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Music Producer Suspect In Rapper's Death
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LOS ANGELES, Posted 7:30 a.m. April 21, 1999
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'Suge' Knight Reportedly Played Role In Murder Of Notorious B.I.G.

Police suspect jailed music producer Marion "Suge" Knight played a prominent role in the ambush slaying of rapper Notorious B.I.G., The Los Angeles Times reported today.

Authorities declined to give details on what evidence they have linking Knight to the killing, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed police sources. No charges have been filed against Knight in the case.

Notorious B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was riding in his GMC Suburban when he was shot several times on March 9, 1997. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

On Tuesday, detectives served search warrants on four locations linked to Knight. Police seized a Chevrolet Impala that matches witnesses' description of the car used in the drive-by killing, The Times said.

Police also searched the offices of Death Row Records, the company Knight founded and built into one of the hottest rap labels in the country.

Knight was in jail at the time of Wallace's death and is currently serving a nine-year prison term for violating probation in connection with a 1992 attack on two aspiring rappers in a Hollywood recording studio.

Knight's lawyer, David Kenner, declined comment.

At the time of Wallace's death, rap industry observers had acknowledged tensions between Death Row and Wallace's producer, New York-based Bad Boys Entertainment. Wallace's shooting apparently was payback for previous squabbles between the two labels, police sources told The Times.

"This was a professional hit," one source told the newspaper.

Six months before Wallace's death, rapper Tupac Shakur and Knight were in Las Vegas when someone fired on their car. Shakur, one of Knight's most successful artists, later died of his injuries.

Police sources told The Times that Knight believes people at Bad Boy may have been behind that attack, though a link has never been proved. Shakur's shooting has remained unsolved.