http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-biggie3jun03,0,4408184.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Informant in Rap Star's Slaying Admits Hearsay
By Chuck Philips, Times Staff Writer
A paid informant who figured prominently in police and FBI investigations into the killing of rap star Notorious B.I.G., and who accused rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight and a rogue police officer of orchestrating the murder, has admitted that his information was "all hearsay."
The informant, questioned under oath in a civil lawsuit, also admitted that his identification of the alleged gunman was fraudulent. He described himself as a paranoid schizophrenic.
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The statements cast grave doubt on a theory that has gained wide currency: that corrupt police officers played a role in the killing and that top LAPD officials covered up their actions.
The theory, energetically promoted by a former Los Angeles police detective, has been featured in Rolling Stone magazine, on MTV and PBS' "Frontline," and in books and movies. Along the way, it has attained a kind of pop-culture immortality.
Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace, was gunned down March 9, 1997, after a music-industry party in the Mid-Wilshire district. The case remains unsolved.
Leads that the informant gave LAPD detectives formed the basis of the theory that Knight, founder of Death Row Records, conspired with then-LAPD Officer David A. Mack to arrange the shooting.
According to this scenario, a college friend of Mack's, a Southland mortgage broker named Amir Muhammad, ambushed Wallace as his motorcade waited at a stoplight.
The informant picked Muhammad's picture out of a police photo lineup in 1998.
Five years later, he served as an undercover operative in an FBI investigation that focused on Muhammad.
In his recent deposition, the informant, known to law enforcement officials as "Psycho Mike," all but demolished his earlier assertions about the killing.
He said he had no solid information that Knight or Mack was involved — only "hearsay." And he acknowledged that he had never laid eyes on Muhammad when LAPD detectives showed him six photos and asked him to identify the suspect.
The informant was asked how he knew what Muhammad looked like.
"I didn't know what he looked like," he replied, according to a transcript of the Feb. 3 deposition obtained by The Times.
"So actually, when you looked at this picture, you guessed?" a lawyer asked.
"Yes," the informant said. "Hearsay."
The Times is withholding the man's name because authorities said disclosing it could endanger his life.
Muhammad, Mack and Knight have long denied any role in the killing.
Wrongful-Death Suit
The deposition was related to a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles by Wallace's estate, his mother, Voletta Wallace, and other relatives.
The suit contends that LAPD officials covered up police involvement in the rapper's death, and seeks unspecified monetary damages. It is scheduled to go to trial in U.S. District Court on June 14.
Informant in Rap Star's Slaying Admits Hearsay
By Chuck Philips, Times Staff Writer
A paid informant who figured prominently in police and FBI investigations into the killing of rap star Notorious B.I.G., and who accused rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight and a rogue police officer of orchestrating the murder, has admitted that his information was "all hearsay."
The informant, questioned under oath in a civil lawsuit, also admitted that his identification of the alleged gunman was fraudulent. He described himself as a paranoid schizophrenic.
ADVERTISEMENT
The statements cast grave doubt on a theory that has gained wide currency: that corrupt police officers played a role in the killing and that top LAPD officials covered up their actions.
The theory, energetically promoted by a former Los Angeles police detective, has been featured in Rolling Stone magazine, on MTV and PBS' "Frontline," and in books and movies. Along the way, it has attained a kind of pop-culture immortality.
Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace, was gunned down March 9, 1997, after a music-industry party in the Mid-Wilshire district. The case remains unsolved.
Leads that the informant gave LAPD detectives formed the basis of the theory that Knight, founder of Death Row Records, conspired with then-LAPD Officer David A. Mack to arrange the shooting.
According to this scenario, a college friend of Mack's, a Southland mortgage broker named Amir Muhammad, ambushed Wallace as his motorcade waited at a stoplight.
The informant picked Muhammad's picture out of a police photo lineup in 1998.
Five years later, he served as an undercover operative in an FBI investigation that focused on Muhammad.
In his recent deposition, the informant, known to law enforcement officials as "Psycho Mike," all but demolished his earlier assertions about the killing.
He said he had no solid information that Knight or Mack was involved — only "hearsay." And he acknowledged that he had never laid eyes on Muhammad when LAPD detectives showed him six photos and asked him to identify the suspect.
The informant was asked how he knew what Muhammad looked like.
"I didn't know what he looked like," he replied, according to a transcript of the Feb. 3 deposition obtained by The Times.
"So actually, when you looked at this picture, you guessed?" a lawyer asked.
"Yes," the informant said. "Hearsay."
The Times is withholding the man's name because authorities said disclosing it could endanger his life.
Muhammad, Mack and Knight have long denied any role in the killing.
Wrongful-Death Suit
The deposition was related to a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles by Wallace's estate, his mother, Voletta Wallace, and other relatives.
The suit contends that LAPD officials covered up police involvement in the rapper's death, and seeks unspecified monetary damages. It is scheduled to go to trial in U.S. District Court on June 14.
