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Murder of the Notorious B.I.G. | |
---|---|
Location | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Date | March 9, 1997; 22 years ago 12:47 a.m. PST (UTC−08:00) |
Target | Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. 'The Notorious B.I.G.' |
Attack type | Drive-by shooting, assassination |
Weapons | Blue-steel 9x19mmpistol (exact model and make unknown) |
Deaths | 1 (Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. 'The Notorious B.I.G.') |
Perpetrator | Wardell “Poochie” Fouse (alleged) |
Motive | Unknown |
The murder of Christopher Wallace, better known by his stage names 'the Notorious B.I.G.' and 'Biggie Smalls', occurred in the early hours of March 9, 1997. The hip hop artist was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, California, one of which was fatal. Despite numerous witnesses and enormous media attention and speculation, no one was ever formally charged for the murder of Wallace. The case remains officially unsolved, as police have searched for years for more details without success.
In 2006, Wallace's mother, Voletta Wallace; his widow, Faith Evans and his children, T'yanna Jackson and Christopher Jordan Wallace (CJ) filed a $400 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department alleging that corrupt LAPD officers were responsible for Wallace's murder. Retired LAPD Officer Greg Kading alleged that Marion 'Suge' Knight, the head of Death Row Records, hired fellow Blood gang member Wardell 'Poochie' Fouse to murder Wallace and paid Poochie $13,000. He also alleged that Theresa Swan, the mother of Knight's child, was also involved in the murder, and was paid $25,000 to set up meetings both before and after the shooting took place. In 2003, Poochie himself was murdered in a drive-by by rival gang members.
- 4Lawsuits
Prior events[edit]
Christopher Wallace traveled to Los Angeles, California in February 1997 to promote his upcoming second studio album, Life After Death, and to film a music video for its lead single, 'Hypnotize'. On March 5, he gave a radio interview with The Dog House on San Francisco's KYLD, in which he stated that he had hired security because he feared for his safety. Wallace cited not only the ongoing East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud and the murder of Tupac Shakur six months prior, and his role as a high-profile celebrity in general, as his reasons for the decision.[1]Life After Death was scheduled for release on March 25, 1997.
On March 7, Wallace presented an award to Toni Braxton at the 1997 Soul Train Music Awards in Los Angeles and was booed by some of the audience.[2] The following evening, March 8, he attended an after-party hosted by Vibe magazine and Qwest Records at the Petersen Automotive Museum in West Los Angeles.[2] Other guests included Faith Evans, Aaliyah, Sean Combs, and members of the Bloods and Crips gangs.[3]
Shooting[edit]
On March 9, 1997, at 12:30 a.m. (PST), Wallace left with his entourage in two GMC Suburbans to return to his hotel after the Los Angeles Fire Department closed the party early because of overcrowding.[4] Wallace traveled in the front passenger seat alongside his associates Damion 'D-Roc' Butler, Junior M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Cease, and driver Gregory 'G-Money' Young. Combs traveled in the other vehicle with three bodyguards. The two SUVs were trailed by a Chevrolet Blazer carrying Bad Boy Records' director of security.[3]
By 12:45 a.m. (PST), the streets were crowded with people leaving the event. Wallace's SUV stopped at a red light on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and South Fairfax Avenue[5] just 50 yards (46 m) from the museum. A dark-colored Chevrolet Impala SS pulled up alongside Wallace's SUV. The driver of the Impala, a black male, rolled down his window, drew a 9 mm blue-steel pistol and fired at the Suburban; four bullets hit Wallace.[3] Wallace's entourage rushed him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors performed an emergency thoracotomy, but he was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m. (PST). He was 24 years old.
