New Documents Related to Notorious B.I.G. Case Surface

According to Los Angeles Times writer Chuck Philips, recently surfaced police records prove the LAPD's assertion that Christopher Wallace, or the Notorious B.I.G., was not murdered by rogue cops on behalf of Death Row head Suge Knight. That theory, first floated by former detective Russell Poole, alleges that Knight hired corrupt officer David Mack to kill Wallace in retaliation for the shooting of Tupac Shakur.

The documents recently surfaced when Mack included them in a motion challenging the unrelated conviction for bank robbery he is currently serving time for. Philips writes that the police records disprove several aspects of Poole's theory including the notion that Mack had a shrine to Tupac in his garage, and that he offered another officer a job working security for Knight. Much of the information that Poole used to build his theory came from two other LAPD detectives, Brian Tyndall and Greg Grant. Grant has since retired and Tyndall now heads a task force created last year to reinvestigate the murder.

Poole has also left the police force and testified as an expert witness on behalf of the Wallace family in a wrongful death lawsuit they filed against the City of Los Angeles. That suit ended in a mistrial in July 2005 when the presiding judge expressed concerns that the LAPD had withheld evidence. Mack and associate Amir Muhammad were originally named as defendants in that case, but were later dropped when both the LAPD and the FBI dismissed them as suspects. The Wallace family has since refiled the lawsuit and it is scheduled to move forward in federal court this summer. Chuck Philips has written extensively for the Los Angeles Times on the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie.