In an extensive report posted Monday, LA Weekly highlighted revelations from the murder cases and Kading’s self-published book, “Murder Rap,” which is set for release Tuesday.   

Smalls, who was born Christopher Wallace and also known as The Notorious B.I.G., was shot and killed in March 1997 while stopped at a red light after leaving a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Shakur was killed in September 1996 in a drive-by shooting after leaving a boxing match at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. Knight, the co-founder and former CEO of Death Row Records, was in the driver’s seat of the car with Shakur and survived the shooting.

A special task force of LAPD officers, along with agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation, launched an investigation into the murders in May 2006.   

Solving Smalls’ 9-year-old case was a priority for the LAPD because the rapper’s mother, Voletta Wallace, had recently sued the City of Los Angeles, claiming that “dirty cops” were involved in the murder. After Wallace’s civil suit against LAPD was declared a mistrial and a judge awarded her more than $1 million in legal fees, she filed a second lawsuit in the summer of 2006.

In late December 2008 Kading, along with federal and local agents, met with Duane “Keffe D” Keith Davis in his lawyer’s office.

Keffe D reportedly confessed on tape that Combs offered him $1 million to kill Shakur and Knight. He said he and his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, were in the white Cadillac that pulled up to the car Shakur and Knight were driving in that fateful night on the Las Vegas strip. Keffe D said he was in the passenger seat and Anderson was in the backseat.

He explained that his nephew “leaned over, and Orlando [Baby Lane] rolled down the window and popped him [Shakur],” according to LA Weekly. “If they would’ve drove on my side [of the car] I would’ve popped him.”

LA Weekly, which described Davis as a “shot caller for the Southside Crips,” notes that Keffe D was willing to talk to the agents because they had information implicating him as the kingpin of a nationwide PCP ring that came with a possible sentence of 25 years to life.

Five months after recording Keffe D’s confession, Kading and his investigative team made major progress in Smalls’ murder case by snagging a confession from Knight’s lover and business associate. She is referred to under the alias of “Theresa Swann” in “Murder Rap.”

Swann reportedly confessed that Knight was so upset about Shakur’s death that he gave her $13,000 to pay Wardell “Poochie” Fouse to murder Smalls. LA Weekly notes that Fouse was a close associate of Knight.

Baby Lane and Poochie were both killed years ago as a result of Crips-versus-Bloods battles related to Shakur and Smalls’ murders.

Before Kading could wiretap phone calls between Knight and Swann or track down more Crips allegedly involved in Shakur’s murder, he was pulled off the task force in July 2009.

Wallace withdrew her lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles in April 2010, followed by the task force being dismantled. Kading protested the case being closed by turning in his LAPD badge, walking away from 22 years with the force.

The former detective told LA Weekly that he decided to write “Murder Rap” because he felt ethically convicted to share his investigative work.

“Really I did it because it was the right thing to do, all things considered. The interests of Voletta Wallace … the interests of the families, the interests of the fans and the public as a whole. Their interests trump the interests of those who don’t want the story told,” Kading said in a video recorded for LA Weekly. “If I don’t tell the story, no one will.”

Combs told LA Weekly via email that Kading’s book “is pure fiction and completely ridiculous.”

Click here to read LA Weekly’s full report.