Murder Rap: Inside the Biggie and Tupac Murders (2015) - full transcript

Two of the most notorious unsolved cases in the history of American crime - the murders of renowned rap stars Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls - have been the subject of exhaustive investigations, relentless speculation, and a web of conspiracy theories and dark secrets. Now, for the first time, the inside story behind these sensational cases is laid bare in Murder Rap: Inside the Biggie and Tupac Murders. Using invaluable information sourced from hundreds of police case files, as well as taped confessions never before shown on film, and interviews with lead detective Greg Kading and other witnesses, this is the riveting account of the task force that finally exposed the shocking truth behind the deaths of these two rap music icons.

- That's Biggie, man.
- Shut that, get down.

- That is Biggie, man.
- Somebody's got shot up.

Y'all keep down.
We're at the curb.

March 9th, 1997, 12:45 a.m.

Biggie Smalls, one of the most
famous rappers in the world,

has just been shot four times
outside a party in Los Angeles.

911 emergency,
what are you reporting?

Yeah,
we need an ambulance

on 5th back to Wilshire,

please, Los Angeles.

We got a man shot.
We have a man shot.

Wilshire Boulevard.

Okay, hold on, I'll get that...

Right on the
corner of Wilshire and Fairfax.

Fire Department are there?

Yeah, we need it
on Wilshire and Fairfax.

- What?
- Fairfax!

Straight on Fairfax.
Let's go, let's go. Fairfax.

I can't hear what you're saying.

Do you know where this is?
What's wrong?

A man is shot
in our car right now.

We're in the car right now.

We're going to the hospital
right now.

I don't know. I'm not from here.
I'm from New York.

Listen, is the party

- that was shot in your car?
- No.

Okay,
you're going to the hospital?

Car right in front of me.

What hospital are you going to?

Don't know.
I don't know. I'm not from here.

Let's go. Let's go, man.
Get going!

Cedars-Sinai is the closest.
We're on Cochran right now.

We're gonna have to go west,
are we?

Has a fire engine

or anybody just passed you?

Yo, listen.
Yo, you got to go back.

You got to turn around, Jimmy.
You're going the wrong way.

Nigga, what the fuck
is wrong with y'all, man?

What's going on?

Jimmy, what you doing?

What kind of car was it?

I seen the nigga, man.

I don't know.

I don't know
which street I'm on.

The new shit.

I seen the motherfucking car,
man.

All right, relax, dude.

He's hit, man. He's hit.

He's fucking hit, man.

Do you know where he was hit at?

I don't know. I don't know.

- We're on Beverly right now.
- You're?

Beverly and Fairfax, going up.

We just queued, we just...

They're
probably going to Cedars.

We can't, we can't do that!

Fuck!

Oh, fuck!
Oh, fuck!

Fuck.

If you want your friend to live,

we're gonna send the paramedics
so you can pull over.

I can't. I can't do that.

We're on La Cienega
and Beverly right now.

Going to Cedars-Sinai?

Yeah, they're going to Cedars.

All right,
we're going to Cedars-Sinai.

Okay.

Sir, how many people are hurt?

It's one. One shot.

Okay, they drove up next to us

and they shot at the car
on the passenger side.

- Okay.
- Make a left, man

Yo, just go ahead, man.

Go straight, yo.

Doctors will later estimate

that Biggie died shortly
after being shot.

In just six months,

the music world has lost two
of its biggest stars to murder,

leaving fans to wonder,
who shot Tupac and Biggie?

It's a question
the LAPD will ask Greg Kading

and a federal task force
to answer nearly a decade later.

Los Angeles Police Department,

Operator 239.
What are you reporting?

Yes, this is the
Petersen Automotive Museum

and we need to get a car
out here

to clear out these people
in front of our museum.

How can
I help you? 911 emergency.

There's been a shooting
on Wilshire and Fairfax.

You see anybody down?

I did see...

911 emergency, Operator 639.

Hi, I just heard several shots

and a woman screaming.

One, two, three, four,
like, five.

And a woman screaming?

I heard a woman scream
and I heard a car tear off.

Wilshire, responding

to Wilshire and Fairfax.

The victim is on route
to Cedars-Sinai Hospital.

Suspect's vehicle
was an aqua blue Impala.

Additional 10/30.

In the 1990s,

Suge Knight and his LA-based
record label, Death Row Records,

found themselves at the center

of the infamous
East Coast-West Coast rivalry,

pitted against
Sean "Puffy" Combs

and his New-York based
Bad Boy Records.

This showdown between
Suge Knight and Puffy Combs

would culminate
in the murders of Tupac Shakur

and Biggie Smalls,

two of the most famous
rap artists in the world.

There were several key moments

that led up
to that deadly conclusion.

First, in November of 1994,

before Tupac was signed
to Death Row Records,

he was beaten and shot
during a robbery

at a New York recording studio.

By coincidence,

Puffy and Biggie
were in the same building

when the robbery went down,

leading Tupac to conclude that
his former friends set him up.

Tupac would eventually find out

that Biggie and Puffy
didn't have anything to do

with setting him up
at the Quad Studio.

However, by that time
the damage was done.

The day after Tupac is shot
at the Quad Studios,

he's required to show up
at the local courthouse

because he's facing
sexual assault charges

from a year before.

He ends up getting convicted
and then sentenced to prison.

Nine months later,
in August of 1995,

Suge Knight attends
the Source Awards

in New York City, Puffy's turf,

and disses Combs on stage,

with Puffy sitting
in the audience.

Any artist out there
wanna be an artist

and wanna stay a star

and don't wanna have to worry
about the executive producer

trying to be all in the video,
all on the record, dancing,

come to Death Row.

A few weeks later,
September of 1995,

Suge Knight and Puffy Combs

wind up at the same nightclub
in Atlanta,

where a confrontation breaks out
between their two entourages.

As Suge is trying to leave,

his close friend and bodyguard,
Jake Robles is shot

and ultimately dies.

Suge blames the shooting
on Puffy

and his bodyguard,
Anthony Wolf Jones.

Meanwhile,

Tupac has been languishing away
in prison for months,

unable to come up with the money
to post bail

while his case is appealed.

This prison,
Clinton Correctional Center,

was not Club Med.

This was for badass
convicted felons.

And there were rumors

that Tupac had actually
been raped in prison.

And he denied it,

but he wanted out of there
in a big way.

His attorney was appealing it,
but appeals take forever.

And Suge Knight approached him.

Suge Knight recognizes
this business opportunity.

He approaches Tupac Shakur
and they cut a deal

for him to do three records
for Death Row

in exchange for getting him
out of prison on bail.

A lot of people thought
that Tupac sold his soul

to Death Row Records
and to Suge Knight.

And Tupac was with a guy
who handled business differently

than, say,
people like Sean Combs.

And that is where the thug image
really came to be,

was when he hooked up
with Suge Knight

and Death Row Records.

At a Christmas party
in December of 1995,

an associate of Puffy's,
named mark Anthony Bell,

claims he was taken upstairs
and beaten By Suge Knight, Tupac

and other members
from Death Row.

According
to Mark Anthony Bell's statement

to the LAPD and the FBI,

Suge Knight was trying
to find the whereabouts

of Puffy Combs' family residence
in Los Angeles.

As a result of this incident,

it's clear now that Suge Knight
is going directly after Puffy.

After signing
with Death Row Records in LA,

Tupac ramped up the rivalry
through his music.

Biggie had already released
a track called "Who Shot Ya?",

which was widely interpreted

as taunting the shooting
of Tupac in New York.

In retaliation,
Tupac released "Hit 'Em Up",

one of the most infamous
diss tracks in rap history,

where he bragged about sleeping
with Biggie's wife

and threatened to kill members
of Bad Boy Records.

In July of 1996,

seven months
after the alleged beating

of Puffy's friend
in Los Angeles,

a group of South Side Crip
gang members

encounter a group of rivals,
the Mob Piru Bloods,

at a mall south of LA.

The Mob Piru Bloods
were associated with Suge Knight

and in their group at the mall
is a guy named Travon Lane,

a close friend of Suge's,

and he's wearing
a Death Row necklace

that Suge Knight only gave out
to his inner circle of friends.

One of the South Side Crips,
a guy named Orlando Anderson,

sees his coveted medallion
around Travon's neck

and steals it.

According to at least one
confidential informant,

Puffy was offering $5000

to any Crip that could bring him
a Death Row medallion.

September 7th, 1996,

the day
of Tupac Shakur's murder.

Tupac and Suge Knight
are attending a Mike Tyson fight

at the MGM Grand
in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tupac has just recorded
a new song for Tyson

called "Let's Get It On"

which is played
as Iron Mike enters the ring.

Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight,

they're sitting ringside
in their $1,000 seats.

For Tupac Shakur, it can't get
any bigger than this.

He's the most prominent rap star
in the world.

His friend's,
you know, in the ring,

fighting to a song that he wrote

and Tupac is the center
of the attention.

During the fight,

an FBI witness reported
seeing an altercation

between Suge
and Tupac's entourage,

and some rival Crip
gang members.

One of the Crips
told Suge Knight

that he thought
he was untouchable,

to which Knight responded
that he was untouchable.

The Crip responded,
"You can be touched."

As Suge and Tupac's entourage

are leaving the arena
after the fight,

they're walking
through the MGM Grand

when they encounter
Orlando Anderson,

the Crip who stole Travon Lane's
Death Row medallion

a couple of months earlier.

Travon Lane
just happens to be with Tupac

when they spot Orlando Anderson
loitering in the crowd.

Travon Lane whispers something
into Tupac's ear,

and immediately Tupac runs over
and attacks Orlando Anderson.

The rest of the entourage
jump on.

It's now
just a big gang assault.

Unbeknownst to them,

the whole thing
is being video taped

on MGM surveillance cameras.

As the security
starts to intervene,

they all high tail it
out of there.

Now you have the most famous
rapper in the world,

who's all pumped up
over the fact

he'd just gotten
into a fist fight,

he'd just watched his friend
Mike Tyson knock somebody out,

and he's speedily trying
to get out of the casino.

