Rap beefs, gang fights and dirty cops: who really killed Tupac and Biggie?
The drive-by murders of rappers Biggie and Tupac have gone unsolved for over 20 years, but a new documentary uncovers further evidence. Kevin E G Perry talks to filmmakers Nick Broomfield and Pam Brooks about their incendiary film, Last Man Standing


In October 2018, former Death Row Records boss Suge Knight was sentenced to 28 years in prison for running over and killing music executive Terry Carter. Documentarian Nick Broomfieldās 2002 film Biggie & Tupac alleged that Knight was complicit in the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Christopher āNotorious BIGā Wallace, rival rap icons who were shot in mysterious drive-bys within six months of each other in the mid-Nineties. But Knightās lengthy incarceration presented an opportunity to uncover new evidence that even decades on could help shed light on the pair of intriguing and high-profile unsolved murders.
āPeople are much more prepared to talk now,ā says Broomfield, speaking over a video call. āNow that Suge Knightās behind bars, a lot of people are coming forward that were, frankly, frightened of getting killed before.ā
Broomfield says further motivation to make new documentary Last Man Standing: Suge Knight and the Murders of Biggie & Tupac came from his desire to continue the work of the late LAPD detective Russell Poole, whose investigation into Wallaceās murder led him to believe that corrupt LAPD officers had been involved. Poole died of a heart attack in 2015 during a meeting at the Los Angeles County Sheriffās Department, where he was still arguing his case. That same year a documentary, Murder Rap ā based on a book by another former LAPD officer, Greg Kading ā set out an alternative narrative that cleared the police of any involvement.
āI felt Russell Poole had been really shafted,ā says Broomfield. āHe had a tragic ending, and then this bulls*** programme came out. I was horrified when I saw the film. I felt it was belittling the work of Poole, and it made these ridiculous allegations that the LAPD were completely innocent and that this guy called Poochie had done the hit. The hit on Biggie was not a gang hit. Through complete annoyance, and out of loyalty to Poole, I decided to do this film.ā
Itās fair to say thereās no love lost between Broomfield and Kading. When I speak to the retired detective, who is interviewed in Last Man Standing, he says he now regrets his involvement in Broomfieldās documentary and accuses the director of being āintellectually dishonestā. āHeās not interested in facts and evidence,ā argues Kading. āHeās interested in patching together a narrative that is not only reckless and irresponsible, but it falsely accuses innocent people of murder.ā
Broomfield has never worried about stirring up controversy with his films (and they have, from his 1996 doc about Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss to his 1988 film on Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love), but he makes clear he never misled Kading about his intentions. While he disagrees with the detectiveās conclusions, he felt they were important to include. āI wanted to get his theory from the horseās mouth, as it were,ā says Broomfield.
Despite their differing opinions on Wallaceās murder, both Broomfield and Kading agree on the circumstances surrounding Shakurās death. This much is known for certain: on 7 September 1996, Shakur and Knight watched from the crowd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as Mike Tyson knocked out Bruce Seldon in just one minute and 49 seconds. As they left the fight, Travon Lane, an associate of Knightās and a member of the Blood-affiliated MOB Pirus gang, spotted Orlando Anderson of the rival Southside Crips gang. Earlier that year, Anderson had attempted to rob Lane. When Lane told Shakur this, the rapper took it upon himself to approach Anderson and punch him in the face. The ensuing fight, which was captured on CCTV, saw Knight and his associates join Shakur in beating and kicking Anderson.
Later that evening, as Shakur and Knight drove to Knightās Club 662, a white Cadillac pulled alongside their car. A passenger in the back of the Cadillac opened fire with a Glock 22, hitting Shakur four times. He died in hospital six days later, at the age of 25.
The fact that nobody has ever been charged in relation to the shooting has allowed various contradictory theories to flourish. In Biggie & Tupac, Broomfield presented Pooleās hypothesis that Knight may have orchestrated the hit himself because he owed Shakur $10m in royalties and couldnāt pay. Another theory held that Sean āPuffyā Combs, head of Death Rowās East Coast rivals Bad Boy Records, to which Wallace was signed, arranged the shooting and that Knight had also been an intended target.

Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Sign up now for a 30-day free trial. Terms apply.
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Sign up now for a 30-day free trial. Terms apply.
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

