Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has launched a new task force to investigate the unsolved murder of the Notorious B.I.G. after the rap star’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.Evidence discovered by the new task force could help the city in its argument against the family, who claims that rogue LAPD officers were involved in the 1997 murder.An initial lawsuit filed by the Wallace family ended in a mistrial last summer when an anonymous tip revealed that a police detective intentionally hid statements by a jailhouse informant linking the killing to former officers David Mack and Rafael Perez.Investigators are re-exploring the theory that B.I.G. was killed by the Southside Crips gang in a feud involving the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas six months earlier.They are also pursuing allegations that he was killed by a Blood gang member hired by Marion “Suge” Knight, former owner of Death Row Records. Knight has vehemently denied any involvement in the murder.Biggie Smalls, born Christopher Wallace, was 24 when he was gunned down on March 9, 1997, while leaving a crowded late-night party at a Los Angeles museum.
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