All language subtitles for Last.Man.Standing.Suge.Knight.and.the.Murders.of.Biggie.and.Tupac.2021.1080p.BluRay.x264-SCARE-English

Developing news now,
former rap mogul Suge Knight

is headed to prison
for voluntary manslaughter.

He ran down a man
in the parking lot

of a Compton burger stand
about three years ago,

and today, he found out what
his punishment's going to be.

For the crime, the defendant
has been convicted in count 1,

the defendant's levied a term
in state prison of 22 years.

Prior conviction,
the defendant has admitted

he's levied an additional
five years in state prison

for a total,
unstayed term of 28 years.

Quite a fall for Knight

since the height
of his career in the '90s.

He's best known as the
co-founder of Death Row Records,

and worked with Dr. Dre,
Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur.

And back here, live, uh,
Sharon, he did look briefly at...

Suge Knight's sentencing
for 28 years

signaled the end
of his power,

the end of his empire.

People now,
no longer as intimidated

since Suge's incarceration,

started talking more freely

about Suge being
the shadow

behind Biggie Smalls'
and Tupac Shakur's murders.

You tell Frankie to call him.

Frankie, you called me when she
tells you to call me, Frankie.

- Why, why what's...
- Frankie goes to Hollywood.

Hey, yo, Frankie!

Frankie!

- Yo, Frankie!
- What are you...

It caused me
to review an earlier film

I'd made about Biggie and Tupac.

People were now
opening up to things

I couldn't get answered before.

Biggie and Tupac started off
as the best of friends.

Tupac was the one
who discovered Biggie

and brought him out on stage.

And if you look very closely,
you'll see the rarest of footage

of Biggie and Tupac,
hugging on the edge of stage.

But partly because
of Suge's influence,

they ended up as deadly enemies.

The victims of a gang war
that Suge had initiated.

It was LAPD detective,
Russell Poole...

- Hey.
- Hello, hello!

...who originally alleged the
connection between Suge Knight

and the murders
of Biggie and Tupac.

Well, like I say,
based on the witnesses

that I've interviewed
and the evidence,

I believe that Suge Knight

ultimately called for the hit.

And you said police chief,
Bernard Parks,

stopped you
from investigating further

because LAPD police officers

were involved with Suge Knight?

Well, that's correct.

Yes, he was, uh, you know...

it's several factors

on why he didn't
want this pursued

to the fullest extent,

and one being the fact that

his own officers were involved.

At the time,
police chief Bernard Parks

dismissed these allegations.

He is totally wrong,

he only worked the task force,
for about four months.

Russell Poole resigned,

asserting massive corruption
in the LAPD.

Tonight's shocking allegations
against the city's top cop.

Former detective Russell Poole
has filed suit

against the department.

Poole says he
uncovered dirty cops

while investigating
the murders

of rappers Biggie Smalls
and Tupac Shakur.

I provided the chief
with enough...

Russell died tragically
a few years later.

His career in tatters,
the murders still unsolved.

His work asserting dirty cops
and corruption in the LAPD

is as relevant today
as it was then.

- Knew I had no...
- I am telling you right now...

Book him up,
book him up.

You're under arrest.

You're under arrest
for interfering.

You don't live here, do you?

Back in the 1990s,

Death Row was the most
successful rap label ever,

worth hundreds
of millions of dollars.

Yet, by 2002, with allegations
of racketeering,

it is closed down by a SWAT team
and goes into bankruptcy.

Death Row Records
was in a very elegant part

of Westwood in Los Angeles.

It was really a big office

and it was located
across the hall

from Interscope Records.

When you first walk
into Death Row Records,

you got a vibe that it was
a family kinda thing going on,

that everybody cared
about everybody.

So, you kinda got fooled,
right off the bat.

Now, what I did notice
the very first time

was that there was
always a lot of guys.

When I say lot of guys
I mean, they would be lined up,

sitting in the hallway,
chillin'.

You didn't know
why they were there.

I don't even think
they knew why they were there.

You know, but Suge did give
a lotta jobs to the guys,

his gang member
affiliation people.

It was funny,
they always had on red.

Everybody that was
everybody had on red.