Suge Knight
is closely behind him,

this hulking, 300 pound,
six foot five individual.

Tupac, you can tell,
is very pumped up.

He's hyped out
about what had just happened.

As he's making his way
out of the casino,

he's getting the attention
of all these people

and they start following
in the crowd.

He creates somewhat of a,
like a human vacuum,

and this large crowd
begins to follow him

out of the casino.

Afterwards,
Tupac returns to his hotel,

where he meets up with
his girlfriend, Kidada Jones,

who's the daughter
of music producer, Quincy Jones,

and the sister of actress,
Rashida Jones.

Tupac explains
what just happened

in his fight
with Orlando Anderson

and that he doesn't want Kidada
coming out with them

because it's too dangerous.

So she decides to stay behind
in the hotel.

Tupac was not a real gangster,

but he's just started a fight

with a member
of the South Side Crips.

It's potentially
a fatal mistake.

Tupac and Suge decide
to drive together that night

in a 750 black BMW,

putting the security personnel
in separate cars,

in anticipation
of going to the 662 club,

which is Suge's
Las Vegas nightclub,

where there's going to be
a charity event.

Tupac is supposed to perform,

and they've got this big night
planned ahead of them.

And everybody
and their brother knew

that he was going to be there.

It was advertised
on the radio station

and everything else,
flyers everywhere.

Even Mike Tyson

is supposed to
make an appearance at the club

to watch Tupac perform.

The entourage
following Tupac and Suge

will consist
of at least six vehicles.

As their caravan
is making its way

towards the 662 Club
on these busy Las Vegas streets,

Suge Knight
has his music blasting.

Tupac is in the passenger seat.

They're having a great time,

making the best
of the heavy traffic.

Suge Knight is ultimately
pulled over by Las Vegas Police

for having his music too loud.

During that moment,

some girls who were in Vegas
for the weekend

recognized Suge
standing outside of his car.

They decide to join the caravan.

Like, and they were...

The police were going through
his car or something or another.

And then the traffic was stopped
and then they got in the car.

As Suge is pulling away,

the girls fall in behind them,
cutting off his security.

And these guys pulled up

and was, like,
"Let us in front of you."

Lauren said, "That's security,
you have to let them in front."

The caravan continues
down Las Vegas boulevard

until they reach Flamingo,
where they turn toward the club.

We were kind of arguing about it

because I was, like,
we're in this big entourage,

with all these people.

And I was, like,
this isn't really us.

We're not entourage
or groupie kind of girls.

- It's not our scene.
- It's not our scene, at all.

So I was like, okay, we'll go.
I know where the club is at.

- We can get there.
- Yeah, we'll go check it out.

As they reached the intersection

of Flamingo and Koval,

the girls decide
to get out of the caravan

to go to the club ahead of them.

They come to a stop

just in front
and to the right of Suge's car.

And as soon
as we pulled past them,

that's when all hell
broke loose.

A white, newer model,
four-door Cadillac

eases up alongside Suge's BMW,

just outside of where Tupac
is seated.

A male in the back
of the Cadillac

leans across

and discharges a firearm
nine times,

hitting Tupac with four.

The girls who are stopped,

just in front
and to the right of Suge,

hear the shots ring out.

I remember
it was a white Cadillac.

And then Lauren was like,
"That was Tupac.

I know he got shot.
I know he got shot."

Instinctively, they try
to pull away from the situation.

As they're doing that,

the white Cadillac
is also lunging forward.

The two vehicles almost collide

and both vehicles
then make a right onto Koval.

Frank Alexander,
Tupac's bodyguard,

jumps out of the vehicle
that he is in

and runs up
to try to render aid.

Suge immediately pulls away,
does a U turn,

effectively leaving
Frank Alexander

standing there alone
in the middle of the street.

As he's leaving the location,

he hits a median
and blows out a couple of tires

and ultimately comes to a stop
down on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Two members of the Mob Piru,
who are also in that caravan,

they attempt to chase down
the white Cadillac.

Gunfire is exchanged
between those two cars

until the white Cadillac
gets away.

Tupac is then
transported to a local hospital,

where he'll fight for his life
for the next six days.

Throughout the week,

crowds are showing up
at the hospital,

hoping to hear
about Tupac's condition.

Some notables
include Reverend Al Sharpton,

rapper MC Hammer

and Tupac's mother,
Afeni Shakur.

Also amongst these people

is an off-duty Compton school
police officer from Los Angeles,

named Kevin Hackie,

who worked for Death Row's
Right Way Security.

He creates such a scene
at the hospital,

claiming to be an FBI agent
there to investigate the case,

he is ultimately escorted out
and banned from the location.

Hackie would play a major role

in several
of the big conspiracy theories,

with various claims
about what he'd seen

and what he'd heard.

But when he was ultimately
asked to testify,

he was deemed unreliable,

claiming memory loss
and other issues.

On September 13th, 1996,

Tupac Amaru Shakur
succumbed to his injuries

and passed away.

People would
immediately theorize

that Tupac had been shot
by Orlando Anderson,

the Crip he'd got
into a fight with

just two hours
before he was shot.

But with Suge and his friends
refusing to cooperate,

Las Vegas police
couldn't build a case.

For Suge Knight,

the loss of Tupac
is devastating.

Not only has he lost yet another
close personal friend to murder,

he's also lost
one of his biggest money makers.

Adding insult to injury,

Suge finds himself
with a parole violation

for his involvement in the fight
with Orlando Anderson

and is sent back to prison
for the next five years.

The day after Tupac died,
September 14th, 1996,

the Mob Piru Bloods,

who are associated
with Suge Knight,

meet at a park in Compton
called Lueders Park.

They discuss
the murder of Tupac in Vegas,

and the potential involvement

of rival South Side Crip
gang members,

like Orlando Anderson.

As a result, the Mob Piru Bloods
give the green light

against the South Side Crips.

A gang war has now ensued
on the streets of Los Angeles

as a result
of Tupac Shakur's murder.

Within months
after Tupac's death,

Biggie Smalls
and his Junior Mafia entourage

begin coming back to California

to shoot video
and to produce his album.

Now security
is less of a concern.

Tupac is dead,
Suge Knight is in jail.

They get a false sense
of security.

They don't realize
they're coming to hornets' nest.

On March 7th of 1997,

Biggie and Puffy attend
the Soul Train Music Awards

in Los Angeles,

and present the award
for Best Female R&B Soul Single.

Driving home in the volatile
atmosphere in LA,

they are met with a rowdy mix
of cheering and booing

and shouts of "Westside."

What's up, Cali?

Backstage at this same event,
there's a minor confrontation

between members
of the Bad Boy security detail

and members
of the Fruit of Islam.

Apparently the conversation
goes something to the effect of,

"Hey, you're disrespecting
the brothers in the east",

in reference to Bad Boy Records.

Puffy Combs, who's also present,

looks over
at Mustapha Farrakhan,

the son of Louis Farrakhan,

and says,
"Hey, we're cool, right?"

And Mustapha Farrakhan
quells the incident.

The following day
will be Biggie's last day alive.

He has a phone conversation
with his mother, Voletta.

She expresses concern about
his security in Los Angeles,

but he comforts her by saying
he has LA cops protecting him.

That night,
Biggie and Puffy head to a party

at the Petersen Auto Museum,
put on by Vibe Magazine.

The party at the Petersen will
eventually grow out of control.

Twice as many people
show up as expected,

with only about
ten security guards on site.

Plus, there are numerous
celebrities there,

like Missy Elliott,
Vivica Fox, Chris Tucker,

the Wayans Brothers,
Whitney Houston, NBA stars,

and, of course,
Puffy and Biggie.

As all the people
who weren't able to get in

begin to crowd
outside the main entrance,

things start to get rowdy.

Among them
are known gang members.

Inside the party,

they repeatedly play
Biggie's new hit, "Hypnotize".

Just like Tupac in Vegas,
Biggie is on top of the world.

At approximately 11 pm,

the onsite fire Marshall
puts in a call

to have the LAPD respond

as the crowd is too big

and the people stuck outside
are getting out of control.

Near midnight,

the fire Marshall finally
shuts the party down.

After being there
for nearly four hours,

Puffy and Biggie
are ready to go anyway.

However, it will take them
nearly 40 more minutes

to get to their vehicles.

911 emergency, operator 412.

Hi, 52, next door.

We have an inspector
on scene there, er.

I guess over,
with an overcrowding.

Wilshire and Fairfax,
the Petersen Museum.

They got shots fired there

and these people have guns
and everything.

At approximately 12.05 a.m.,

witnesses report gunshots fired

at the corner of 8th
and Orange Grove,

which is the south-east corner
of the Petersen Auto Museum.

They would provide
a license plate

and a description of a black
Ford Bronco fleeing the area.

Many would later believe

that this was part
of a diversion

in the conspiracy
to kill Biggie Smalls.

Approximately
half an hour later,

Biggie and Puffy
are finally outside

and ready to go.

One member of the entourage

notices a suspicious person
across the parking lot

is "mad dogging them",
staring them down.

While waiting for their vehicles
to be brought around,

Puffy's bodyguard, Eugene Deal,

who would become a key witness
in the case,

notices another
suspicious-looking individual.

Just prior to pulling away,

Biggie's sitting
in the front seat

speaking to his friend,
Damien Butler,

standing just outside
the window.

They're elated.

Damien's bragging,
"We're back, Biggie.

We're back."

Biggie's last words:

"We'll see you
at the next party."

In the entourage
were three SUVs.

In the first one,
a green suburban,

Puffy Combs was in the front
passenger seat.

In the back
were three bodyguards,

including Eugene Deal.

The second SUV,
another green suburban,

was being driven
by Gregory "G-money" Young.

Biggie was in the front
passenger seat

and in the back was his cousin,
Lil' Cease, and two others.

The third and last SUV
was a black Chevy Blazer.

It was driven by an Inglewood
School Police officer

named Reggie Blaylock.

In the passenger seat

was Bad Boy head of security,
Paul Offord.

As the first SUV with Puffy
is pulling away,

they're looking
over their shoulders,

waiting for Biggie to finish
loading into his suburban.

Meanwhile, the third SUV
is in the street behind Biggie,

blocking traffic
so he can pull out.

As Biggie is ready to go,

Puffy's vehicle accelerates
northbound

to make the light at Wilshire.

Biggie's vehicle
is attempting to catch up

and the security team
in the third vehicle

is jumping into their Blazer.

At that moment, a white SUV
pulls in front of the third SUV,

momentarily cutting off security

from Biggie's vehicle
in front of them.

The driver of the third SUV
lunges his vehicle forward,

cutting the white SUV
out of the caravan.

A lot of people
would later theorize

that the white SUV
was involved in the shooting.

As this is happening,

a dark newer model Chevy Impala
pulls up beside Biggie's vehicle

and the driver begins firing
into Biggie's door.

The shooter was described
as an African American male.

He was seen holding
a semi-automatic pistol

across his body,

with his left hand
on the steering wheel.

After firing his weapon,

the shooter makes a quick right
onto Wilshire Boulevard.

The security team in the Blazer
attempts to give chase,

but the Impala gets away.

Meanwhile, Biggie's vehicle
has come to a stop,

and Puffy's vehicle
has made a U-turn

and rushed back
to see what has happened.

Puffy runs to Biggie's door

and recognizes
that Biggie's been shot.

He opens the door,
but Biggie's unresponsive.

It takes the entourage
about five minutes

to get to Cedars-Sinai Hospital
in Beverly Hills.

At approximately 1:15 a.m.,

doctors notify Puffy Combs
and Faith Evans

that Biggie Smalls is dead.

The autopsy report revealed
he had been shot four times.

The fatal shot
had entered his torso

and traveled
in an upward trajectory,

hitting his heart and his lung.

Doctors would conclude
that Biggie Smalls likely died

moments after being shot.

The next morning,

the world awakens
to the news of Biggie's murder.

Conspiracy theories run wild,

with people naturally connecting
Biggie's murder to Tupac's

just six months earlier.

On March 18th of 1997,

a massive funeral
was held in New York.

Fans lined the streets

as a procession traveled through
his Brooklyn neighborhood.

Puffy would give the eulogy
and Faith Evans would sing.

One week later,

Biggie's Life After Deathalbum
is released.

It will be nominated
for three Grammy's

and sell over ten million copies
in the United States.

Biggie's murder
was originally investigated

by a detective
named Kelly Cooper.

However,
the case was transferred

to a new team of investigators

that included a detective
named Russell Poole.

When they inherited the case,

the department
was about to be hit

by one of the biggest
police corruption scandals

in LAPD history,

in the form
of the Rampart Scandal,

and this was just five years
after the Rodney King riots.

It was in this atmosphere

that Russell Poole
would develop a theory

that dirty LA cops
working for Suge Knight

had murdered Biggie Smalls.

Specifically,
this theory pointed a finger

at an officer named David Mack,

and his friend, Amir Muhammad.

After Poole fails
to find support for his theory

from the LAPD,

he suspects
that there's a cover up.

Eventually Russell Poole
is transferred off of the case,

further adding to his suspicions
of a massive cover up.

In 1999,
he'll resign from the force.

However,
Russell Poole would collaborate

with author Randall Sullivan

and help to write the book
Labyrinth.

He also appeared
in the documentary,

Biggie and Tupac.

Because of these two projects,

Poole's theory
about dirty cops killing Biggie

would become widely accepted
by the general public.

Based on his theory,

Biggie's mother and his estate
file a lawsuit

against the city of Los Angeles.

The wrongful death lawsuit
would wind its way

through the courts for years.

At one pre-trial hearing,

a judge indicated if LA city
were to lose the lawsuit,

the damages could be
as much as $400 million,

which was Biggie Smalls'

estimated
lifetime earning value.

With a $400 million lawsuit
looming over their head,

they now need
to solve this case.

On May 1st, 2006,

I receive a phone call
from Robbery Homicide Division.

I'm asked to join
a new task force,

looking in to the nine-year-old
cold case

murder investigation
of Christopher Wallace.

I spent a majority of my career
as a gang investigator.

I was a court qualified
gang expert.

I was assigned
to our Major Narcotics Unit.

I was a member
of a DEA task force

where I was cross designated
as a Federal Agent.

I was also
a Homicide Investigator,

investigated over 200
cold cases.

The majority of my time,

majority of the investigations
I was involved in

took place in the south-central
region of Los Angeles.

The task force's first job

was to get the case files back
from Internal Affairs.

It was 92 four-inch binders,

a massive amount
of investigative material,

encompassing
Russell Poole's investigation,

plus all the work
done before him,

and in the nine years since.

A lot of good

investigative work
had been done

by these previous detectives.

They had composites.
They had vehicle descriptions.

They had done dozens and dozens
of witness interviews.

There was a lot to build
the case on.

They decided
to federalize the case,

forming a task force
that included agencies

like the FBI and the DEA.

This kept it from being
a LAPD-only investigation,

gave them more resources,

allowed them to pursue suspects
who were gang affiliated,

using federal recall laws
to compel them to talk.

They looked
into Russell Poole's theory

that officer David Mack
and Amir Muhammad

had murdered Biggie Smalls.

However, this theory
would be quickly dismissed.

Poole's theory
started with rumors

that Death Row Records
was hiring LA cops as security,

and was reinforced
by two major incidents

involving LA police officers.

First incident was a shooting
that Russell Poole investigated

before joining
the Biggie murder case.

On March 18th of 1997,

an off duty LAPD officer
named Kevin Gaines

was shot and killed
by an undercover LAPD officer

after a road rage incident
that Gaines had instigated.

While investigating
the shooting,

Russell Poole found out
about Gaines' personal life

that seemed to connect him
to Suge Knight

and Death Row Records.

Gaines was dating
Suge Knight's estranged wife

and was driving her car
when he was killed.

He also frequented a steak house

that was a suspected
Death Row hangout.

This seemed
to reinforce the rumors

that LA cops were connected
to Death Row Records.

The other incident
that backed this theory

was a bank robbery committed
by an LAPD cop named David Mack.

In December of 1997,

Mack was arrested
for robbing a bank

near the USC campus
a month earlier,

which had netted him $722,000.

A subsequent search
of David Mack's house

revealed that he had a makeshift
shrine to Tupac Shakur.

He also drove
a black Chevy Impala.

A photograph was found

where David Mack is wearing
a red crimson suit,

indicative of the Bloods gang.

So far, this evidence
against Mack was circumstantial.

But when the task force
got to the hard evidence,

things started to fall apart.

First, when the FBI raided
David Mack's house

after the bank robbery,

they supposedly
found Geco ammunition.

Geco ammunition was used
to kill Biggie Smalls

and there was an FBI report

claiming that this ammunition
was very rare.

However,
the FBI report got it wrong

because they only focused
on wholesale dealers,

of which there were only two
in the United States.

But at the retail level,

there were over two dozen stores
in Southern California

that sold this ammunition.

Half of them
were in the LA area.

More importantly, the ammunition
seemed to be very popular

with gangs in south-central
Los Angeles,

turning up many times in raids
on gang members' houses.

The next major clue
in Russell Poole's theory

was the connection to
David Mack's alleged accomplice,

Amir Muhammad.

Within weeks
of Biggie's murder,

a jailhouse informant named
Michael "Psycho Mike" Robinson,

had told police
that Biggie shooter's name

was either Kenny, Keeky,
Abraham, Ashmir or Amir.

Okay, you told
me yesterday the name of...

Amir?

While David Mack was in custody,
he received a visitor.

The individual that signed in
on the visitor's from

used the name Amir Muhammad.

Russell Poole would conclude

that this was the same Amir

that Robinson
had told them about.

Amir's non-Muslim name
is Harry Billups.

And he had used
a fake social security number

when he signed
into the jail's visitor log,

which seemed suspicious.

However, when he was interviewed
by the police

and the Biggie Estate's
attorneys,

he had a
very simple explanation.

His explanation was,
that he was aware

that inmates and other people
would be able to view that log

and he didn't want
his identity stolen.

The book, Labyrinth,
claimed that Amir

had also put down
a fake home address

and an out-of-service
telephone number.

However the address on the form

matched the one
on his driver's license

and there was not even a place
on the form

for a telephone number,

so he hadn't even listed one.

We also saw that he had listed

his correct
driver's license number

and his birth date.

So if he's trying
to hide his identity,

why does he use
his correct address,

his correct
driver's license number

and his correct birth date?

This hardly sounds
like a professional killer.

Next, they went back
and looked at Michael Robinson,

the informant who had given up

the name, "Amir",
in the first place.

Labyrinth and
the Biggie and Tupac documentary

had only told people that
Robinson gave the name Amir.

What they had failed to mention

was that Robinson had given
a ton of other information

about who this Amir was.

But none of that information
matched Amir Muhammad,

aka Harry Billups.

Do you know what kind of car

this Ashmir drives?

Bodyguard?

Harry Billups
had no gang affiliation,

was a college educated
mortgage broker

and lived in San Diego.

He was not a Crip bodyguard

rolling around
in the city of Compton

in a stretch white limousine.

Robinson also admitted
that he was in jail

at the time
that Biggie Smalls was killed,

and that he had gathered
his information

from other jailhouse informants
and from people on the outside.

He also admitted

that he didn't even know
where Biggie had been killed

and that he thought Biggie
was killed with a machine gun.

The only thing Robinson said
that matched Harry Billups

was the name Amir.

Everything else he said
was just ignored

in order to keep
the Poole theory alive.

Michael Robinson
had also picked Amir Mohammad

out of a photo lineup.

But he picked
two other people out as well,

so he had circled
half his options.

You have to understand
something, erm.

During the first,

I'm gonna say first three
or four days of this case,

we were getting phone calls
for all kind of inmates

who had all the answers
to everything.

They'd witnessed
although they was in prison.

