Who Killed Tupac Shakur?

On September 7th, 1997 a black BMW cruises down the Las Vegas strip. Inside film and Rap star Tupac Shakur is sitting in the passenger seat while Deathrow Record kingpin Marion "Suge" Knight is behind the wheel. No one notices the non descript white Cadillac pulling along side or the weapon that is aimed directly at Tupac Shakur. Tupac is hit several times in the chest and is rushed to the University Medical Center but the Doctors can't stop the internal bleeding. Six days later Tupac Shakur is dead. Who killed Tupac Shakur would become one of the greatest Nevada mysteries with theories that abound.

For years the mystery has lingered and taken on a mythic quality. Although the case remains officially unsolved and theories abound, one theory remains constant. The ongoing war between LA's Blood and Crips street gang and their affiliation with East and West coast rappers. In September 2002 a new theory emerged and it rocked the music world. The Los Angeles Times created a firestorm of controversy when it reported that the hit on Tupac Shakur was placed by another Rap Star, the Notorious B.I.G. LA Times music writer Chuck Phillips, who spent a year investigating the story, said he learned that Biggie whose real name is Chris Wallace, agreed to pay the Crips $1,000,000 to kill Tupac.

According to Chuck Phillips he has interviewed many gang members the story is true. Yet according to Biggie's friends he couldn't have done it because at the time of the murder he was thousands of miles away. In a statement Biggie's family describes the LA Times story as irresponsible journalism and said they may file a lawsuit against the paper and Chuck Phillips in particular. The last hours of Tupac Shakur's life were ripe with gang violence. On September 7th Tupac met up with Suge Knight in Las Vegas to attend a Mike Tyson heavyweight fight at the MGM Grand Hotel. Among those in attendance were members of LA's notorious street gangs. At 8:45 PM Tupac and Suge Knight headed for the exit accompanied by a group of the Bloods who were on Deathrow's payroll.

In the lobby someone noticed a member of the arch rival Crips standing near the elevator. The Crip was Orlando Anderson who months earlier had beaten and robbed one of Tupac's bodyguards. In a flash, Tupac, Suge, and other members from the group jump Anderson and beat him down. Terrified bystanders scattered as the group then went into the Casino and out into the street. That's what is known for sure. Phillips account of what happened next is gleaned from interviews with investigators and anonymous gangsters many talking for the first time. According to Phillips, Anderson, vowing revenge quickly organized a meeting with his fellow Crips at the Treasure Island Hotel. There they devised a plan to take their revenge.

It is hard to imagine that a beat down could result in a killing but in the gang world that is a sign of disrespect and taken very seriously among gang members. The Crips told Phillips they then arranged a secret meeting with Tupac's greatest rival Biggie Small or Notorious B.I.G. Tupac and Biggie were engaged in a bitter public feud over record labels and that allegedly Tupac had had sex with Biggie's wife. According to Phillips the Crips met with Biggie who was staying at the MGM Hotel under an assumed name. They were there to collect the $1,000,000 for the hit to which, allegedly, Biggie agreed and reportedly provided a 40 caliber Glock semi automatic handgun. At 10:30 PM, Tupac and Suge leading a procession of fancy cars drove North on Las Vegas Blvd. They then turned right on Flamingo Road in front of the nightclub 662.

At 11:00 PM Anderson and three other Crips set off in search of Tupac heading out of the Treasure Island parking lot in the white Cadillac. They linked up with another car and drove south on Las Vegas Blvd. When they turned onto Flamingo Road, fate intervened as Tupac and Suge Knight's Limo was just ahead of them. They then pulled up beside the luxury vehicle and while Tupac was talking to his left they were on the right side and let go with something on the order of 13 shots. A panic stricken Suge drove across the median and crashed into a curb. Las Vegas ruched to the scene and called for an ambulance. Suge was slightly wounded and Tupac was fatally wounded. He died six days later his family by his side. According to Phillips, the Crips escaped undetected speeding back on I15 to Los Angeles in their white Cadillac in the dead of night.

In the days following the shooting made little headway in their investigation. Detectives reviewed the video tape of the Orlando Anderson beating but did not connect the incident to the murder. On October 7th Compton California detained Anderson in a gang roundup as part of an effort to curb gang violence. And although they Detectives questioned Anderson they apparently didn't think much of him as a suspect in the murder. Anderson denied knowing anything about Tupac's murder and was released. Less than two years later Anderson was killed in an unrelated shooting in a Compton car wash. And then in March 1997 Biggie Small himself was gunned down in Los Angeles in an eerily similar circumstance. He was shot at a traffic light on Wilshire Blvd. His case also remains unsolved.

Tupac Shakur and Biggie Small both grew up in homes without Fathers in neighborhoods strewn with drugs and crime. Tupac grew up in Baltimore Md. At the time Baltimore had the highest rate of teenage pregnancy, AIDS, teens killing teens, suicide, and blacks killing blacks. Biggie Small grew up in the tough side of Brooklyn. He was hustling in the hood selling drugs and doing what he had to do to survive. This shared background helped the two buddies bond in their careers. They immediately became fast friends after they met. Biggie even slept on Tupac's couch a few times. But then Tupac moved to California and became the West Coast's biggest rap star while Biggie was a rising talent in the east. Biggie knew that Tupac was real and that Tupac was being real with him.

But Tupac felt snubbed when Biggie's first record came out. Their friendship changed forever after an incident at New York City's Quad studios in November 1994. Biggie's and his crew crew were recording late at night when Tupac arrived late at night. Two robbers found Tupac in the lobby stole his jewelry and shot him five times. Although Tupac survived he felt he had been setup although denied any knowledge of it. Tupac's anger grew and he released a record called Hit em up where he dissed Biggie and talks about having sex with Biggies wife. It was evil and vicious and genius at the same time. According to Phillips Biggie was enraged and started telling gang members he would pay someone to kill Tupac. After Tupac signed with Deathrow records in 1999 the feud grew even more intense due to hostilities between producers Suge Knight and P. Diddy Combs.

The music industry saw a war erupt between the two coasts. But was it enough to lead to murder? Biggies family that there is no way that Biggie put a hit out on Tupac and in fact always tried to downplay the rivalry. Phillips also writes that Biggie had ties to the LA Crips and the Bloods who were affiliated with Suge Knight and Death Row Records. Phillips writes that Biggie hired Crips as security when he went to California. But Biggie's allies say he had no gang ties. According to Biggies friend he wasn't even in Las Vegas the night of the Mike Tyson bout. They all say he was home in New Jersey. They say he was in the studio part of the day recording the single Nasty Girl. No photos have been found placing Biggie in Vegas on the night in question. The attorney for Tupac Shakur's mother says he isn't sure Biggie was involved either.

However Chuck Phillips says he stands by his story. Others have come up with other theories. Russel Poole, a former Las Angeles police Detective says he believes Suge Night set the whole thing up. He became curious after Biggies murder and wondered if there were connections between the two murders. The Detective suspected that Orlando Anderson may have been the trigger man for the real mastermind, Suge Knight. But why would a record label producer want to kill his top artist? The theory was that before Tupac died he was going to break with Deathrow and start his own company and that word got back to Suge Knight. But that leads to the obvious question, why would Suge Night put himself in the path of flying bullets? After Tupac was killed Suge refused to cooperate with investigators. He was, however found guilty of violating parole for helping beat up Anderson.

He was sentenced to five years in prison. But LA Times reporter Chuck Phillips doubts that Suge had a role in Tupac's murder. Suge Knight has long denied that he has had anything to do with the murder of Tupac. For the family and friends of both Tupac and Biggie the fact that police have failed to arrest anyone in either case is still a very painful subject. In September 1999, Valletta Wallace and Athena Shakur, Mothers of Biggie and Tupac, appeared together at an awards show to plead for peace. They also got together to request a Federal investigation of the two murders. And now rappers worry that the Chuck Phillip's story may destroy the uneasy peace between the two coasts. Six years after the murders there are still more questions than answers for two of the biggest Rap Stars the world has ever known and only brings up more pain to the two families.