And Snoop and 'em
always wore their blue.

They never got off their Crip.

You used to come in
the office, right?

And there'd be
a gang of dudes up there.

Bloods, I can always tell
they Bloods, right?

Um, smoking...

Newports.

Where they'll pop the thing off.

Or the Camels, right?

They pop the head off
the Newport, right?

And, and you could tell
that they'd had just been

in the penitentiary
for a long time,

'cause they just
so used to sittin' down,

smoking weed
or them cigarettes, right.

Talking shit.

And then, it'd be like,
new crews of cats

you could tell
fresh out the pen,

come up there to get a job.

First thing they gonna
ask you, "Where you from?"

And you better not say you're
from an enemy gang territory.

Or they gonna say
you gonna have to run it.

You see what I'm sayin'?

You know what I mean by run it?

They gonna want,
they want to fight.

We come from a good,
tight knit family.

Really, really close.

Everyone loves each other.

Everyone thinks with one brain.

Parents are still together.

And we're just, you know,
just like a regular family.

Uncle Suge was the baby,
so he got away with everything.

So, he's spoiled, he's the baby.

He would call my mom
and ask for, certain...

you know, his potato salad,
a certain way.

He wants chicken
his certain way.

He wants, you know... and if
anybody touches his chicken,

his potato salad, he's angry.

You know, he wants
his food a certain way.

He wants it...
I mean he's the baby.

So, and everybody loves him
and they spoil him,

especially my mom.

So, whatever he says is,
"Okay, Suge.

Okay, little Suge, okay."

So, he's, he's, he's,
you know what I mean?

He's the baby so he gets
whatever he wants.

Happy Mother's Day from OFTB

and all other mothers out there.

Stay strong, stay up.

There is also
another side to Suge.

He initially gave hope
to the Compton community,

which had the highest
unemployment in LA.

He also gave back
to the community.

Suge gave encouragement
to artists like Danny Boy,

whom he adopted
as legal guardian, age 15,

and acted as a father.

Yes, he was.

For sure, for sure.

Definitely like a father,
like a big brother to me.

A lot of things that
people seen in Suge,

or a lot of things that
people said about Suge,

you know,
some of those things, I...

you know,
I didn't see him as that.

You know what I mean?

Because, I had a real
relationship with him

where I felt like I was able to,
kinda, talk to him

and say things that a son
would say to a father.

Yeah, so...

Suge lived in Compton
near Pam Brooks,

an old friend of mine,

and whom I asked
to work on the film.

Hi there.

Pam knows everyone.

Hi.

Tell me what you know
about Suge Knight.

All right.

Now what does you need to know?

Suge Knight is on that side.

His... this is
the Crip neighborhood.

Suge Knight is over there off
of Wilmington and Rosecrans

all the way down.

Do you know some of his homies?

Yeah, I'ma, I'ma get you...
let you talk to 'em.

Yeah, I mean, and if they don't
wanna talk or be on camera,

can they just...
I need to...

they don't have
to be on camera

if they don't wanna
be on camera.

Just... I need...
would they mind if we...

they record their voice?

Just, um-

All right, call me and...

Just call me
and let me know and then,

let me know, and...

I don't know,
these are England...

they white people,
they white but they Black.

But, I mean,
they're from England.

- I mean...
- All right.

No, um, no, you know,
we straight up.

They're from England.

Remember, they're crazy.

Yeah.

This is the first time
Lipp Dogg speaks

about working for Suge Knight.

And so, before you worked
at Death Row, you were?

I was in prison...

for attempted murder.

And so, Suge offered you a job?

Right.

Offered me.

And how did that happen?

Well, when I got...
when I came home,

one of my associates
took me to where Suge was at.

Suge was about to go out of town

and before he boarded a plane,

me and him hooked up.

Because I know Suge
prior from then.

I know Suge ever
since the early '70s

'cause we grew up
five houses from each other.

So, you know,
he knew me.

Suge couldn't
play with us.

His mother wouldn't
let him play with us.

'Cause we were the thugs
in the neighborhood.

And she had a goal for Suge

and that was for him
to play sports.

Marion Knight, number 54.