What now seems most likely is that Shakurās death was simply a direct reprisal for the fight at the MGM Grand earlier in the evening. In 2008, Kading carried out a sting operation on Keefe D, a Southside Crips gang boss and Orlando Andersonās uncle. As part of a plea deal, Keefe D admitted to being in the white Cadillac that night and implicated Anderson as the shooter (Anderson was himself killed in a gang shooting in 1998).
While Broomfield now accepts that Pooleās theory about Knight having Shakur killed was wrong, Last Man Standing producer Pam Brooks argues that Knight still carries some moral responsibility for the death of his biggest star. Brooks is a Compton local who was a central figure in Broomfieldās 2014 serial killer documentary Tales of the Grim Sleeper, and was instrumental in connecting the filmmaker with gang members whoād never previously spoken about the murders. She says Knight, who immersed Death Row in the mentality of the MOB Pirus, surrounded himself with gang members and brought Shakur into that world, should have known what to expect.
Suge knew there was gonna be retaliation. He did that
āWhen Pac hit that boy, Suge should have told Pac to step down,ā she says. āHe shouldāve been like: āGo over and apologise to that ni**a because this aināt even your beef; what you doing?ā Maybe things would have went a different way. You canāt hit nobody and think thereās not gonna be some retaliation. Suge Knight isnāt a gangbanger, but he lived in a gangbanger world. He knew there was gonna be retaliation. He did that.ā
The identity of Christopher āBiggieā Wallaceās murderer is much more contentious. Six months after Shakurās death, in the early hours of 9 March 1997, Wallace was leaving a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles when he too was shot four times by an unidentified assailant. The killer drove a Chevrolet Impala and used a 9mm pistol, firing precisely in a way that suggested a professional hitman. Wallace was pronounced dead within hours at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, at the age of 24.
Kadingās explanation is that Wallaceās murder was arranged by Knight as vengeance for the death of Shakur. He claims Knight hired MOB Piru member Wardell āPoochieā Fouse to carry out the shooting, basing his accusation on the word of one of Knightās girlfriends, known only by the pseudonym āTheresa Swannā (Fouse was shot dead while riding his motorbike through Compton in 2003).
āI donāt believe his theory for a second,ā says Broomfield, who doesnāt find Swannās testimony authentic. āShe has a long history of false names and false testimonies. Sheās a completely uncredible witness, in Greg Kadingās own words, so thatās why his theory has never been tested in court. He didnāt really have a witness so thatās not a sustainable theory, but I think it was enough to put Voletta Wallace off from pursuing her case.ā
But the plot thickens. In 1997, Wallaceās mother Voletta, along with his widow Faith Evans, filed a wrongful death suit against the LAPD asking for what they estimated would have been the rapperās lifetime earnings: $500 million. They based their claim on Pooleās investigations, which implicated the police in the murder. Kading only began investigating Wallaceās murder in 2006, when the LAPD reopened the case in response to the suit.
āHis job was to come up with a theory that was going to get the LAPD off the hook for a $500 million lawsuit, which he did rather effectively,ā claims Broomfield. āBut just because he came up with a very plausible theory about Tupac doesnāt give any credibility to his paper-thin hotchpotch of a theory about Biggie, which is actually the crucial one. Of course Tupacās murder is a tragedy, but the Biggie killing raises enormous alarm bells about institutional corruption, the malfunctioning of justice and an overt cover up on the part of the LAPD.ā

In Last Man Standing, Broomfield makes the case that Knight arranged Wallaceās murder through the LAPD officers he employed while they were off-duty as Death Row security. The officers at the centre of the plot are named as David Mack and Rafael PĆ©rez, both of whom were involved in the LAPDās Rampart scandal, which uncovered widespread corruption in the policeās gang unit. In 1997, Mack was convicted of stealing $722,000 in an armed bank robbery, while in 1998 PĆ©rez was arrested for stealing $800,000 worth of cocaine from a police evidence room.
Kading claims there is no evidence Mack and PĆ©rez were among the LAPD officers who worked at Death Row, but in Last Man Standing Broomfield finds plenty of new witnesses willing to say otherwise. āEven the Police Chief at the time, with no prodding from me, said that they worked for Death Row,ā points out Broomfield. āEverybody who worked at Death Row immediately said: āOh, Rafael PĆ©rez? Yeah, sure, we used to go pick up women together. They were here all the time!āā
With most of the major players now either dead or serving lengthy prison sentences, it seems unlikely that the true circumstances of Shakur and Wallaceās murders will ever be conclusively proved in court. That wonāt stop people looking for answers. āItās about closure, basically,ā says Brooks. āThe police is so wicked and that seems like itās not gonna change. It was really crucial how Suge Knight crewed up with the LAPD, and that just shows you how lowlife they are for a little bit of change. They make good money, but it just shows you how itās about control. Itās all about control.ā
Fierce arguments over the murders of Shakur and Wallace will continue as long as they have fans who want to understand how their heroes came to such violent ends at such young ages. āPacās birthday was a few days ago and everybody was on Instagram and on Facebook talking about him, because he was the man,ā says Brooks. āHe made good music. Itās just sad that his life ended tragically on some bulls***.ā
āLast Man Standing: Suge Knight and the Murders of Biggie & Tupacā premieres in cinemas on Wednesday 30 June, followed by a Q&A with Nick Broomfield hosted by Trevor Nelson. Tickets available from lastmanstanding.film. The film goes on general release in select cinemas from Friday 2 July.
This article was amended on 29 December 2021. It originally said that Shakur was shot on September 13 1996, but this was incorrect. He was shot on September 7 1996 and succumbed to his injuries six days later, on 13 September.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments