One of the most famous rapper murder cases in the last decade is in court eight years after the murder of the Notorious B.I.G.

Family members of the New York rapper have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and its police department. The jury was selected and opening statements were made on Tuesday.

Vincent Marella, lawyer for the city of L.A., said to the jury, “You will hear a lot of hearsay and supposition from incredible witnesses, unreliable informants. There won’t be any believable evidence that will substantiate the theory that you heard.”

The lawsuit said that both labels hired off-duty police officers as bodyguards.

In particular the family said that former LAPD officer, David Mack, who is currently serving a 14-year sentence for bank robbery, planned Wallace’s murder on Knight’s behalf in response to Tupac’s murder. Rob Frank, lawyer for Wallace’s widow and mother, said that Mack arranged to have a friend kill Wallace and used police equipment such as radios to help with the murder.

Mack’s lawyer said that the case is filled with lying witnesses talking about theories from books and movies.

Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace, was shot shortly after midnight on March 9, 1997, when someone in a dark sedan fired seven shots into his sport utility vehicle when both cars stopped at a red light on a L.A. street. Wallace was going to a hotel after an awards show after party.

No charges have been laid in the murder which happened six months after the fatal shooting of rapper, Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas. Both murders have been linked to a rivalry between two New York and L.A. record labels.

Wallace discovered rapper Sean Combs, now known as P. Diddy, who founded the New York label Bad Boy Entertainment. Shakur belonged to the L.A. label, Death Row Records founded by Marion “Suge” Knight.

In 1994 Tupac survived a shooting at a recording studio in New York and blamed Wallace and Combs for the incident. Afterwards both labels allegedly associated with rival street gangs ? Bloods for Death Row, Crips for Bad Boy.

Tupac then said he had sex with Wallace’s wife and Wallace referenced Tupac’s 1994 shooting in his songs.

It’s unclear if Knight will testify. Combs gave a deposition but is unlikely to testify.

Combs said in an interview, “I’m completely supportive of the family and will always be supportive of the family.”

The trial is expected to last up to a month.






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