His autopsy was released to the public in December 2012, fifteen years after his death. According to the report, three of the four shots were not fatal. The first bullet hit his left forearm and traveled down to his wrist; the second hit him in the back, missing all vital organs, and exited through his left shoulder; and the third hit his left thigh and exited through his inner thigh. The report said that the third bullet struck 'the left side of the scrotum, causing a very shallow, 3⁄8 inch [10 mm] linear laceration.' The fourth bullet was fatal, entering through his right hip and striking several vital organs, including his colon, liver, heart, and the upper lobe of his left lung, before stopping in his left shoulder area.[6]
Wallace's death was mourned by fellow hip hop artists and fans worldwide. Rapper Nas felt at the time of Wallace's death that his passing, along with that of Tupac Shakur, 'was nearly the end of rap.'[7]
Investigation[edit]
Immediately following the shooting, reports surfaced linking Wallace's murder with that of Shakur six months earlier, due to similarities in the drive-by shootings and the highly publicized East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud, of which Shakur and Wallace had been central figures.[8] Media reports had previously speculated that Wallace was in some way connected to Shakur's murder, though no evidence ever surfaced to seriously implicate him. Shortly after Wallace's death, Los Angeles Times writers Chuck Philips and Matt Lait reported that the key suspect in his murder was a member of the Southside Crips acting in service of a personal financial motive, rather than on the gang's behalf.[9] The investigation stalled, however, and no one was ever formally charged.
In a 2002 book by Randall Sullivan, called LAbyrinth, information was compiled about the murders of Wallace and Shakur based on information provided by retired LAPD detective Russell Poole.[3][10] In the book, Sullivan accused Suge Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records and a known Bloods affiliate, of conspiring with corrupt LAPD officer David Mack to kill Wallace and make both deaths appear to be the result of the rap rivalry.[11][12] The book stated that one of Mack's alleged associates, Amir Muhammad, was the hitman who killed Wallace. The theory was based on evidence provided by an informant[13] and the general resemblance of Muhammad to the facial composite generated during the investigation.[11][12] In 2002, filmmaker Nick Broomfield released a documentary, Biggie & Tupac, based on information from the book.[10]The New York Times described Broomfield's low-budget documentary as a 'largely speculative' and 'circumstantial' account relying on flimsy evidence, failing to 'present counter-evidence' or 'question sources.'[14] Moreover, the motive suggested for the murder of Wallace in the documentary—to decrease suspicion for the Shakur shooting six months earlier—was, as The New York Times put it, 'unsupported in the film.'[14]
An article published in Rolling Stone by Sullivan in December 2005 accused the LAPD of not fully investigating links with Death Row Records based on Poole's evidence. Sullivan claimed that Combs 'failed to fully cooperate with the investigation', and according to Poole, encouraged Bad Boy staff to do the same.[3] The accuracy of the article was later challenged in a letter by the Assistant Managing Editor of the Los Angeles Times, who accused Sullivan of using 'shoddy tactics.' Sullivan, in response, quoted the lead attorney of the Wallace estate calling the newspaper 'a co-conspirator in the cover-up.'[15] In alluding to Sullivan and Poole's theory that formed the basis of the Wallace family's dismissed $500 million lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, The New York Times wrote: 'A cottage industry of criminal speculation has sprung up around the case, with documentaries, books and a stream of lurid magazine articles implicating gangs, crooked cops and a cross-country rap rivalry,'[16] noting that everything associated with Wallace's death had been 'big business.' More recently, the film City of Lies was produced based on Poole's investigation and Sullivan's book: LAbyrinth, and casts Johnny Depp as Poole. The film has yet to be released.[17]
In examining Sullivan's assertion that the Los Angeles Times was involved in a cover-up conspiracy with the LAPD, it is instructive to note that conflicting theories of the murder were offered in different sections of the Times. The Metro section of the Times wrote that police suspected a connection between Wallace's death and the Rampart police corruption scandal, consistent with Sullivan and Poole's theory.[18] The Metro section also ran a photo of Muhammad, identified by police as a mortgage broker unconnected to the murder who appeared to match details of the shooter, and the paper printed his name and driver's license. But Chuck Philips, a staff writer for the Business section of the Times who had been following the investigation and had not heard of the Rampart–Muhammad theory, searched for Muhammad, whom the Metro reporters could not find for comment. It took Philips only three days to find Muhammad, who had a current ad for his brokerage business running in the Times. Muhammad, who was not an official suspect at the time, came forward to clear his name. The Metro section of the paper was opposed to running a retraction, but the business desk editor, Mark Saylor,[19] said, 'Chuck is sort of the world's authority on rap violence' and pushed, along with Philips, for the Times to retract the article.[18]
The May 2000 Los Angeles Times correction article was written by Philips, who quoted Muhammad as saying, 'I'm a mortgage broker, not a murderer' and asking, 'How can something so completely false end up on the front page of a major newspaper?'[20] The story cleared Muhammad's name.[18][21] A later 2005 story by Philips showed that the main informant for the Poole-Sullivan theory was a schizophrenic with admitted memory lapses known as 'Psycho Mike' who confessed to hearsay.[22] John Cook of Brill's Content noted that Philips' article 'demolished'[21] the Poole-Sullivan theory of Wallace's murder.
