Biggie Murder Update: Jailed LAPD Officer Now A Suspect

12/10/1999 7:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(12/10/99, 7 a.m. ET) - Members of the hip-hop community aren't surprised by the news that an officer of the Los Angeles Police Department, already behind bars for robbery, has been pegged as one of the suspects in the 1997 murder of hip-hop kingpin the Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace.

Investigators are reportedly examining whether former Officer David Mack conspired with Death Row Records honcho Marion "Suge" Knight to arrange the contract killing of the 24-year-old rapper, according to the Los Angeles Times. The March 9, 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G., which occurred after leaving a music industry party at the Peterson Automotive Museum, remains unsolved.

Mack is under suspicion for allegedly hiring longtime friend Amir Muhammad to attack Wallace, the Times reported, citing confidential police documents and sources that include a former detective assigned to the case. A witness placed Mack at the scene of the slaying, and another man, who was in the same vehicle as Wallace, picked Mack out of a photo lineup of six men, according to police documents. Mack is currently serving a 14-year prison term for a 1997 bank robbery. Police have been unable to locate Muhammad at press time.

The recent news does not come as a surprise to former Vibe magazine editor Danyel Smith. "I have to say that I was not surprised to hear that there was a possibility that someone from Southern California law enforcement may be involved in the murder of Biggie Smalls, because Vibe has been reporting that since last March, and the L.A. Times has been inching towards this news as well. And, so I'm not surprised. It's sad, whoever it is--but it's even more sad if it involves law enforcement."

Smith, who as the editor of one of the biggest-selling music magazines in the country, helped form a new wave of hip-hop in the media. Now, she holds a seat as editor-at-large of Time Inc., contributing to the media giant's 33 publications, including In Style and Time.

"My whole thing is, I just hope they find the right person," Smith says. "I don't want them to find any person and slap a murder charge on somebody. I think everybody in hip-hop wants to find the right person and let that person have a trial--let's see what happens, and let's see if that person is guilty, and let's try to work it out.

"[Smalls was] a man who was extremely talented--a superstar, a writer extraordinare--and he was cut down in the prime of his life. I'm not saying that Biggie was perfect or [that] he was an angel among men, but nobody needs to go out like that. And I would like to know who did it, and why, and see that person come to justice."

At presstime, no one from the Notorious B.I.G.'s record label, Bad Boy Entertainment, was available for comment. His mother Voletta Wallace was out of the country and was unable to return phone calls at presstime.

-- Karu F. Daniels, New York

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