Randall Sullivan - LAbyrinth. A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the...

Praise for LAbyrinth:

With LAbyrinth, Randall Sullivan offers a heretical view of Rampart and much more. LAbyrinth is a jeremiad, leveling everything in its path. LAbyrinth gleefully wants to provoke a discussion. Well, a knockdown brawl, but still.

R. J. Smith, Los Angeles Magazine

A fascinating read.

Mark Brown, The Rocky Mountain News

One of the most exhaustive, compelling studies of hip-hop culture ever published.

Meghan Sutherland, Paper

Sullivan makes a strong case for thinking that the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls are connected, and the LAPD Ramparts Division scandal is connected to them. You havent got the goods on any of these notorious cases until you read this intricate showbiz true-crime thriller.

Booklist

Sullivan strikes again. Sullivans reportorial writing style accurately reflects the investigative work of homicide gumshoe Russell Poole while building the drama within the truly labyrinthine political cover-ups, cop-to-criminal crossovers and the breaks in the LAPDs code of silence.

Publishers Weekly

Compelling Augmented by a roster of more than 130 key players, a detailed timeline of events, and reference to 224 supporting documents, the book offers a blueprint for federal authorities to investigate the grave injustices it alleges. No single source presents so complete or damning a record as LAbyrinth.

Evan Serpick, CNN.com

Knowing a scandal when he sees one, Sullivan names names and sets scenes piled high with drugs, guns, cash, fab cars, and corpses.

Anneli Rufus, Eastbayexpress.com

Also by Randall Sullivan

The Price of Experience

A Detective Investigates the Murders of
Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.,
the Implication of Death Row Records
Suge Knight, and the Origins of the
Los Angeles Police Scandal

RANDALL SULLIVAN

Copyright 2002 by Randall Sullivan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

Permission to quote from Notorious B.I.G.s Somebodys Gotta Die by Hal Leonard Corporation. Words and music by Sean Combs, Christopher Wallace, Nashiem Myrick, Carlos Broady, and Tony Hester. Copyright 1997 EMI April Music, Justin Combs Publishing Company, Inc., Big Poppa Music, EMI Longitude Music, Nash Mack Publishing, and July Six Publishing. All rights for Justin Combs Publishing Company, Inc. and Big Poppa Music controlled and administered by EMI April Music, Inc. Contains elements of In the Rain. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.

PHOTO CREDITS: page 1, bottom right, Robert Yager; page 3, top, Ted Soqui/CORBIS Sygma; page 4, bottom left, CORBIS; page 4, bottom right, Simone Green-English, page 5, top left, AP/World Wide Photos; page 5, top right, Bill Jones; page 5, lower left, AP/World Wide Photos; page 5, lower right, George De Sota/Newsmakers; page 7, top right, Robert Yager; page 8, top, Robert Yager.

Published simultaneously in Canada
Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sullivan, Randall.

LAbyrinth : a detective investigates the murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the implication of Death Row Records Suge Knight, and the origins of the Los Angeles Police scandal / Randall Sullivan.

p. cm.

eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-5558-4743-2

1. MurderCaliforniaLos AngelesCase studies. 2. Police misconductCaliforniaLos AngelesCase studies. 3. Police corruptionCaliforniaLos AngelesCase studies. 4. Shakur, Tupac, 19715. Notorious B.I.G. (Musician) 6. Knight, Suge. I. Title.

HV6534.L7 S848 2002

364.15230979494dc21

2001053709

Grove Press

841 Broadway

New York, NY 10003

To M.D., who talked me into this.

Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.

Robert F. Kennedy

Retaliation for this one wont be minimal

Cuz Im a criminal

Way before the rap shit

Bust the gat shit

Puff wont even know what happened,

If its done smoothly

from Somebodys Gotta Die, Notorious B.I.G.

March 18, 1997, North Hollywood, California

Even people in passing cars could see that this was an occasion for steering clear. It was just past four in the afternoon, the beginning of rush hour in Los Angeles, when two men, one white, the other black, became embroiled in what appeared to be an overheated traffic dispute. Both combatants were dressed to display their muscular builds, although in styles at considerable variance. The white man, who drove a battered Buick Regal, wore a pale gray tank top that showed off his bulging biceps and with it a baseball cap bearing the insignia of a marijuana leaf. He sported a bushy Fu Manchu mustache and his long, silver-streaked hair was tied back in a ponytail. The black man, who drove a shiny green Mitsubishi Montero, had a shaved head and a goatee, while the breadth of his bare chest showed beneath a green Nike jacket worn open nearly to the navel.

The Buick had just stopped in heavy traffic at the intersection of Ventura and Lankershim Boulevards when the Montero pulled up on the left, rap music thumping through its open windows. The black man began staring in the direction of the Buick and shaking his head. The white man thought he must be looking at someone on the sidewalk and turned to check, but the sidewalk was empty. The white man rolled down his window and asked, Can I help you?

Roll that window up, you punk motherfucker! the black man shouted back. Get out of my face or Ill put a cap up your ass!

Whats your problem? the white man asked.

Im your problem, motherfucker! the black man shouted. Pull over right now and Ill kick your motherfucking ass!

Yeah, sure, the white man replied.

The black man became so enraged that his eyeballs bulged. Ill cap your ass, motherfucker! he screamed. Pull over right now! The man in the Montero punctuated his threat with a series of curious hand gestures, then pointed to the side of the road.

The white man nodded and said, All right, lets go. Pull over.

It looked as if the two were going to climb out of their cars and go at it right there, but as soon as the Montero parked in a red zone on the other side of the intersection, the Buick sped away, veering south on Cahuenga Boulevard. Screaming curses out his window and pounding on his steering wheel, the enraged black man forced his way back into traffic and took off after the Buick, slaloming between cars, even veering into an oncoming lane at one point.

The Montero finally caught up when the Buick was stopped by a red light at Regal Place, four car lengths from an on-ramp to the Hollywood Freeway. As the SUV pulled up next to the sedan, other motorists heard the black man screaming through his passenger-side window, then saw him lean toward the Buick and extend his right arm. The white man, who had been shouting back, suddenly ducked his head, banged his chest against the Buicks steering column, and let his foot slip off the brake as the car lurched slightly forward. The Monteros windows were tinted almost to opacity, and witnesses werent sure whether the black man had a gun, but the hand that came out of the Buicks open window a moment later, as the white man sat up straight again, definitely was filled with an automatic pistol. A woman in a Mercedes sedan who was a long way from her home in Pacific Palisades remembered that the white man wore this very determined, focused expression as he fired off one shot, then a second.