B.I.G. Theory Debunked

The popular theory that corrupt police officers, in league with rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight, orchestrated the 1997 murder of Notorious B.I.G. in Los Angeles came unraveled last month when a paid informant admitted his previous assertions of such were “all hearsay.”

Under questioning in a civil lawsuit related to the case, the informant also described himself as a paranoid schizophrenic.

The theory of corrupt cops assisting Knight in a murder plot and then helping to cover it up has been the subject of countless newspaper and magazine articles, books and on TV – most notably on MTV and PBS’ “Frontline.”

The theory came to life on the basis of leads given to the LAPD by the informant that Death Row Records founder Knight conspired with then-LAPD officer David A. Mack to arrange the shooting, according to the Los Angeles Times.

According to the informant, a mortgage broker named Amir Muhammed ambushed B.I.G. – real name: Christopher Wallace – as his motorcade waited at a stoplight after a party in Los Angeles.

But in his deposition for a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the city of Los Angeles by Wallace’s estate, his mother Voletta Wallace and other relatives, the unidentified informant retracted his previous statements. According to the Times, he is known by police simply as “Psycho Mike.”

He also reportedly has served as a paid informant for several government agencies, including the L.A. County Sheriff, FBI, DEA, Long Beach police and anti-terrorist groups.