They knew everything.

There was very far-fetched
information coming in

that Oprah had Tupac killed.

Jay Z had Biggie killed,
and Tupac killed Biggie.

I don't care
if they're informers,

they're inmates or whatever.

They got access to the media.

And a big case like this,
everybody is watching this.

So when my lieutenant
get out there

and talk about the bullets,

the type of car,
what the guy looked like,

all you're doing is telling,
even everybody in the world.

Instead including inmates,
"Hey, this is what we have."

Now you've got to run over there
and interview this inmate

who just got the information
from the media.

So you're running in circles.

But once you realize
what he said is garbage,

it's garbage, just let it go.

You don't pursue garbage.
You're wasting your time.

Based on
this limited information,

the LA Times
had published an article

that named Amir Muhammad,
aka Harry Billups,

as a suspect
in the murder of Biggie Smalls.

However, five months later,
they had to print a retraction

after the LAPD told them
that he was not a suspect

and that their story was based
on an old theory.

Billups tells the LA Times,
"I'm not a murderer."

"I'm a mortgage broker."

Complicating things more,
Eugene Deal,

Puffy's bodyguard
the night that Biggie was shot,

identified Harry Billups
in a six pack line up.

However, Eugene Deal

didn't make
this identification until 2001.

By this time
Billups' name and photo

had already been featured
in the LA Times twice,

making Deal's ID-ing of him
completely tainted.

On top of that,

Eugene Deal had been shown
a different photograph line up,

years earlier,

and picked out an entirely
different individual.

The icing on the cake is when
the FBI took this informant,

Michael Robinson,
down to San Diego

to set up an encounter
with Harry Billups.

Of course,
the whole thing went sideways

when the informant
knocked on the door

and neither
did he recognize Harry Billups,

nor did Harry Billups
recognize him.

And it just led
to this very awkward situation.

- I need to talk to you.
- Need to talk to who?

- Are you from LA?
- No, man.

If you ain't gonna tell me
who you're looking for

- then you need to leave.
- So based on the stranger

- standing on his front porch,
- I'll be back!

Acting very nervous,

Harry Billups himself
called the police.

Ultimately, years later,

Robinson recanted his statement.

The LA Times
even ran a story about it,

where Robinson
and another informant admitted

the information they had given
was based on hearsay.

That they had contradicted
their own stories.

In conclusion,
the theory this mortgage broker

was moonlighting
as a South Side Crip hitman

was beyond nonsense,

and almost ruined
the man's life.

The last of the major
cornerstones of Poole's theory

was the fact that David Mack
owned a black Impala,

and they knew
that Biggie's killer

had driven
a dark-colored Impala.

There were two witnesses

that identified the Impala
as being black.

But they were not
close up witnesses.

Reggie Blaylock, who was part
of the security personnel,

was in the trail vehicle,
the last vehicle in the caravan.

He believed the car was black.

And also there was a bus driver

who'd seen the vehicle
fleeing the scene

and he was looking
in his rear view mirror.

But keep in mind,

these are dark,
at-night conditions.

However, the witnesses

that were in the best position
to see the car

were adamant that the vehicle
was greenish in color,

not black.

I don't know.

I don't know
which street I'm on.

How many people
were in the vehicle?

I don't know.

You described
the car as a green car?

Okay, could it have been dark,

I say, a dark car.

I can't tell the name

The fact that David Mack
owned a black Impala

was relatively meaningless

because it was the wrong color.

It's also important to note

that when Mack committed
the bank robbery,

he and his accomplices
used a van stolen from near LAX

as their getaway vehicle

before Mack switched
to his own car to drive home.

Now if David Mack is not willing
to use his own vehicle

in the bank robbery,

it stands to reason
that he's smart enough

not to use that same vehicle

in the assassination
of a celebrity

on a crowded street,

outside of a party
with hundreds of witnesses.

In the mid-1990s,

Chevy Impalas were extremely
popular in Los Angeles.

In fact, they were so popular,

that we identified
a half a dozen individuals

associated with the case
that drove Chevy Impalas.

DJ Quick's bodyguard
had a dark-colored Impala.

Suge Knight
had a dark-colored Impala.

David Mack
had a dark-colored Impala.

Kevin Hackie
had a dark-colored Impala.

A South Side Crip
by the name of Keffe D,

that was at the party
that night,

also had a dark-colored Impala.

There were Impalas
all over the place.

The approach our task force

was taking was to look
at each individual theory

as if it could be true.

Unfortunately for Russell Poole,

his theory was the first one
that we were able to disprove.

The next task
was to look into the black SUV

whose occupants
had fired a gun into the air

at the south-east corner
of the Petersen Auto Museum.

Some conspiracy theorists
believe that this incident

was part of a well-coordinated
diversion tactic,

even though it happened
more than half an hour

before Biggie's murder.

As it turns out,
it was determined that incident

was completely unrelated
to the murder of Biggie Smalls.

What had actually happened was,

the occupants
of the black Bronco,

as they were entering the car,

the driver dropped a handgun
onto the ground.

As he picked it up,

he thought it'd be a good idea
to shoot it into the air

to ensure
that it was still working.

Considering the enormous crowds
that were nearby,

this obviously created chaos,

not to mention several 911 calls
from the neighbors.

Later on that evening,

the same guy in the black Bronco
decides he's gonna drive around.

Of course, at this time,

there's a
crime scene investigation

related to Biggie's shooting.

He wants to know what happened.

So as he pulls up,

the officer at scene recognizes

this black Bronco
from the 911 calls

and arrests the driver.

He came back to the scene.
He had the gun in the car.

We took everything.

But if you're gonna kill
a big celebrity,

and then
you going to leave the scene,

come back to the police station,
bring the gun with you.

I mean, come on.
He's not going to prison.

He's going to an insane place
because he's crazy.

Let's be real.

So as far as their involvement
in a conspiracy,

we knew who these guys were.

They were arrested
and it was ultimately determined

that they had nothing to do
with anything

other than their own stupidity.

There was one more
piece of evidence

that played a major role in the
various Biggie murder theories.

And that was the composite
sketch of the shooter.

There were actually
two sketches,

both created with input
from Biggie's driver,

Gregory "G-money" Young,

and Biggie's cousin, Lil' Cease,

who was in the back seat
during the shooting.

Unfortunately,
these two witnesses weren't sure

about what they had
actually seen.

The car was gone, okay.

And they would say,

"Okay,
I know you didn't see anything,

but was his nose like this big,
or was it like that big?"

And I'm like, I don't know.
You know, I really don't know.

They didn't look alike.

So now you've got two composites
of one suspect.

If I'm doing a case,
I always think ahead.

What will happen
when I go to court?

For instance,
you come over two composite,

for two different witness,

your credibility,
as far as the jury see,

they're not sure,
you're not sure.

If you're not sure,
then you can have some problem

with getting a conviction
on that case.

It bears mentioning
that in 1998,

both Lil' Cease
and "G-money", Gregory Young,

were shown
a six pack photo lineup,

where one of the photographs
in that line up

was of Harry Billups,
Amir Muhammad.

And neither of them identify
Harry Billups as the suspect.

The only thing the witnesses
seem to be sure of

was that the guy appeared
to look like a Muslim.

You even hear this on the
911 call from Biggie's car.

Sir, are you still seeing...

This led Eugene Deal to conclude

that it must have been
the same guy

he saw standing at the garage

when they were loading up
to leave.

I heard, Lil' Cease says,

"The guy was dressed
like the Nation of Islam."

And I say, oh,
the kid with the blue suit on?

He had a blue suit, white shirt
with a blue or gray tie?

He says, "Yeah."

I said, that nigga came
directly towards our van.

He had a white handkerchief
in his hand.

However,
Eugene Deal could only speculate

because he never saw the shooter
behind the wheel.

Could you,
from where you were seeing,

see who that was in the car?

Moving forward
with their investigation,

the task force identified
five new potential witnesses

that they believed
had information

about the murders of Biggie
and Tupac.

One of them
was Orlando Anderson.

The individual that Tupac
had jumped in Las Vegas

just before his murder.

Unfortunately though,

Anderson had been dead
for nearly eight years.

The next guy on
their list was Travon Lane,

a Death Row employee
who was with Tupac

right before he attacked
Orlando Anderson.

It is widely believed

that Tupac's assault
on Orlando Anderson

was in retaliation for Orlando

beating up Travon
earlier that summer.

Unfortunately, the interview
with Travon went nowhere.

He maintained his street code,

which meant not cooperating
with police.

Next we interviewed
Michael "Little Owl" Dorrough,

a South Side Crip, and friend
of Orlando Anderson's.

On the day
that Anderson was killed,

he and Michael Dorrough
confronted two men

at a car wash in Compton
concerning a debt.

The confrontation escalated
into a shooting

during which Orlando Anderson
and the two men were killed.

As a sole survivor,

Michael Dorrough was convicted
for all three murders,

was now serving a life sentence
in Pelican Bay State Prison.

When we interviewed
Michael Dorrough

in Pelican Bay Prison,

he told us that Suge Knight
had hired the South Side Crips

to kill Biggie Smalls.

However,
when we started monitoring

Michael Dorrough's mail
and phone calls from prison,

we discovered that
he was scheming with his cousin

to provide this fake story
to the police

in hopes that he would be moved
out of Pelican Bay

into a lesser secure prison.

Another guy on their
list of potential witnesses

was an alleged South Side Crip
named Corey Edwards,

who was known to have been
in Las Vegas

when Tupac was shot,

and who was at the next party
that Biggie was heading to

when he was shot.

The task force
had trouble finding Edwards

because he had been on the run
for five years

after a Drug indictment
out of Ohio.

Through their own efforts,
the task force located Edwards

and arrested him.

Unfortunately,
he decided to take his chances

with the drug charges
rather than cooperate.

The last name
on our short list of witness

was Duane "Keffe D" Davis.

"Keffe D" was a shot caller

for the South Side Crips,

and the uncle
of Orlando Anderson.