Suge went to college.

And, and, you know,
he had good parents.

He had both his mother
and father that kept him away

from the whole gang violence
shit that we was doin'.

Sometime they'd think
and he'd think that's hard,

you took away that from me.

No, she gave you a better life.

Being in office was just like

conducting business
on the street.

Motherfucker got in the way,
a motherfucker got dealt with.

If you thought you was
goin' to create a problem,

you had a problem.

You find yourself
tossed upside down.

One thing people knew
about Death Row

is they wasn't bullshitting
and they will whoop your ass

with no questions asked.

If you stepped on the red rug,

if you answer the phone,

if you parked
in somebody's spot,

you gonna get
your ass whooped.

Some people died.

Some people just got beat up,
you know, uh...

few people got rap pacts.

You know, when I say people
got disciplined,

they got in the way
or Death Row was on a mission.

You couldn't stand on the logo.

The Death Row logo.

Stood on that logo, you're
probably gonna get knocked out.

And no telling who
gonna knock you out,

but you probably
got knocked out.

You had a dog, Damu.

Suge's German Shepherd.

His name was Damu.

It mean blood, you know.

The dog would attack you.

How it was trained.

'Cause it thinking,
the dog thinking

you tryin' to get next to him,
next to Suge.

And if you tryin'
to get next to Suge,

that dog is gonna attack you.

You know?

And is it true he had,
like, piranha fish?

Yeah, he had a black tank

built into the wall
in his office.

And it was dark...

it was black piranhas.

We used to feed 'em blood worms.

He used to buy a big pack
of blood worms

and put 'em in there
and they'd just go crazy.

Yeah.

No, they, and he'd,
he'd look at that,

at that, at that tank

and look at you,

then you know, people,
they was calm.

They were gang bangers.

They were gang bangers
and they worked for Suge Knight.

So, they was, like,
Suge Knight's boys.

So, I believe...
my belief of it is

they did what Suge
told them to do.

Because they was broke,
they're...

they couldn't get a job
because they was already marked

as gang bangers so they took
their ride with Suge Knight.

And they accepted that 1,000.

That 1,000... for a person
that never had no-

for a person
that don't have nothin',

a $1,000 is good day.

$1,000 a day
to do some dirty shit

to the next motherfucker.

Or go over here
and drop this car off

or go over here
and drop this bag off.

And you don't know
what's in the bag,

but 9 out of 10,
you know what's in the bag.

Because you not gonna
fuck with nobody.

You know, you not gonna put
yourself in a situation

where you don't know if it's
a dead body in a trunk or not.

Some people do.

Some motherfuckers
don't give a fuck.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Because they'd be so desperate
for this money.

Inflicting pain on people was,
was like my medicine.

It was... I felt good.

I, I truly felt good about it.

I took pleasure into it.

Okay, I mean, just the...
seeing the blood,

how it, it came out your nose,
how it came out your ears.

You, you, you don't wanna die.

You don't wanna die.

These cats don't give a fuck
if they do die.

And, and I mean that like that.

I'm not puttin' 'em on nothing,
but these cats don't care.

You know what I'm sayin'?

We lose homies in prison,

we lose homies on the street
on the daily.

We done seen death.

We done seen it.

I held it.

You know what I'm sayin?

I watched my homeboy Kenny
Chuggs take his last breath.

Like, wow.

Mob James recruited
gang members for Suge,

including Buntry,
his younger brother.

Tupac would rap about Buntry
who would later be murdered.

Suge utilized
each and every, every guy

that, that I brung to him.

Instead of him being
the businessman he shoulda been,

he turned into
one of the homies.

Shit, Suge put on a red suit,

the big rings, the cigars,

and he just changed.

He went from Marion

to, to, to this gangster.

And, and, and I say

some men can't take power
like that,

and, and, and just know

that they have all that
power and be good.

Suge took that power.

He felt the energy.

He felt, like...
just say, for instance,

going into a concert and
you got 20 Bloods behind you.

I'm the smallest one.

Everybody else is, is,

I'm talking about like,
like big.

And everybody mentality is,

if anybody say something
to Suge,

knock their,
knock their fucking head off.

And all of these famous people
was lookin'

and seein' Suge's entourage

and it was, it was like
he was Jesus.

Everybody just start
parting away,

and we would walk through
that crowd.

And Suge,

he felt it.

But it was just too much
for him.

At the end of the day,
it was too much.

Put your hands together
and say, oh yeah!

- Oh yeah!
- Oh yeah!

Lemme see somebody give Dre,
Suge and D.O.C.

a round of applause.

Death Row Records is gonna be
the record company of the 2000s!

Death Row had the money to throw

the most lavish celebrity
parties in Beverly Hills.

The label started with,
uh, Dr. Dre,

who was gonna his own thing,

and, uh, with a lotta help
from Suge Knight...

David Kenner, seen here,
and Suge Knight, ran Death Row.

According to employees,
they did whatever they wanted.

Beverly Rollis,
front and center.

He had huge houses.

He had lots of cars.

He could come to work every day
in a different car for a month

and never drive the same car.

Really?

To be honest,
Suge was just two-faced.

He was two-faced
and he really wasn't

a man of his word.

And I'm tellin' you, that day
that he set me up to be beat up,

I never thought...
I had no inkling

that that was gonna happen
that day.

He had planned that whole thing
all weekend.

He was ready.

He had one of his girlfriends
bring the girl up to the office.

They snuck her through
the back door.

The girl that jumped on me,
she was dropped off

by a girl that was one
of his girlfriends.

This girl came outta nowhere
and she sucker-punched me.

Stomping me in my face.

And Suge had me by my feet,

and David Kenner
just stood and watched.

And what did Suge say?

He was holdin' my feet.

So then, when I kicked him
in his nuts,

that's when I got familiar
with the back door.

So, when I ran out the back door
and I ran over to Interscope,

they musta knew somethin'
was happening,

because they locked the door,
so you couldn't go in.

You know, they treated women...

I mean, they would have
fights in there,

girl fights, in the offices

where they would put the
assistants against other women

and they'd like...
like, literal girl fights

where they would open up... like,
in the middle of the floor.

Where they would... like it was
like boxing matches

where women would fight.

And I just...
I never saw the fights,

they would just tell me
about them.

Dre told me about 'em,
and I was just like,

"Who does that in the offices
of the..." whatever.

And so, that's how little
they thought of women.

And so, I, I never...
I just never understood it.

I just... they just thought women
were second class citizens.

They were just literally there
for their amusement,

entertainment, and enjoyment.

Nothing else.

And if you dated one of them,

you understood
that was your place.

What about DJ Quick?

No?

What an insult to them.

No.

'Cause they still in the life.

Let's call Joe Cool
and see what he got going on.

Pam showed me some useful tips
I hadn't learned at film school.

Pam is friends with Joe Cool,
Snoop's cousin,

who'd been hard to get.

Oh yeah.

I got a good plot
goin' on in my head.

A good plan?

Plot, no, you gotta plot.

This is... you gotta plot
with motherfuckers like this.

You wanna play hardball,
let's play.

So, what's your plot tomorrow?

Well, I'll go get the...
get rid of her,

go get the... go get my friend
and then go out there,

get some weed, smoke that,
and go out there and,

you know, rub my titties
against him 'cause he likes me.

I just gotta play the game.

Pam and Joe Cool go way back.

He's a Crip and worked
with Snoop, his cousin.

At Death Row,
there's an uneasy alliance

between Blood
and Crip gang members.

Suge is a Blood,
Snoop and Joe Cool are Crips.

These dudes that Suge had
were known Crip killers.

Uh, real rough motherfuckers,

ex smokers.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Ex cons, fresh out
the penitentiary motherfuckers.

They did not play.

They overdid their job.

And they robbed and they stole.

They pillaged
and they plundered.

And I've seen them do it.

One of their favorite things
is this,

as far as them
being security for Suge.

Their favorite thing
would be to do this,

Suge's boys, they were thieves,
robbers, murders, rapists.

I'm telling you,
it was Compton's worst.

And so, what he would do is...

what they would do is,
"He got a gun!"

It might be a guy with
a big chain on, right?

Big old chain on
or a gang of jewelry on,

and they'll point him out and
they like, "Oh, he got a gun!"

Next thing I know,
everybody jumps on this dude.

When the dude come up,

he ain't got no jewelry,
no wallet, might not...

might be missing a few teeth,
you know what I'm sayin'?

Disorientated and just left
there in a bloody mess.

And they would do that
all the time.

It was drugs up there.

It was, you know, drug dealings.

It was like multiple suitcases
with powdered cocaine

or, or, re-rocked cocaine
up in there, it was a lot.

I've seen, I've seen things

and I've been handed things,
you know?

Russell Poole had said
this years before.

He alleged that dirty cops were
an essential part of Death Row.

It was no secret
that Death Row Records,

uh, was involved
in drug trafficking.

The big piece of this
is the fact that

we had police officers
working in the organization.

And police officers
on different levels, you know.

There was actual security guards

that were actually doing
security for various artists,

and then you had, like,
these confidants,

which I believe, uh, Gaines,

and Mack and Perez
were part of that crew.

They were willing to do anything
for Suge Knight.

102 is Dave Mack of America-

David Mack, in blue,

before he became
a police officer,

was a world-class athlete.

David Mack, 5.

By complete chance, Tupac's
manager, helped train him.

Leila has avoided
talking about David Mack

for the past 24 years.

I was working with Olympic
track and field athletes

in the early '80s.

So, David Mack,
who ended up being the cop

that was entangled with Suge
and everything,

he was one of the athletes
on the team.

I worked on David Mack
in '82, '83, '84.

The Olympics were in 1984.

And I knew David very well,
'cause we worked together

for years before
he was an officer.

So, um, I can't speak
to all the things

that went on and what they did.

All I can tell you is
you cannot run

a criminal enterprise,
at that magnitude,

without a certain level

of compliance
with the police department.

It was David Mack who introduced
fellow LAPD officer

Rafael Perez to Suge Knight.

Perez actively dealt
in narcotics.

The police did this you
controlling the street gangs.

They ran from us and discarded
the narcotics in the gutter.

It was no big deal to us.

We'll just put dope on you.

We know you had it.

Here, Perez confesses
to stealing

over a million dollars
of cocaine

from the LAPD evidence locker.

...having violated
several vows and oaths...

He implicates a further 70
other police officers

in crimes ranging from
murder, beatings,

trafficking narcotics,
filing false police reports,

and lying on the witness stand.

This is police chief
Bernard Parks.

The city of LA ended up paying
an estimated $125 million

in settlement claims.

Do you think Chief Parks
tried to influence

the investigation
into David Mack and Perez?

Well, the evidence
that was presented to us

clearly showed
that there were attempts

at the highest level
of the department

to make things disappear.

I will say that he did
way beyond

what anybody would've expected
of a chief of police.

Way beyond.

There's strong evidence
that Rafael Perez, Nino Durden,

and David Mack,
seen here in Blood colors

as well as being
police officers,

were members of the Mob Piru
Blood gang, as was Suge Knight.

They and other members
of the police department

controlled the streets
with a reign of terror.

Yeah, pad down, down the waist,
around the waistline.

Put 'em behind your back,
lie down!

The streets are controlled by
the biggest gang that we have,

and that's the police.

And those gang members,

many of whom didn't end up
serving on the streets,

they became officers.

What are the requirements
to become a police officer?

Not a whole lot.

The corrupt police

are facilitating
the distribution of drugs.

There's no way in the world

you can have
the mass amount of drugs

if not for police
allowing stuff to come in.

And into this messy
and volatile situation

of gangs, violence,
and corrupt police

came Tupac Shakur,
who had himself

just come out of prison
on assault charges

and would fuel the fire
of Death Row even more.

Tupac would be dead
within 11 months.

Ah, look.

This is Tupac Shakur with
his producer, Tracy Robinson,

who says that none of it
needed to go the way it did.

When I went to visit him
in Dannemora,

I think he would not
have gone to Death Row

if Interscope
had just stepped up.

Anyone from, uh,

probably Interscope could've
got him out of jail.

You know?

Tom Molly could've got him
out of jail.