In the 2000 book The Murder of Biggie Smalls, investigative journalist and author Cathy Scott suggested that Wallace and Shakur's murders might have been the result of the East Coast–West Coast feud and motivated by financial gain for the record companies, because the rappers were worth more dead than alive.[23]
The criminal investigation into Wallace's murder was re-opened in July 2006 to look for new evidence to help the city defend the civil lawsuits brought by the Wallace family.[24][25] Retired LAPD detective Greg Kading, who worked for three years on a gang task force that included the Wallace case, alleges that the rapper was shot by Wardell 'Poochie' Fouse, an associate of Knight, who died on July 24, 2003, after being shot in the back while riding his motorcycle in Compton. Kading believes Knight hired Poochie via his girlfriend, 'Theresa Swann,' to kill Wallace to avenge the death of Shakur,[26] who, Kading alleges, was killed under the orders of Combs.[27]
In December 2012, the LAPD released the autopsy results conducted on Wallace's body to generate new leads. The release was criticized by the long-time lawyer of his estate, Perry Sanders Jr., who objected to an autopsy.[28] The case remains officially unsolved.
Lawsuits[edit]
Biggie Smalls Dead Body Autopsy
Wrongful death claim[edit]
In March 2006, Wallace's mother Voletta filed a wrongful death claim against the City of Los Angeles based on the evidence championed by Poole.[12] They claimed the LAPD had sufficient evidence to arrest the assailant, but failed to use it. David Mack and Amir Muhammad (a.k.a. Harry Billups) were originally named as defendants in the civil suit, but were dropped shortly before the trial began after the LAPD and FBI dismissed them as suspects.[12]
The case came for trial before a jury on June 21, 2005. On the eve of the trial, a key witness who was expected to testify, Kevin Hackie, revealed that he suffered memory lapses due to psychiatric medications. He had previously testified to knowledge of involvement between Knight, Mack, and Muhammed, but later said that the Wallace attorneys had altered his declarations to include words he never said. Hackie took full blame for filing a false declaration.[13]
Several days into the trial, the plaintiffs' attorney disclosed to the Court and opposing counsel that he had received a telephone call from someone claiming to be an LAPD officer and provided detailed information about the existence of evidence concerning the Wallace murder. The court directed the city to conduct a thorough investigation, which uncovered previously undisclosed evidence, much of which was in the desk or cabinet of Det. Steven Katz, the lead detective in the Wallace investigation. The documents centered around interviews by numerous police officers of an incarcerated informant, who had been a cellmate of imprisoned Rampart officer Rafael Perez for some extended period of time. He reported that Perez had told him about his and Mack's involvement with Death Row Records and their activities at the Peterson Automotive Museum the night of Wallace's murder. As a result of the newly discovered evidence, the judge declared a mistrial and awarded the Wallace family its attorneys' fees.[29]
On April 16, 2007, relatives of Wallace filed a second wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles. The suit also named two LAPD officers in the center of the investigation into the Rampart scandal, Perez and Nino Durden. According to the claim, Perez, an alleged affiliate of Death Row Records, admitted to LAPD officials that he and Mack (who was not named in the lawsuit) 'conspired to murder, and participated in the murder of Christopher Wallace'. The Wallace family said the LAPD 'consciously concealed Rafael Perez's involvement in the murder of .. Wallace'.[30]
