department, the LA County District Attorney and the FBI did not elaborate on the kind of information they recently received.
However, Russell Poole, a retired LA Police Detective, talked to CNN and said he thought Knight was the one who orchestrated the murder:
‘Suge Knight ordered the hit’, and he added that he believes that the crime was arranged by Reggie Wright Jr., who was at the head of the security for Death Row Records.
Both men have denied any involvement in the murder of course, but Poole said he retired from the LAPD because of his frustration with the case, and the fact that some police officers were working off-duty for Death Row Records.
La City Councilman Bernard Parks, who was the chief of police when Poole was investigating, told CNN the accusations about a police cover-up are ‘absurd’.
I don’t know if this will lead anywhere, in one hand, this could give some hope for unsolved cases, but at the same time, when you hear about the possible LAPD’s corruption, it is depressing.