It was determined that "Keffe D"
had been in Las Vegas

along with his nephew, Orlando,
the night Tupac was shot.

Additionally,
Keffe D's name had come up

in the original
Biggie investigation,

when it was discovered that
he was at the party at Petersen,

and he had access
to a Chevy Impala.

After Tupac was shot,

there was rumors on the street
that Bad Boy Records

owed the South Side Crips
a million dollars.

Some thought the debt
was for concert security,

while others believed
it was for the hit on Tupac.

In fact, I believe when Robinson
gave the name Amir,

and also identified the shooter
as Kenny or Keeky,

he was meaning to say Keffe,
as in "Keffe D"

and repeating the rumor

that the South Side Crips
had killed Biggie.

As a result
of this million-dollar rumor,

Keffe D had been interviewed
by Biggie murder investigators

back in 1997.

Eleven years later,

we still believed that Keffe D

was an enormous
person of interest,

who could break the case
wide open.

Our first run at Keffe failed.

He immediately lawyered up,

and we realized
we needed to find a way

to compel him to cooperate.

Because the case
had been federalized,

we became aware that the DEA

was already
investigating Keffe D

and other South Side Crips

for interstate
narcotics trafficking.

We used this information

against one of Keffe D's
drug couriers

in order to convince him
to flip against Keffe D.

We then used that drug courier
to set up Keffe D

in a big drug sting
involving cocaine and PCP.

The operation took months.

Involved wire taps, surveillance
and undercover narcotic buys

to ensure that we had
an iron clad case

with a life sentence

that we could hold
over Keffe D's head.

So with this,
we went to Keffe's house

and confronted him
with the evidence

that we had built against him.

Later that day,

Keffe and his attorney
met with us

at the US Attorney's office
in downtown Los Angeles.

Keffe D has a serious dilemma
on his hands.

He either comes clean
about what he knows

about the murder
of Biggie Smalls,

or he goes to prison
for the rest of his life.

Now, our drug investigation
of Keffe D

didn't stop with Keffe D.

There were several
of his close associates.

In fact, there were close
family members of his

who got caught up
in this investigation.

Keffe D's decision to cooperate
wasn't just to save himself.

He was trying
to save his family.

Keffe agrees to cooperate
with the government

and that it will be
a proffer session,

in which nothing he tells us
can be used against him

unless we find out that
he's deliberately lied to us.

At our next meeting with Keffe,

we explain to him we needed
to know everything he knew

about the murder
of Biggie Smalls.

Keffe D began by telling us

that on the day
that Biggie was killed,

Puffy had invited him
to the Vibe party

at the Petersen Auto Museum

after attending a celebrity
basketball tournament

earlier in the day.

So Keffe and some members
of his crew attended the party.

This claim was backed
by Keffe's friend,

Corey Edwards.

Keffe D?

While inside the party,

Keffe said he had approached
Biggie and Puffy's table.

Did you see
either of them at the party?

Lil' Cease confirmed
that he had seen Keffe D

and several of the other
South Side Crips

at the Petersen.

He sees them
walking up towards Biggie

when the security intervenes.

Biggie waves them off, saying,
"I know these guys.

They're cool."
Specifically Keffe D.

"Let them through."

Where do these guys

from Compton approach you

and ask you did you want them
to provide security?

Did I want security, erm?

At that place.

- At the party?
- Yeah.

- At the museum?
- Yeah.

Yeah.

He talk to him?

About what?

Puffy's bodyguard, Eugene Deal,
had also confirmed

that the guys who he referred to
as the "guys from Compton"

had approached them
at the party.

What did they say?

Did they come over
and speak to you guys?

Did they speak to Puffy and Big?

"You want some of this bottle?"
Like that. You know, you know.

You know, like that.

This, among other things,

establishes what Keffe D
is already telling us,

is that he knows these guys
on a personal level

and can approach them
at any time.

Keffe offers Combs
extra security at that point.

Combs rejects, telling Keffe,
"Hey, the Feds are all over me."

Obviously not wanting to be seen

publicly with these
gang members.

- Combs?
- Yeah.

Keffe D warns Puffy

about the presence
of Death Row personnel

and Blood gang members
at the party.

Keffe D's instincts
are telling him

that something
is about to go down.

And a short time later,
Biggie is killed

while driving away
from the party.

At this point
in the conversation,

Keffe D looks squarely at us
and says, "That wasn't us."

He knows that we think

that he's potentially involved
in the Biggie Smalls murder.

So when he says,
"That wasn't us,"

it begs the question,
well, then what was?

When Keffe D said,
"That wasn't us,"

he added to it.

"But what I do have to tell you

is gonna blow
your fucking minds."

At this point
we concluded

that Keffe D's
big bargaining chip

was Tupac, not Biggie.

People had always suspected

that the murders of Tupac Shakur

and Biggie Smalls
were connected.

But now we were certain of it.

With Keffe D's confession,

we knew that if we could solve
one murder,

we would likely be able
to solve the other.

In their next meeting
with Keffe D

he would be forced to tell them
exactly what he knew

about the murder
of Tupac Shakur.

Keffe,
today what we're going to do.

We're just going to go over
with a fine-tooth comb,

the Las Vegas incident

because we're gonna draft up
our report

as regarding
that specific thing.

And then we're going to cover
a few other things,

but we do have
to emphasize to you,

that everything in this report
has to be right on.

Because if down the road,

it's determined some
of these details are incorrect,

then everything's off the table.

So everything in this report
cannot be like that before.

I feel, like I said that day,

don't bullshit me
and I won't bullshit y'all.

You know what I'm saying?

What this
ultimately comes down to,

is how valuable your life is,
your family.

And when I say your family,

I don't mean
your extended family.

I mean your brothers
and your sisters,

and your wife and your kids.
That's it.

Man, well,
I feel I can still

go to jail with them, dude.

Because this is federal
and that's...

What is said right here

cannot be used
against you, Keffe.

We also knew
that we had to reconcile

what Keffe D was telling us now

with what he had told the FBI
a decade earlier.

Back then,

Keffe claimed
that after his nephew,

Orlando Anderson, was stomped
by Tupac and his entourage,

that he had warned Orlando
not to retaliate

and to just let it go.

He'd also told the FBI

that he believed Suge Knight
had killed Tupac

because Tupac was planning
on leaving Death Row Records.

That had been a popular
conspiracy theory for years.

There's
some people who claim

that Orlando Anderson was a pawn
of Suge Knight.

That he was planted there
in the MGM Grand

to get beat down

and Suge Knight used him
pretty much.

I think
it was in Russell Poole's book

or Labyrinth, or one of those.

Yeah, it's ridiculous also.

If he wanted
Tupac killed,

he could have had him killed

and he's surely not gonna
sit next to him in a car,

and say, "All right,
come up beside my car"

"and shoot nine times in
and hope you don't hit me."

"And I'm sitting
right next to him."

We could have had him killed
anywhere.

That we are that smart,

to have something
like that calculated

or planned to happen
on Vegas strip,

after spending $100,000

when you're trying
to get $2 million venture

off the ground

that Suge had just invested
into Club 662.

And you know this is one of
the most important nights.

This is gonna be the night
they're gonna say yeah or no,

to if you're gonna get a permit
or not.

Also, everybody forget.

If you needed to control Tupac,
what do people do?

What do the government do
when they wanna control you?

They do two things.

They break you,
or they institutionalize you.

We still had the attorney,
David Kenner,

handling his appeal,
his freedom.

But you sure could have made him
lose that appeal

if you wanted to take
all his money.

Break him down

and then see where he's at
two or three years later,

after he finishes his tail
that he had still riding.

When confronted
with the fact

that he had originally denied

having any involvement
in the Tupac murder,

Keffe D said, in his words,
that that was all bullshit.

- What do you say?
- The whole...

Next Keffe D
began to fill in the back story

of his association
with Puffy Combs.

He told us
that he had met Puffy in 1993,

through a mutual friend,
a guy named Eric "Zip" Martin,

who was a New York based
drug dealer.

Was it like a high school field?

Like a local field?

We just played for like cases
of champagne.

Do you know
why, what brought Zip out here

because he's originally
from New York?

Yeah.

What was he out here for?

He just came out
here to party,

and have one, you know.

When you're out
in New York is that when you...

Did they see
themselves as relatives

or anything like that,
like that was his nephew or...?

Is that how he act towards him?

Which car was that?

What color was it?

Brown.

- Greenpatch?
- Greenblatts.

- Okay.
- That was it, yeah.

For his part,

Puffy Combs denies having
any association with Keffe D

or hiring Crips
as his security.

However,
a slew of witnesses confirmed

that Puffy Combs and Zip
and the South Side Crips

were all connected.

He was just somebody that was
cool with him and everything

Okay.

Keffe D's childhood friend

and fellow South Side Crip,
Terrence Brown,

also confirmed that Puffy,
Zip and Keffe D

all knew each other quite well.

You know what I'm saying?

Corey Edwards,

another South Side Crip
friend of Keffe's,

also confirmed
these connections.

Zip's from New York?

Death Row insider,
Henry "Hen Dog" Smith,

also told police
that he had heard

that Bad Boy used
South Side Crips as security

and that Keffe D
was the main contact

between Bad Boy Records
and the Crips.

I knew that
they were South Side Crips,

were affiliated,
or supplying security services.

Homeboy Security Services,

er, for the Bad Boy crew
when they came inside.

You know, they see things coming
up from a street perspective,

where they... Also they,
you know, me as a cop,

I'm not gonna go
approach a young lady

and say "Hey, Tupac,
or Suge wanna holler at you."

Where they'll go do that.

I'm not gonna go
and walk up to a guy

and say,
"Hey, you got some weed on you?"

Where they'll go do that.

Even Biggie's cousin,
Lil' Cease,

admitted to seeing Keffe D
backstage

at a Bad Boy concert in Anaheim,

along with Puffy's friend
from New York,

who we now believed was Zip.

In fact that's how Lil' Cease
recognized Keffe D

at the Vibe party

because he'd seen him before
at the concert in Anaheim.