Jimmy Iovine could've got him
out of jail.

He was on their label,
Interscope.

So, Death Row was a subsidiary,

as you know, of Interscope,

and if Interscope people
had've got him out of jail,

it would be
a whole different scenario.

But instead
he's stuck in a situation

with some people
who are gang people.

What did you think of Suge?

I don't know Suge,
so I can't speak

on his behalf at all, you know.

I don't know him.

Uh, and,

I just know the energy
that I've got from him

from the time
that I had to deal with him.

It's not pleasant,
it's just not.

And, you know, it's not,
it's not pleasant

for me to have to
even talk about.

'Cause he's alive,
his down line is alive.

You know, his people are alive,
you know.

These people are revengeful.

This is the kind of stuff
I'm just saying to you right now

like, I wouldn't even want
this on tape because,

like, I live here, I'm alive.

Like I says yo,
I'm alive, I'm walking.

People are still getting shot
for no fucking reason.

You know what I mean,
like, it's...

that gang shit is...
it's ridiculous.

It's ridiculous.

Sup, Hammer?

There he comes!

He took it very hard.

He felt more
of an impending doom

having signed with Death Row.

'Cause even while
he was in jail,

people were telling him
not to sign with Death Row.

Yaasmyn Fula raised Tupac,
but rarely speaks.

She knew Tupac
better than anyone.

Here she is visiting Tupac
in prison.

Having just been released
from prison,

and now he's signed
with Death Row Records,

he had to continue to
bask in this

being part of that
gangster element

when he really wasn't.

Tupac was not a gangster.

That had a very negative effect

on the positive things
he was trying to accomplish.

You know, here you are,
you're a gangster

or you're relishing in this
persona of being a gangster.

You're associating with people
throwing up gang signs,

making music that glorifies
the gangster ethic,

you know, and debases women.

You know, so, there were
so many contradictions

that he had to overcome

before he could even achieve
the things

that he really wanted
to achieve.

He wanted to address the issues

of poverty, despair,

drug addiction.

It's hard to equate the image

that Tupac presented
at Death Row

with the young idealistic,
politically motivated Tupac,

the son of a Black Panther.

We're not being taught to deal
with the world as it is.

We're being taught to deal
with this fairyland,

which we're not even
living in anymore.

Uh, and it's, it's sad.

'Cause I'm telling you and it
should not be me telling you.

It should be common knowledge.

Aren't they wondering
why death rates are going up

and suicide is going up
an drug abu...

aren't they wondering?

Don't they understand
that more people are...

I mean, more kids
are being handed crack

than they're being
handed diplomas?

I mean... shouldn't...
I mean like, okay,

in school we're learning
to analyze and then...

well, I learned it now,
they should relearn it.

I think adults should
go through school again.

You know, I think that...

I think that rich people
should live like poor people

and poor people
should live like rich people

and it should change every week.

It's prison that changed Tupac.

Going to jail
over all that stuff,

it made him bitter,
and they changed him,

made him hateful.

He wasn't hateful before.

But that made him
very hateful and paranoid.

Tupac blamed Biggie
for not coming forward

to help him at this time.

Biggie knew the gangsters

that had shot him
at the Quad Studios

and were behind
the sexual abuse charges

that landed Tupac in prison.

I would say...

Big had love for Pac.

And it's not that
he wanted to snake him,

but self-preservation.

You know, you don't
wanna get entangled

with people who can hurt you.

You know, but at the same time,

you know something's gonna
happen to your friend.

You try to warn him
in a way that was covert

but you didn't wanna
just blatantly say,

you know, "These guys,
they stick up kids,

they're extortionists.

You know, they're gonna
come for you."

The whole time he was in jail,
he was trying to figure out

how he was gonna get revenge.

He started to plot on
how he was gonna get back at

everybody who wronged him.

I bet you that music hurt,
hurt him a little bit inside.

I don't have a fact, I don't
have anything to back that up.

But that ain't who he was.

All Eyez On Me and um,

the Killuminati Theory
or whatever it was called...

I forgot the name
of the last album.

I loved it, but, um,

those albums weren't him.

That ain't the seven...
that 17-year-old

would've never said
any of that stuff.