United States District JudgeFlorence-Marie Cooper granted summary judgment to the city on December 17, 2007, finding that the Wallace family had not complied with a California law that required the family to give notice of its claim to the State within six months of Wallace's death.[31] The Wallace family refiled the suit, dropping the state law claims on May 27, 2008.[32] Origin dragon age inquisition. The suit against the City of Los Angeles was finally dismissed in 2010. It was described by The New York Times as 'one of the longest running and most contentious celebrity cases in history.'[16] The Wallace suit had asked for $500 million from the city.[16]
Defamation[edit]
On January 19, 2007, Tyruss 'Big Syke' Himes, a friend of Shakur who was implicated in Wallace's murder by the Los Angeles Fox affiliate KTTV and XXL magazine in 2005, had a defamation lawsuit regarding the accusations thrown out of court.[33]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Biggie Told Interviewer He Worried About Safety'. MTV News. March 12, 1997. Retrieved May 6, 2008.
- ^ abBruno, Anthony The Murders of gangsta rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.Archived 2007-04-07 at the Wayback MachineCourt TV Crime Library. Retrieved January 24, 2007.
- ^ abcdeSullivan, Randall (December 5, 2005). 'The Unsolved Mystery of the Notorious B.I.G.' Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 29, 2009. Retrieved October 7, 2006.
- ^Purdum, Todd S. (March 10, 1997). 'Rapper Is Shot to Death in Echo of Killing 6 Months Ago'. The New York Times. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
- ^nevereatshreddedwheat # (March 9, 1997). 'where biggie smalls was shot and killed in los angeles : the notorious b.i.g. | music at popturf'. Popturf.com. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
- ^Horowitz, Steven J. (December 7, 2012). 'Notorious B.I.G. Autopsy Report Released'. HipHop DX. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
- ^Smith, Alex M. (August 18, 2014). 'Nas Interview: Tupac, B.I.G. Deaths Were Nearly 'The End Of Rap''. Music Times.
- ^Cathy Scott. 'Rap slaying similar to Shakur's'. Las Vegas Sun. March 10, 1997.
- ^Philips Laitt, Chuck Matt (March 18, 1997). 'Personal Dispute Is Focus of Rap Probe'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
- ^ abFuchs, Cynthia (September 6, 2002). 'Biggie and Tupac review' PopMatters. Retrieved January 2, 2007.
- ^ abSerpick, Evan (April 12, 2002). 'Review: Rappers' deaths probed in 'LAbyrinth'Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 2, 2007.
- ^ abcdPhilips, Chuck 'Slain rapper's family keeps pushing suit'Los Angeles Times, February 7, 2007. Retrieved April 14, 2007.
- ^ abPhilips, Chuck (June 20, 2005). 'Witness in B.I.G. case says his memory's bad'. LA Times. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
- ^ abLeland, John (October 7, 2002). 'New Theories Stir Speculation On Rap Deaths'. New York Times. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
- ^Duvoisin, Marc; Sullivan, Randall (January 12, 2006). 'L.A. Times Responds to Biggie Story'. Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 17, 2007. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
- ^ abcSISARIO, Ben (April 19, 2010). 'Wrongful-Death Lawsuit Over Rapper Is Dismissed'. New York Times. Retrieved September 17, 2013.
- ^Lopez, Ricardo; Lopez, Ricardo (2018-08-07). 'Johnny Depp's Notorious B.I.G. Film 'City of Lies' Pulled From Release Schedule'. Variety. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
- ^ abcCook, John (May 23–26, 2000). 'Notorious LAT'. Brills Content. Archived from the original on 2012-08-09. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
- ^Trounson, Rebecca (February 22, 2012). 'Mark Saylor dies at 58; former Times editor oversaw Pulitzer-winning series'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
- ^Philips, Chuck (May 3, 2000). 'Man No Longer Under Scrutiny in Rapper's Death'. Los Angeles Times.