Not only did Lil' Cease say that
this Crip was the same person

that he had seen backstage
at Bad Boy concerts,

but he was able to pick him
out of a photo lineup.

In the picture?

So you saw that guy

when you was on
the tour?

- Same guy?
- Same guy.

Yep.

That face is Keffe D.

- BET Tour.
- Where was it?

Puffy's bodyguard, Eugene Deal,

also admitted to seeing
these guys rolling with Puffy

at Bad Boy shows.

These guys from Compton

that you said were
involved with the Tupac thing.

Were they at any of the other
concerts on that tour,

other than Las Vegas?

I don't know if it was Irvine
or San Diego or whatever,

But I know I met them first
at the California show.

Eugene Deal also confirmed
Keffe D's claim

that he had seen Puffy handing
out 40 to 50 concert tickets

to the South Side Crips.

And it was like...

Next, we ask Keffe D
the million dollar question.

On all four of those occasions,

so San Diego, Anaheim,
Irvine and Vegas,

which one's do you actually
talk to Puffy at?

Every one of them?

After a concert in Anaheim,

Keffe D claims
that he had tended a party

with Puffy in a hotel suite.

And what? Puffy makes
kind of an announcement?

Yeah,

Okay, okay.

We were a bit taken back
by this information.

These are very bold claims
being made

against a very powerful person.

It was not something
that we took lightly.

Claims like these need to be
corroborated on multiple levels.

Yeah, you know as soon as
it goes up the chain of command,

they're gonna squash the case.

Because nobody wants
to do business at that level.

Because it's just lawsuits
and lawsuits and lawsuits.

A few months later,
at Greenblatt's Deli,

Keffe D claimed that Puffy Combs
furthered the solicitation.

What happened
that made it something

other than just him frustrated
and boasting?

"Man,
I'll give you guys anything."

I mean, what made it a specific,
like "Hey, I'm serious."

I want you guys
to kill these guys."

How does it go?
How does the conversation go?

I mean, "Okay, I'll do it,
but I need $500,000."

Or, you know, "I've got somebody
who will do it, but I need."

I mean we need
specific details regarding that.

Yeah, we...

Erm, you said
you walked downstairs,

did he say,
"Come meet me downstairs?"

So in your
opinion the specific reason

he asked you to come downstairs
and talk to him

was about that thing,
not about liquor or anything?

- It was about that?
- Well, yeah.

He's telling
'em, "We'll do it for a million"

and he's like, "Okay,
I'll do it for a million"?

He agrees?

You shake on it
or something like that?

Yeah.

Shit.

You know what I'm saying? Shit.

If Keffe D is to be believed,

this second solicitation
for murder

is more serious than the first,

that could have been discounted
as boasting

because now
he takes Keffe D aside

to have a private conversation
to discuss this matter.

All the other things
Keffe D told us,

we could corroborate
with other witnesses.

But this particular matter just
leaves Keffe and Puffy alone.

The one piece of corroborating
evidence that we did have

came in the form
of a witness statement,

from a South Side Crip informant
who had advised the police

that there was a standing
one million dollar contract

between Bad Boy Records
and the South Side Crips.

Chuck Phillips wrote
this article based on this clue.

And he writes this article
in the LA Times,

saying "There's a million dollar
bounty put out by Biggie Smalls"

but the truth was,
that clue said Puffy Combs,

ten years before Keffe D
ever brought it up.

This is what Keffe D
says happened

the weekend of Tupac's murder.

The day before
the Mike Tyson fight,

Keffe D eats
at Greenblatt's Deli.

He then caravans
to Las Vegas with his crew,

including Zip Martin.

Zip is driving his Mercedes,

while Keffe goes out
in a rented Buick Century.

On Saturday,
the day of the fight,

Keffe D's nephew,
Orlando Anderson,

with friends, Terrence Brown
and Deandrae Smith,

all drive out to Las Vegas
to meet up with Keffe D.

Guess what they're driving?
A white Cadillac.

They came up,
I remember

it was a white Cadillac

and then Lauren was like,
"That was Tupac.

I know he got shot.
I know he got shot."

Who was driving the Cadillac?

They came on Saturday?

Yeah.

After the Tyson fight,

Keffe D hooks up with Zip
and they go to dinner.

Unbeknownst to them,

Keffe's nephew,
Orlando Anderson,

has just been attacked by Tupac,
Suge Knight and their entourage.

In the epitome of bad timing,

Tupac Shakur has just attacked
the nephew of the individual

who claims to have been hired
to kill him.

Unlike in his interview
with the FBI in the late 1990s,

where he had claimed that after
Orlando Anderson was beat up,

he just simply tried
to calm him down.

Now he told us they immediately
planned a retaliation.

And then he came and said,

And we was in the hotel, near...

You guys aren't out in Vegas

then with that intention.

That's not why you're in Vegas?

No, we just...

So you're all
geared up to go to Vegas.

Y'all was going anyway?

Not even knowing who else
was going to be down there

Zip, who knows
about Puffy's offer to Keffe,

says, "This is a good time
to take care of that thing."

Zip offers Keffe D
the 40 caliber Glock

that he has stashed
in his Mercedes

out in the parking lot.

- Some what?
- Er, the Jimmies.

Backing up Keffe's story,
we had a cooperating witness

who was present
at the MGM that night

after Orlando Anderson
was beat down.

He testifies to the fact

that he sees Orlando Anderson
bleeding from the head

and sees the group get together
to plan their retaliation.

In fact,
he heard one of the guys say,

"Fuck that shit,
what Tupac think this is?

We gang bang out here."

The witness also confirms
that he overheard Zip say,

"We have artillery out here,"
meaning guns.

You tell Zip,
"We're gonna handle this shit,"

or whatever?

Yeah, we're gonna...

Then you jump out of the car

and then what happens?

Know what I'm sayin'?

Keffe D, Orlando Anderson

and half a dozen
of the other Crip gang members

get in to two vehicles and
drive directly to the 662 Club,

where Tupac Shakur
is expected

to be performing
later that night.

They park in the parking lot

anticipating Tupac's arrival
and simply lie in wait for him.

You know,

"Police kill the motherfuckers
and all that.

Man, you crazy."

According to Keffe D,

some of the guys
are getting nervous,

so he jumps in the Cadillac
with three other guys

and decides to handle it
on their own.

The Cadillac is being
driven by Terrence Brown.

In the front passenger seat
is Keffe D.

Behind the driver
is Deandrae Smith,

and in the right
rear passenger seat

is Keffe's nephew,
Orlando Anderson.

In addition
to Keffe D's statement,

we had other evidence

confirming that the four people
he said were in the Cadillac

were in fact in Vegas
that weekend.

Orlando Anderson, of course,
was on tape at the MGM,

and Keffe D, his uncle,
admitted to being there.

T-Brown, however, for his part,

denied that he was in Vegas
that weekend.

However, he was arrested
less than a month later

with Las Vegas postcards
in his possession

and Deandrae Smith confirmed

that both he and Brown
were in Vegas

the night Tupac was shot.

With Keffe D
and his crew ready to do this,

they set out to find Suge Knight
and Tupac Shakur.

And, ah, shit.

Keffe D claims that the girls,

who are riding alongside
Tupac and Suge Knight,

are what drew their attention
to the BMW.

They were screaming out
his name.

"Tupac, Tupac."

So what
directed your attention to them

was some girls
shouting at Tupac?

Due to traffic conditions

and the configuration
of Suge and Tupac's caravan,

the white Cadillac
is forced to pull up

on the right side of their BMW.

Keffe D, who's seated

in the right front passenger
seat of the white Cadillac,

and who has the gun,

realizes that he's not gonna be
in a position to shoot

because he's going to have
to shoot across the car

and across the face
of his driver.

Keffe D turns around to hand
the gun to the back seat,

attempting to give it
to Deandrae Smith,

who would be
in the best position to shoot.

Deandrae resists,

puts his hand up and says,
"No, no thanks. Not me."

Orlando Anderson,

who's in the right
rear passenger,

reaches forward and says,
"Give me that motherfucker."

Leans over Deandrae Smith,

out the back window
of the Cadillac

and began shooting rapidly
into the BMW.

So Orlando would have had to

lean over
the top of Dre, right?

Yeah. He did. He...

He looks right at you?

Why do you
think he recognizes you?

Backing up Keffe D's claim
he and Knight knew each other

was a witness
who was in Las Vegas,

part of the Death Row entourage

who was present during
the shooting of Tupac Shakur,

who said that Knight stated
he knew who the shooters were

and that they were
South Side Crips.

Yeah.

Keffe D has now
identified his own nephew

as the murderer of Tupac Shakur.

Bolstering Keffe D's claim
was an informant in 1997,

who told investigators

that Puffy had hired
the South Side Crips

to kill both Suge and Tupac,

and that the Crip
who was jumped at the MGM

was in the group
that had done the hit.

And that they originally
were going to do it

at Suge's Vegas nightclub.

But then decided
to do it right away

instead of waiting.

This was exactly the same story
Keffe D told us a decade later.

Very few people know

that immediately
after Tupac is shot

and that white Cadillac
is fleeing,

one of the Death Row entourage,

a guy named Alton McDonald,
known as "Buntry",

chases after the Cadillac

and a second shooting
takes place

between the two vehicles.

Alton McDonald's car is struck.

In fact, within the Las Vegas
murder files,

there's a document indicates
that Alton McDonald's car

had been struck
by a bullet that night.

As a result, Alton McDonald
gives up the chase

and the white Cadillac
disappears into the night.

This also counters the claim

that Suge had set up
the Tupac murder.

Why would Suge's main enforcer

chase after
the suspect's vehicle

and exchange gunfire

if they were all part
of the same conspiracy?

For his part,
Keffe D affirms in his interview

that a second shooting
does take place.

However, he misidentifies
the car that's following them

as the girls
in the green Sebring.

Stupid bitches.

Somebody started shooting
this way,

they're shooting that way.

So we're in the midst
of all of this gunfire

and the only thing we could
think of is, get out of there.

