L.A. police launch new probe into B.I.G. murder

A new team of police detectives will reinvestigate the unsolved murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G., who was killed in 1997.

“They are investigating it, following up on the leads,” said Don Vincent, the L.A. assistant city attorney.

The 24-year-old rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was shot and killed after a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

His family sued the city and its police department in 2005, alleging one rogue policeman was involved in his killing. 

The judge declared a mistrial last July after discovering a police detective hid statements by a prison informant linking police officer David Mack to the killing.  Wallace’s family contends the L.A. police department concealed Mack’s involvement.

As a result, the judge ordered the city to pay the family $1.6 million last July. A retrial is expected to start later this year.

Wallace’s family claims the shooting was ordered on behalf of Marion “Suge” Knight, head of Death Row Records.  Knight has denied involvement.

At the time, Wallace’s label Bad Boy Entertainment was embroiled in a rivalry with Knight and his star, rapper Tupac Shakur. Shakur was shot to death in Las Vegas six months before Wallace’s murder and that case also remains unsolved.

Notorious B.I.G. became one of the rap world’s biggest stars in the early 1990s after being signed by Sean “Puffy” Combs’ label, Bad Boy, in 1993.

Vincent says there’s no evidence police were involved in the murder.