BabyGirl
03-15-2005, 01:09 AM
FBI Ends Smalls Investigation
There's still no justice and no peace for slain rap icon Biggie Smalls a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G.
The FBI recently closed an 18-month investigation of the 1997 shooting incident that left Smalls dead, leaving no resolution for the murdered rapper's family.
Although the LAPD is still looking into the murder of Biggie (born Christopher Wallace) murder, the FBI closed the book on its investigation in January after Louis J. Caprino, head of the criminal division of the FBI's Los Angeles offices, examined existing evidence amassed by the agency and determined that there was "no basis for prosecution" at this time.
A Los Angeles Times report Friday also hinted that an additional reason for the investigation shutdown might be tied to an FBI agent's perceived coziness with Wallace's mother's legal team (Voletta Wallace is suing the LAPD over Biggie's death). The agent, Philip J. Carson, allegedly traded tips and leads with Wallace attorneys.
FBI regulations forbid agents from sharing investigative information with civil attorneys.
The FBI's inconclusive investigation leaves many unanswered questions regarding Smalls' violent death in a hail of bullets the night of Mar. 9, 1997.
The "Unbelievable" rapper, then 24, was gunned down in his car after leaving a music-industry party at Los Angeles' Petersen Automotive Museum.
Several theories have been explored in books and documentaries since, including the widely held belief that the Brooklyn rap king's death is somehow tied to an East Coast/West Coast rivalry between rival rap crews.
West Coast hip-hop star Tupac Shakur (and a friend-turned-enemy of Wallace's) was killed in Las Vegas the year before Wallace was shot, and some point to Smalls' death as payback for Shakur's death, via a third party tapped by notorious former Death Row records owner Suge Knight. Regardless of their involvement, the two rappers' deaths are inexorably intertwined in the minds of many.
But the FBI probe yielded nothing, at least publicly, directly connecting Smalls' death with Shakur's, according to the Mar. 11 Los Angeles Times report.
A more advanced theory that Smalls was gunned down by an associate of a former LAPD cop (tapped by Knight), David A. Mack, also failed to bear fruit for the agency despite wiretaps on the friend of Knight and Mack, alleged triggerman Amir Muhammad.
That scenario is likely to be further explored in Voletta Wallace's civil lawsuit against the LAPD (expected to kick off in a Los Angeles civil court Apr. 12), despite the fact that Muhammad has been dropped from the witness list in Wallace's impending suit.
Wallace wants answers and as yet unspecified damages (last known to be around $18 million) for what she claims is a cover-up allegedly shielding the LAPD's involvement in her son's murder.
There's still no justice and no peace for slain rap icon Biggie Smalls a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G.
The FBI recently closed an 18-month investigation of the 1997 shooting incident that left Smalls dead, leaving no resolution for the murdered rapper's family.
Although the LAPD is still looking into the murder of Biggie (born Christopher Wallace) murder, the FBI closed the book on its investigation in January after Louis J. Caprino, head of the criminal division of the FBI's Los Angeles offices, examined existing evidence amassed by the agency and determined that there was "no basis for prosecution" at this time.
A Los Angeles Times report Friday also hinted that an additional reason for the investigation shutdown might be tied to an FBI agent's perceived coziness with Wallace's mother's legal team (Voletta Wallace is suing the LAPD over Biggie's death). The agent, Philip J. Carson, allegedly traded tips and leads with Wallace attorneys.
FBI regulations forbid agents from sharing investigative information with civil attorneys.
The FBI's inconclusive investigation leaves many unanswered questions regarding Smalls' violent death in a hail of bullets the night of Mar. 9, 1997.
The "Unbelievable" rapper, then 24, was gunned down in his car after leaving a music-industry party at Los Angeles' Petersen Automotive Museum.
Several theories have been explored in books and documentaries since, including the widely held belief that the Brooklyn rap king's death is somehow tied to an East Coast/West Coast rivalry between rival rap crews.
West Coast hip-hop star Tupac Shakur (and a friend-turned-enemy of Wallace's) was killed in Las Vegas the year before Wallace was shot, and some point to Smalls' death as payback for Shakur's death, via a third party tapped by notorious former Death Row records owner Suge Knight. Regardless of their involvement, the two rappers' deaths are inexorably intertwined in the minds of many.
But the FBI probe yielded nothing, at least publicly, directly connecting Smalls' death with Shakur's, according to the Mar. 11 Los Angeles Times report.
A more advanced theory that Smalls was gunned down by an associate of a former LAPD cop (tapped by Knight), David A. Mack, also failed to bear fruit for the agency despite wiretaps on the friend of Knight and Mack, alleged triggerman Amir Muhammad.
That scenario is likely to be further explored in Voletta Wallace's civil lawsuit against the LAPD (expected to kick off in a Los Angeles civil court Apr. 12), despite the fact that Muhammad has been dropped from the witness list in Wallace's impending suit.
Wallace wants answers and as yet unspecified damages (last known to be around $18 million) for what she claims is a cover-up allegedly shielding the LAPD's involvement in her son's murder.