By M&C News Jul 31, 2006, 13:05 GMT
In the wake of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by family members, Los Angeles police have assigned a new task force to look into the unsolved 1997 killing of rapper Notorious B.I.G., according to newspaper reports. The Notorious B.I.G. (whose real name was Christopher Wallace) died at age of 24 following a shooting on March 9th, 1997. The performer, who is said to be one of the biggest influences in rap music in 1990s, was leaving a party at a Los Angeles museum.
The city is already facing a wrongful death lawsuit that was filed by the rapper’s mother Voletta Wallace and other family members. The suit claims that “rogue” police officers from the Los Angles department might have been involved in the death, according to information in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times.
The lawsuit was first filed by the Wallace family resulted in a mistrial being declared in the summer of 2005. The decision was reached following three days of testimony and information that indicated a police detective intentionally hid statements by a jailhouse informant linking the killing to former police officers.
Although no new evidence has been found to justify the formation of the task force, they group could help the city in the case against the Wallace family. The investigation is reported to be focusing on if the rapper could have been killed by a gang member in relation to the killing of Tupac Shakur six months earlier.
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