Coincidentally,
Suge Knight's BMW

had come to a stop on Las Vegas
Boulevard near Harmon,

which is only about a block

from where the shooters
had ditched the Cadillac.

Who?
You guys were on the street...

I couldn't see.

We was ready to...

The following day,
they return to the Cadillac,

recover the murder weapon

and ensure that
there are no discarded casings

left inside the vehicle.

Then Keffe D
and the rest of the Crips

return to Los Angeles.

After Tupac was shot,

the New Yorkers went home

and told Puffy's bodyguard,
Eugene Deal,

exactly what had happened
in Las Vegas.

In his police interview,
he got all the details right.

You know what I'm saying?

And Pac stepped to them saying,

"Those are those muck
ass niggas."

"They've been fucking with them
niggas from New York."

That's what we're saying.

- Where you there for this?
- No, I wasn't there for this.

You were told this?

I was told this,
I said it was

You know,

a long time ago,
or something like that.

You know, this fight broke out,
you know what I'm saying?

And that's how
that incident happened.

Who was a head...

We also found an informant
who was a South Side Crip,

an associate of all these guys,
who confirmed Keffe D's story.

Erm, okay, erm...

Orlando,

Keffe, erm,

T-Brown,

erm, Dre.

More importantly,
this informant claimed

that he had personally seen
Orlando Anderson

and Deandrae Smith
in a white Cadillac in Compton

the day after Tupac was shot

and that Deandrae, not Orlando,

had bragged
about shooting Tupac.

Man, I let off on Tupac.

They was nervous
when they got back.

Talking, you know,

The informant also confirmed

what Keffe D had said

about the Cadillac
being a rental car.

We now had evidence
that pointed to Orlando Anderson

as the killer of Tupac Shakur.

With the benefit of hindsight,
it now seemed obvious.

If, prior to our interviews
with Keffe D in late 2008,

I'd been asked to
put together a list

of the most likely suspects,

he'd have been
at the top of the list.

Knowing that didn't make us
great detectives,

it was just common sense.

I had a person I was talking to,

who told me that she was related
to Orlando Anderson

and she told me
that at a family gathering

Orlando Anderson would brag
about killing Tupac.

Orlando was so committed
to boasting

about the shooting of Tupac,

that even his uncle Keffe D
had to scold him,

tell him to keep his mouth shut
and quit talking about it.

But instead, Orlando Anderson
goes on CNN with his attorney.

I mean, I've been thinking,
you know,

maybe I'm a scapegoat
or something.

I just wanna let everybody know,
you know what I'm saying,

you know what I'm saying,
I didn't do it.

Immediately after
the murder of Tupac Shakur,

Compton Police knew that
Orlando Anderson was involved.

They knew this because of
their confidential informants.

South Side Crip informants
who were telling them so.

In fact,
they conducted search warrants

and even arrested
Orlando Anderson.

Unfortunately though,
for Las Vegas police,

there wasn't enough evidence
for prosecution.

Orlando Anderson lawyered up

and everything else
was just circumstantial.

Not enough
to get a criminal filing.

There was one more
piece of evidence

tying Orlando Anderson
to this case

that shocked the task force
when they discovered it.

Going back to the murder
of Suge's friend

and bodyguard, Jake Robles,

at the nightclub in Atlanta,

the incident that took the feud
between Death Row and Bad Boy

to the next level.

They found an interview
that Russell Poole had conducted

with the nightclub
security guard,

who was an off duty
Atlanta police officer,

named deputy Howard.

In this interview from 1997,

they showed Howard

the MGM Grand security video
of Orlando Anderson,

and a photo of Keffe's friend,
Corey Edwards.

Deputy Howard
was absolutely positive

that both Orlando Anderson
and Corey Edwards

were at the club

and they were among the suspects
in the Robles shooting.

Deputy Howard also stated

that the altercation that
took place inside of the club

was between Robles and Suge

and a guy
in a powder blue jacket.

At one point, Suge told the guy
in the blue jacket,

"I know your family.
I know your momma.

I know your family."

He also told Robles,
after he was shot,

"Hush, I'll take care of this

when we get back
on our own turf."

Now why would Suge Knight say,
"I know your family"

or "we can take care of this
when we get back to Los Angeles"

to a person that was a member
of Bad Boy from New York City?

Making that connection for us,

Deputy Howard confirmed

that the person that was
in the powder blue jacket

was none other
than Orlando Anderson.

Within a month
of returning from Las Vegas,

after the Tupac murder,

Suge Knight is arrested
for a parole violation,

for his participation
in the stomp down

of Orlando Anderson.

Desperate to get himself
out of his predicament,

Suge Knight then offers
Orlando Anderson

upwards of $16,000
to testify on his behalf

that he wasn't actually
attempting to assault Orlando.

But was trying to help him.

So, Orlando Anderson,

who has just shot
and killed Tupac Shakur

and struck Suge Knight
in that hail of gunfire,

is now being summoned
and solicited by Knight himself,

to perjure himself
on Knights' behalf in court.

The mindset
of doing business with him

was to try to stop him
from doing nine years

and keeping the, er, fall
of Death Row from happening.

Keffe D accompanied
Orlando Anderson

to the attorney's office
when this deal was made.

He wasn't happy about it.

He thought that Orlando Anderson
was selling out.

Some might wonder,

well, why didn't Suge
go after Keffe D and kill him?

But there are a lot of variables
and a lot at play here.

Suge Knight was now in jail

and was going to be serving
the better part of eight years.

While he's in jail
Keffe D then goes to jail.

Suge Knight also knows that

Keffe D wasn't
the actual shooter,

that it was his nephew,
Orlando Anderson.

All of those things
come in to play

in the weird dynamics
of the gang life.

Keffe D claims
that after returning to LA

following Tupac's murder,

he meets with Zip at a hot wing
spot Near Hollywood.

You guys
go over there, Zip shows up.

You guys, what happens after?

When you're at the

hot wing place
talking to Zip...

On Zip's phone, or your phone?

What does Zip say? I'm gonna
go back home and have...

Approximately six weeks later,
Keffe D hasn't been paid yet,

so he meets with Zip
to ask about the money.

And Zip tells him that he hasn't

received the money
from Puffy yet.

Keffe D claimed to have run
into an associate of Puffy's

named Darius "D-Mack" Rogers.

According to Keffe,

D-Mack claimed that Puffy
had given Zip $500,000,

but that Zip had never forwarded
that money to Keffe.

I'm like, what?
He like, "Yeah, man."

you know what I'm saying?

As part of our investigative
strategy,

our next step was to use Keffe D
against Zip,

the same way that we had used
Hammond against Keffe D,

essentially as an informant,

in which we could use Keffe D
against Zip

and set him up
in a sting operation.

Using our federal funding
and resources,

on June 17th of 2008,

we escorted Keffe D
back to New York.

We had identified the nightclub
that Zip owned

called the Zip Code in Harlem.

We waited until the opportunity
presented itself

to introduce Keffe back to Zip.

On the second attempt,
we succeed

and Zip shows up at the club.

Keffe D is there

and the two of them unite
after many years.

After some small talk

and reacquainting themselves
with one another,

Keffe suggested they resurrect
their prior drug relationship.

Zip says,
"Listen, I've got cancer."

I'm struggling.
I'm too old for this.

However, let me introduce you
to my nephew.

"He's in the position
to help you out."

According to the Drug
Enforcement Administration,

this nephew of Zip's
is actually a lieutenant

in Zip's narcotic organization.

We believe that Zip
is merely testing Keffe D

to see what
his true intentions are.

Zip's no amateur at this game.

He's going to be harder
to set up than Keffe D was.

With the Tupac investigation
making good progress,

The task force still had
to focus on their original goal

of solving
the Biggie Smalls murder,

which they had been
investigating simultaneously.

After disproving Russell Poole's
David Mack theory,

and now ruling out Keffe D
and Crips as Biggie's killers,

they were left
with one prevailing theory,

that Suge Knight had members
of the Mob Piru Bloods

murder Biggie Smalls.

With Tupac dead

and Suge Knight in prison
for his parole violation,

Death Row Records
began to crumble.

On top of that,
bodies had started falling.

In 1997,
one of Suge's bodyguards,

Aaron "Heron" Palmer

was gunned down
at a Compton stop light.

Another bodyguard of Suge's,
Alton "Buntry" McDonald,

and Death Row employee,
Henry "Hen Dog" Smith,

had also been killed.

McDonald and his passenger,
Neck Bone,

were the ones
who had exchanged gunfire

with Tupac's killer in Vegas,

and "Hen Dog" was the one
who had designed

the Death Row logo.

In 2003,
Suge Knight's close friend

and confidante,
Wardell "Poochie" Fouse,

was shot ten times in the back
and killed

while riding his motorcycle
through Compton.

In 2005, Suge Knight lost
a 107 million dollar lawsuit

to a man named Harry O,

who had vested start-up money
in Death Row Records.

This, and a huge IRS bill,

led to Suge Knight
filing for bankruptcy.

Suffice it to say, by the time
we caught up with Suge Knight,

he had lost Death Row Records

and was a shadow
of his former self.

The task force
learned that the FBI

had launched
a racketeering investigation

into Death Row back in the 90s,
but had ultimately abandoned it.

They decided
to resurrect that case,

hoping to find witnesses
who would flip against Suge.

Unfortunately, the racketeering
case went nowhere,

but it would lead
to the one witness

that would break the case open.

In 1996,
prior to Tupac's murder,

Suge Knight had commissioned
for a 1961 Chevy Impala

to be customized
as a gift for Tupac.

The cover art for Tupac's album,
All Eyes On Me,

was airbrushed across the trunk.

Unfortunately, Tupac didn't live
long enough to receive the gift.

After changing hands
several times,

the Impala ended up
in front of a body shop

in El Monte, California.

Supposedly,
Suge found out about it

and some of his associates
went to the body shop

to pressure the owner
into giving it back.

After locating the Impala
at a Long Beach pawn shop,

the task force discovered

that the person
who had taken it there

was one of Suge Knight's
long time girlfriends.