- ^ abCook, John. 'Notorious LAT'. Reference tone. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
- ^Philips, Chuck (June 3, 2005). 'Informant in Rap Star's Slaying Admits Hearsay'. LA Times. Retrieved September 15, 2013.
- ^Bruno, Anthony. 'Hip-Hop Homicide — 'Worth More Dead Than Alive' — Crime Library on'. Trutv.com. Archived from the original on 2013-11-10. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
- ^Philips, Chuck (July 31, 2006). 'LAPD Renews Search for Rapper's Killer'. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 21, 2006. Retrieved January 20, 2007.
- ^'LAPD launching new Notorious BIG task force'. Associated Press. August 3, 2006. Retrieved September 29, 2006.
- ^Kenner, Rob (March 9, 2012). 'Interview: Former L.A.P.D. Detective Says He Knows Who Killed The Notorious B.I.G.' Complex.com. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
- ^Quinn, Rob (October 4, 2011). 'Sean Combs Ordered Tupac Murder: LA Cop:And Suge Knight had Biggie Smalls killed in revenge, says book by former LAPD detective'. Newser. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
- ^Wolfe, Roman (December 8, 2012). 'Lawyer For Notorious B.I.G. Blasts LAPD Over Autopsy Report'. AllHipHop. Retrieved December 9, 2012.
- ^Estate of Wallace v. City of Los Angeles, 229 F.R.D. 163 (C.D. Cal. 2005);Reid, Shaheem (July 5, 2005). 'Notorious B.I.G. Wrongful-Death Case Declared A Mistrial'. MTV News. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
- ^Finn, Natalie (April 18, 2007). 'An Extra B.I.G. Suit'. E! Online. Retrieved August 2, 2007.
- ^Estate of Christopher G.L. Wallace v. City of Los Angeles, et al., 2:07-cv-02956-FMC-RZx, slip op. at 15 (C.D. Cal. December 17, 2007) (Cooper, J.).
- ^Complaint, Estate of Christopher G.L. Wallace v. City of Los Angeles, et al., 2:07-cv-02956-FMC-RZx (C.D. Cal. May 27, 2008).
- ^'Lawsuit involving rapper death dismissed'. Yahoo!. Associated Press. January 20, 2007. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
Coordinates: 34°03′46″N118°21′41″W / 34.06278°N 118.36145°W
It’s been more than 20 years since Biggie and Tupac were murdered in drive-by shootings, but the slain rap rivals still take up more headlines than most living artists. There’s currently a 10-part drama series called “Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.” airing on USA, BET has launched a six-part documentary looking at the rise and fall of Death Row Records, and conspiracy theories devoted to Tupac chilling on an island in Cuba or Biggie having Nostradamus-like knowledge of 9/11 continue to dominate Twitter searches and tabloid pages alike.
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Whether you believe the pair’s continued relevance is due to the timelessness of their music or evidence of our collective lust for all things morbid, the reality is millions of people are not quite ready to let Biggie and Tupac go. This is something 64-year-old Gary Zimet, the founder of Moments In Time, a seller of “original historical materials,” banks on. He is currently selling the GMC Suburban SUV in which Biggie was shot to death, 21 years ago tomorrow (March 9, 1997), for a cool $750,000. He’s also looking for a buyer for the BMW 7 Series in which Tupac was fatally wounded on September 7, 1996, for a bargain $1.5 million.
Biggie Death Pictures
The vehicles are just two curios in Zimet’s large collection of bizarre and unbelievably morbid memorabilia. He’s also selling the only copy of the real Schindler’s List (acquired from the family of Itzhak Stern), the hearse that carried Dr. Martin Luther King’s body, and the copy of Double Fantasy that John Lennon unknowingly signed for his murderer Mark David Chapman just hours before his death. Depending on your perspective, Zimet is either someone interested in preserving history or a purveyor of spectacularly bad taste.
