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Legal Top Stories
LAPD reportedly steps up Notorious BIG murder investigation again
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 10 January 2011
LA police are again proactively investigating the 1997 murder of rapper Notorious BIG, according to CNN. The news channel says that investigations have been stepped up after new information surfaced late last year that has “reinvigorated” the case. The LAPD is yet to formally comment.
The murders of Biggie in 1997 and his rap rival Tupac Shakur the previous year remain unsolved, although various conspiracy theories have circulated in the media, online and in hip hop circles ever since. The most convincing of the conspiracy theories being that the LAPD deliberately bungled the initial investigation into the death of Biggie, real name Christopher Wallace, because of evidence that some of its own officers, or ex-officers, were somehow involved.
The Wallace family were involved in years of legal wrangling with the city of LA over those allegations. In 2005, a court case on the issue ended in mistrial after it was discovered that the LAPD had, if nothing else, accidentally (it said) withheld a drawer full of important evidence from the Wallace family’s lawyers. The dispute rumbled on until last year when a third lawsuit relating to the allegedly bungled investigation was dismissed after an out of court agreement between LA authorities and the Wallace family.
A new investigation into Biggie’s murder was actually instigated in 2006, and a spokesman last year said that the Wallace family had agreed to put their legal action against the city of LA on hold mainly because of fears it was hindering that investigation. Quite how much the LAPD has now stepped up its efforts to solve this case based on the mysterious new evidence cited by CNN isn’t clear.