Suge's most trusted girlfriend,

who we're going to refer

to under the alias
of Theresa Swann,

was the mother
of one of his children.

She was also
criminally complicit

in some of Suge's
nefarious business activities.

Theresa Swann had a long history
of fraud and perjury,

with a half a dozen
fake identities.

Our big break
with Theresa Swann came

when her name came up

in the middle
of an auto theft ring,

where the thieves were using
fraudulent loan applications

to purchase vehicles

and then in turn selling them
at a discount price.

In addition to the evidence

of her involvement
in this auto theft ring,

we discovered
that she was involved

in Suge Knight's
bankruptcy fraud.

So we now had two
very serious things

to hold over her head.

We were about to ask
Theresa Swann

to do something
against her every instinct.

Drop the dime on Suge Knight.

On March 17th of 2009,

the task force
had its first meeting

with Theresa Swann,

at a Starbucks
in Santa Fe Springs.

To evaluate the initial extent

of her cooperation,

and what she was willing
to tell us,

we decided to focus
on the subjects

of the auto theft investigation
and the bankruptcy fraud.

In fact we brought with us
an IRS agent

to further that deception.

We outlined what she was facing
in those charges,

and she responded, "Listen,
you've got to understand."

I only did what he told me.
That's all I ever did.

"I got kids.
I got to look out for them."

Since that first meeting
went relatively well,

we arranged a second meeting
with Theresa Swann,

at another Starbucks
in Pasadena.

This time we got down
to brass tacks.

My homicide partner,
Darren Dupree, asked Theresa,

"Do you know
why we're really here?

Do you know
why we're really here?"

And I told her,
we're homicide detectives.

We want to know
who killed Biggie Smalls.

Now she begins sobbing,

so Darren and I excuse ourselves
from the table momentarily,

leaving her with an FBI agent
working the case with us.

He walks over to us
a few minutes later,

with an ear to ear smile,
saying, "She knows."

With that,
we knew that a Starbucks

was not the setting
for full disclosure.

So we elected
to set up another meeting,

under more stringent
circumstances

at the DEA Headquarters.

In preparation
for their third meeting

with Theresa Swann,

the task force scoured
the case files.

They notice that one name
kept popping up,

Wardell "Poochie" Fouse.

Poochie was Suge Knight's friend
who was killed

while riding his motorcycle
in Compton in 2003.

An FBI informant
had claimed that Poochie

was one of the Suge Knight's
shooters.

One particular incident
involving Poochie

was the murder of an individual
named William Ratcliffe,

who was a bounty hunter

in the Nickerson Gardens
housing project,

who had threatened Suge.

William Ratcliffe
was run to ground

on the streets of Compton
and executed.

Suge allegedly said
in regard to Poochie's actions,

"He doesn't fuck around,
that's how I want him to do it."

We also discovered
prison letters

from a Blood
named Roderick Reed,

written in 2004.

Communications between him

and the discredited
FBI informant, Kevin Hackie.

In Roderick Reed's letters,
he mentions on several occasions

he knows Poochie is the one
who killed Biggie Smalls.

Considering Roderick Reed's
Blood background,

and the fact that
his co-defendant on the case

for which he is in prison

was none other
than George Williams,

one of Suge's trusted friends
and enforcers.

This gave
Roderick Reed's information

considerable credibility.

We wanted to go
and question Reed,

but because his case
was on appeal,

United States Attorney's Office
precluded us from doing that.

But what we do have
is these letters,

further corroborating
Poochie's involvement

in the murder of Biggie Smalls.

In the meantime, we decided
to approach Reggie Wright Jr.

The owner of Wright Way
Protective Services.

They provided all the security
for Death Row Records.

When we met
with Reggie Wright Jr.,

the most interesting thing
he had to say

was when he described
the unique relationship

that Suge Knight had
with Wardell "Poochie" Fouse.

He described it as
a very secretive relationship.

That they would always go off
to the side to talk.

That Poochie didn't hang out
like all the other gang members.

Very different.

They had a relationship
where they knew each other

and he would come around.

But to be honest, they kept
their relationship private.

Er, it would be Suge
and maybe a girl and myself,

when they would meet.

Er, it wasn't like
all the homies.

Down low
would maybe be a bad word,

but, erm, that would be the word

that you would probably
best describe it.

For their third
meeting with Theresa Swann,

the task force created a ruse.

They drafted fake documents,

including a drivers license
with Poochie's photo,

under the name
of Darnell Bolton,

one of Poochie's known aliases.

They also created
a fake confession letter,

appearing to have come
from Poochie before he died,

signed under the same alias
of Darnell Bolton.

This authentic-looking
fake confession letter

detailed the murder
as we believed it happened.

Specifically,
Poochie's fake confession stated

that Suge Knight had hired him

to kill Biggie in retaliation
for the murder of Tupac.

The letter listed Theresa Swann
as a co-conspirator

to make her believe that Poochie

had dropped the dime on her
years earlier.

To make it look more authentic,

we put a fake
law firm letterhead

and redacted out
certain sections.

Lastly,
the fake confession letter

was dated April 1st, 1998.

April Fool's Day.

It was a calculated risk we took

in introducing
that fake confession letter.

If the information in
that letter wasn't true,

then Theresa Swann
would know that.

And call our bluff

and the whole strategy
would be upended.

On May 28th of 2009,

we sat down with Theresa Swann
at police headquarters.

At the very beginning
of our meeting, it's very tense.

Theresa Swann is crying
uncontrollably.

She also says, "If Suge
ever finds out about this",

dot, dot, dot."

Clearly indicating

that if Suge ever finds out
that she's cooperating,

there'd be a price to pay.

Understanding her predicament,

we assured her
that we could protect her.

You know we'll do our best
to handle the situation.

She looked at us
sarcastically, saying...

How are you gonna handle Suge?

Some people may take
issue as whether or not

they think
it's an ethical approach

to essentially lie to witnesses.

We call it conducting a ruse.

It's completely a standard
that's used

in law enforcement
investigations all the time.

It's much like in that scene
from L.A. Confidential,

where the detective is playing
two suspects against each other,

that are in different
interrogation rooms.

Said they called you Sugar

because you gave it out,
so sweet.

Louis gave it up
at Casitas, man.

And I was the fucking boss
jock in my dorm.

Lewis was the sissy.

Ray Collins just ratted you off.

He said the Night Owl
was your idea.

I think it was Ray's idea.

If you talk,
I think I can save your life.

It was essentially
the same thing,

except in this case

one of the suspects
was speaking from the grave.

Since they'd mentioned

Theresa Swann by name

in Poochie's
fake confession letter,

She was led to believe
that she'd already been exposed

and that now was the time
to deal with it.

So after she gains
her composure,

we show her this fake sheaf
of documents,

which she reviews, and pauses,

looking up at us and says,

"What Poochie said
that's what happened."

Now that we'd broken the ice,

Theresa Swann goes on to say

that after the shooting
of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas,

and Suge Knight going to jail,

that he was as mad
as she'd ever seen him.

He was enraged.

Theresa Swann further explains

that Suge Knight's attorney
drafted a letter

instructing the LA County
Sheriff's Department

to allow Theresa Swann into the
attorney/client privileged area.

So now we have Theresa Swann

meeting with Suge Knight
at the County jail,

under the false pretenses

that she's part
of his legal team.

This of course allows her
to have conversations with him

that cannot be monitored
or overheard.

On Suge's orders,

Theresa had a couple of meetings
with Poochie

at a Denny's in Lakewood.

Poochie asked her how he was
gonna get paid for the hit,

and she assured him
that once it was done,

she'd get him the money.

The only thing about the...

that ever made me
raise any type of eyebrows

regarding the possibility

of someone being involved in
the Biggie, er, assassination...

would be, erm, a request
from Norris Anderson,

who was the General Manager
of the company at the time,

to think of a way,
or did I know of a way

to get $25,000 cash, er,
to one of Suge's female friends.

When Suge Knight had bought
his 1995 Chevy Impala,

he had also purchased
a Chevy Impala for Poochie.

There were rumored to be

that Suge and he bought Impalas
at George Chevrolet

in Bellflower, California,
at the same time.

Theresa Swann herself
attends the Vibe party

at the Petersen Auto Museum.

But claims she left
prior to the shooting,

and did not see Poochie there.

She says that she didn't see
Poochie again

until a couple of weeks
after Biggie's murder,

when he called her
to ask for some of the money.

She notices his Impala appears
to have been recently painted.

Theresa explains that she made
two payments to Poochie.

The initial one was for $9,000.

However he comes back later
to collect an additional $4,000

so that he can get out of town.

Now, when we do the math,

there's $13,000
doled out to Poochie.

The contract was supposedly
for $25,000.

So, assumedly,

the remaining $12,000
was retained by Theresa Swann

for her role in the conspiracy.

Now, with Keffe D's confession
and Theresa Swann's confession,

both these
parallel investigations

are really starting
to fall together.

The murder of Tupac Shakur
in Las Vegas

and the murder of Biggie Smalls
in Los Angeles.

We have Keffe D

ready to make another run
at Zip in New York,

and I'm writing an affidavit
to wire-tap Suge Knight's phone

to solicit incriminating
statements.

We have accomplished,

in these three years
of investigative work,

more than had been accomplished
in the previous decade.

We're right at the threshold
of solving both of these murders

and then the rug gets pulled out
from under us.

In hindsight, it appears
that we accomplished exactly

what the LAPD
had wanted all along.

Gather enough evidence
to disprove Poole's theory,

and get out from under that
potential $400 million lawsuit

that Biggie's family had waged.

Perhaps it was
the LAPD's opinion.

The shooters in both
of these murders are dead.

And although the co-conspirators
are still walking free,

maybe it's best
just to let sleeping dogs lie.

On the one hand,
we had vindicated the department

from those false allegations

about being involved
in the murder.

But on the other hand,
it was very disheartening

having gathered the evidence
that we did,

and the LAPD
not having the fortitude

to continue forward.