Pitchfork caught up with Zimet to ask how he came in possession of the Biggie and Tupac cars, who’s interested in buying them, and whether selling them is morally wrong.
Pitchfork: How does one come into contact with the car Biggie Smalls was murdered in?
Gary Zimet: Weirdly enough, a family purchased the SUV purely by chance and had no idea of its importance until several years later when they got a postcard from a detective in L.A. saying he needed the car returned for evidence. They had to give it up momentarily but later got it back.
Now, in the case of the Tupac murder car, it’s been fully restored and, unfortunately, all the bullet holes were done over and you can hardly tell it was a car used in a murder. However, with the Biggie car, although the doors were replaced [the LAPD cut off the original doors for evidence], there is a bullet hole still visible in the seatbelt!
And you actually believe this is an item that will sell?
I acquired the Biggie car roughly a year ago, maybe a bit longer, and I am selling it on behalf of the family that owns the vehicle, who asked me to get involved as they could see I was already selling the Tupac car. The family has lowered their asking price from $1 million to $750,000 and although I’ve had interest, it’s not yet been sufficient enough to sell.
I know museums would love to have it, as they are currently building a hip-hop museum in New York City. Unfortunately, museums are perpetually broke. But look, eventually it will sell, no question. It’s just about finding the right buyer.
Shouldn’t these items be in police evidence somewhere? Why were you even able to track them down?
In the case of the BMW, it was originally a car leased by Death Row Records and the family that acquired it were sold it by a car dealer. The reality is, both of these cars were quickly sold on after the murders.
Now, the police know who murdered Tupac; it was a Southside Crip called Orlando Anderson, who is now dead. Therefore, holding on to the car makes little sense since this case is basically closed. Biggie’s killer is a lot more obtuse. My understanding is that because the L.A. police are almost certainly involved in Biggie’s killing, the case will never be officially solved.
What kind of buyer do these items attract?
I’ve had the Tupac car close to a year and a half now [without finding a buyer], but I’ve had really serious interest for it from a high-profile athlete based in Europe. You also get a lot of car collectors too and even hip-hop artists calling in [about the cars]. The interest I’ve had from rappers is maybe because they want to reclaim something from the past, I couldn’t tell you.
How did you get involved in this line of work?
Frankly, it was the only way to make a living. I founded the business in 1979 and I first got the buzz after correspondence with Norman Rockwell [about acquiring some of his items]. The first major piece I recall selling was a handwritten letter from Jimmy Carter to his brother Billy, warning him not to go to Libya. It was signed “I love you, Jimmy,” and I believe it sold for $28K. I guess I enjoy the hunt.
Some would argue that selling this kind of memorabilia is disrespectful—that Tupac and Biggie were only kids when they were murdered, and that selling the cars they were murdered in isn’t appropriate. How do you respond to that kind of criticism?
Both these cars are of historical significance. You really have to look at this from a historical angle. If the car JFK got killed in ever went up for sale—and, unfortunately, it never will—it would bring in a minimum of $25 million.
I guess what I am asking is, what drives people’s need to own a car that still has bullet holes from a murder?
The fact these were cars that someone died in appeals to people. There is a curiosity there. Is it slightly morbid? Absolutely! Am I exploiting the families [of Biggie and Tupac]? Absolutely… not! How would I be exploiting them? Some would make that argument, but it isn’t how I feel. These are pieces of American history—just like the copy of the 13th Amendment I sold, which was signed by Lincoln, is a piece of American history.
Okay, pretend for a second I am someone with $2.25 million to spare. What would your pitch be to get me to buy both of these vehicles?
Historical memorabilia will always have a huge market, and Biggie and Tupac have been eulogized in death, as millions of people dream of going back to that era. This means that these cars are unique relics—museum pieces of great historical importance.