You know, I mean, he...
back when he started,

I mean, he was...
he would never be like that,

but we all changed.

He got his edge, he knew
what he had to sell records.

He was like,
"This is what I gotta do.

I'll hold Suge three albums
or four albums

or whatever many albums,
I gotta do this

and these albums gotta sell."

When he first started, he was
talking about Panther Power.

Black issues, Black rights.

When Tupac was around us,
he was really nice.

He was, he was another one
that was a genius.

Tupac was a reader
but when he got around Suge,

it was a whole different person.

He kinda got gangster.

You know, like,
his personality changed

I guess to just show Suge,
you know, "I'm all that."

You know?

Come on, man!

I remember he came up
with the plot

that he was going to sleep
with Faith Evans

in jail.

You know, and at first
when he told me it, I'm like...

Then I was just like,
you can't tell Pac nothing.

Whatever he said he's gonna do,
he's gonna do it.

So, it's like, get on board
with it, or get out the way.

Yeah, he called me up
and he's like, "Guess what?"

He was like, "I did it,"
and I'm like,

I'm like,
"What, what did you do?"

And he was like,
"Oh, I fucked Faith."

He was like, "Not only
did I fuck her," he was like,

"but I got her to come in the
studio and do a song with me."

And I was like, "Really?"

Today, however,
through the lyrics of rappers

who display no respect
for women...

It is obscene, it is obscene,
it is obscene.

And now we got the East Coast,
West Coast shit.

We got bad a motherfucker
on the East Coast.

Puffy, bad boy.

We got Suge.

And here we about to
come into this.

East Coast, West Coast nonsense,

with two motherfucking
casts of characters

that the press loved.

You remember that shit.

It just took a life
all on its own.

Anyone who's out there,

wanna be a artist
and wanna stay a star,

don't wanna... they won't
have to worry about

the executive producer
trying to be all in the videos,

all on the records, dancing.

Come to Death Row.

If he'd have stood the course
on saying, you know,

"You don't want the person
being all in your videos,"

and did a...
if he'd have stood on that

and not try to get in videos
and put his ass on magazines...

He tried to become the star.

Going towards the end,
he was on all magazines

with cigars in his mouth.

He forgot what he said,

and that's what
brought him down.

You gotta take care
of the artist.

Biggie Smalls took Puffy's side
on the East Coast.

So y'all, Brooklyn in the house.

Representing!

Snoop, Tupac, and Dr. Dre
supported Suge Knight

on the West Coast
at Death Row Records.

The East Coast ain't got no love
for Dr. Dre

and Snoop Dog and Death Row?

Y'all don't love us?

Y'all don't love us?

Well, let it be known then...

Suge definitely
couldn't back down.

Suge had more to lose
if he showed a sign of weakness

because of these guys he had.

If you turn in...
if you a gorilla

and turn into a monkey,
you got a problem.

You don't belong in this crowd.

If you a motherfucking pit bull
and turn into a poodle,

you don't belong in this crowd.

They gonna eat your ass up.

So, he had to keep it up there.

He had to keep his chest up.

He had to...
he had to be Suge Knight.

And he did that well.

Tupac and Biggie shit just threw

a motherfucking atomic bomb
on the gasoline,

and it just exploded.

Boom, and people
was taking sides

and you have
now magazines like...

whole messy ass vibe
and a lot of them magazines,

you know, East Coast,
West Coast,

this, that, whoo.

East Coast, West Coast,
that, dot, aah, wham, bam.

All that nonsense.

Tupac got swallowed up
by Death Row.

He got swallowed up
by his surroundings.

Tupac was already crazy.

It just, it just,

it just turned him up
another notch.

You know, 'cause, it was already
going down over...

he came to a company where
it was already going down.

So, when he came over,
he looked like,

"Wow, yeah, I'm finna turn
the fuck up."

He said,
"I got these fools with me?

They finna ride?

Oh yeah, we going to go...

everything to get in my way,
I'ma knock it down.

I'm going crazy."

'Cause he was already amped up.

You know what I'm saying?

So, he landed right
where he wanted to land.

