LAPD Back on B.I.G. Beat

It's hip-hop's version of the JFK assassination.

Nine years after the Notorious B.I.G. was killed in a drive-by shooting--a murder without a named suspect, let alone a solution--the Los Angeles Police Department announced Monday the formation of a new task force that will probe the case anew for clues that might finally shed light on the death of one of the rap world's biggest stars.

LAPD Chief William J. Bratton launched the new investigation in the midst of an ongoing wrongful-death civil case brought by the relatives of Biggie, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, against the City of Angels.

Six senior homicide detectives have been assigned to the task force and will have their very own office, budget and computerized tracking system to enable them to better organize the nearly 72-volumes of evidence from the original investigation.

It's a tough task. The murder has stymied all comers so far--the FBI gave up on its probe last year--and no new evidence has surfaced in the long dormant case.

But Bratton believes a renewed probe could provide fresh leads that will help the department defend itself from accusations brought by the rapper's mom, Voletta Wallace, and widow, Faith Evans, that it botched the initial probe.

The LAPD also wants to dispel the family's contention that rogue police officers conspired to kill the hip-hop superstar as part of the ballyhooed East Coast-West Coast rap feud that also may have allegedly involved Bloods and Crips gang members.

Last July, the Wallace family's theory got a boost of sorts when U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper declared a mistrial in the case, blasting the LAPD for what appeared to be a conscious effort to withhold key evidence about a jailhouse informant who claimed to know about the participation of two corrupt cops in the Mar. 9, 1997 murder.

The revelation came to light after one of Wallace's attorneys received an anonymous phone call asserting that the department had been hiding key evidence. A subsequent search by internal affairs turned up the "misplaced documents" in the possession of Detective Steven Katz, who said he simply forgot to hand them over to Wallace attorneys, a statement that Cooper ridiculed before ordering the city to pony up $1.1 million to Biggie's family as a penalty and to cover legal fees and other expenses.

The resulting mess prompted Bratton to remove Katz from the case and assign the new task force, which has its work cut out for it.

The new probe will focus specifically on confirming or dismssing the following, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported on the new task force:

That former LAPD officer David A. Mack conspired with a college friend, Amir Muhammad, to carry out a hit on Biggie on behalf of Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight in retaliation for the shooting death of Death Row's number one rapper and Wallace's outspoken rival, Tupac Shakur in November 1996.

That Biggie had offered $1 million to members of the Crips gang to kill Shakur after their rivalry escalated from trash-talking to violent assaults between their various crews. Once the Crips purportedly killed Tupac, as the theory goes, Biggie stiffed them, paying only $50,000, so they took him out, too.

That according to another police snitch, one of Knight's associates paid $25,000 to a member of the Bloods to murder Wallace at the behest of the rap mogul, who was in prison at the time on a probation violation.

The task force also plans to examine some video footage that three Texas tourists took of guests exiting the Petersen Automotive Museum following an after-party for the Soul Train Music Awards. Moments after he left the affair, Biggie was gunned down. It's hoped that analysis of the video could lead to new breaks in the case.

In the meantime, Cooper has set a retrial start date for Oct. 16 and warned both sides in the contentious case to keep the flow of information open or else face further sanctions.