And he already had a attitude
because they didn't go get him...

other people
didn't go get him out,

you know,
when he caught the case.

Suge Knight went
and got him out.

So, when he came out, you know,
people gonna be fully loyal.

All right, still hanging out
at the after party and, uh,

with me, uh, from uh Death Row,
introduce yourself, my man.

Hey there,
I'm Suge Knight and...

Tupac Shakur.

- Do you believe in God?
- Certainly.

Believe in Death Row East.

- Believe in that, for real.
- You my homeboy say,

- I'ma ride with you to...
- That's it right there.

When you believe in God,
believe in Death Row East.

I think Pac really appreciated
that Suge

was looking out for him
the way that he was,

'cause nobody else did it.

Eating, traveling, girls.

Whatever they did,
they did it together.

To me it was just
an incredible life,

I mean, you know,
it was Death Row.

We were the Motown of the '90s.

The Motown of the '90s,
we had the hottest rappers.

Suge was like the mayor of LA.

I mean, you know,
and if he said it, it went.

I mean, we shopped in the malls,
three o'clock in the morning.

Three AM in the morning,
four o'clock in the morning.

You know, four, five stores
is staying open

because Suge Knight called them
early in the day

and made an appointment for them
to be open at three AM.

And we just go into
this Footlocker

and get as many shoes
and clothes that we want

or, you know,
going some of the boutiques

and shop at three
in the morning.

Those fringe benefits
were incredible.

To be 15 years old,
coming from where I come from

and, you know,
eating in the finest places,

always flying on airplanes
and private jets

and on his yachts
and things like that.

That was incredible.

That's what Death Row was about.

We caught things on records that
nobody else...

you hear them footsteps
in records.

And those doors slamming, boom,

"Welcome to Death Row,"
that was organic.

That's why he's the daddy
of rappers

because those things
were organic.

He's living the life.

The money's there.

They've got the girls around.

They're living the video life.

Whatever it is.

It's, um, cool location.

They've got the cars,
they got the big houses.

Pam had introduced me
to some of the girls

who dated Suge and Tupac.

And I wondered if she recognizes
any of them from these pictures.

Let me see.

I seen her somewhere
before though.

I don't know where
I seen her at,

but she looks so familiar.

They look like
they're very young.

Looking for love.

When you're looking for love
and looking for somebody

to care about you,
this is what happens.

- Looking for love?
- Looking for love.

Looking for love.

You only do demoralizing shit
and, um...

You only let a motherfucker
treat you like this

if you don't have nothing.

You know what I'm saying?

And they bait you in.

And Tupac, but he just
was a follower.

Suge Knight had
his head blew up,

had his head so blue
to where he lost his life.

He's at the prime of his life,

but he's being directed
by a fucking asshole.

And a deal,
he don't even see it coming,

but he's so low,
and he's looking for love, too.

This is the one I seen before.

Hi, mom!

Goddamn.

- Hey!
- Hi, mom.

- Hi, Nick.
- Hi, Symphony.

Hey!

I gotta go get the computer.

Go say hi to my Auntie Anne.

Backpack for you.

Say hi to Nick and them.

Remember Nick and Barney?

- Hi!
- My Auntie Anne.

Tupac was so influenced by Suge,

that he joined the Mob Pirus,
Suge's Compton gang,

also known as the Bloods.

He would become so gang obsessed

that he would ultimately
lose his life to it.

I remember the first night
when he turned MOB.

We was on one side of the studio

and one of my little homeboys,
Tycas, rest in peace,

he went around there
and looked in the studio

where Dre and Pac
and all of them was at.

And he ran back around there
to us and said, he said,

"Cuz," I said,
"What's happening?"

He said, "Man, Pac over there
in all red."

We went over there and looked.

I said, "Well, they got him."

And we went back over there
to our side.

That night we went over there
and looked and went in there

and seen him in all that red,
that night he turned MOB.

Before that he was hanging
with us all the time,

on the Crips side.

He was a very kindhearted person

who got lost in the image
of being tough.

He just wasn't a fighter.

He was definitely a lover,
not a fighter.

We used to laugh about it.

But he had suffered

some brutal beat downs out here.

He wanted to be tougher.

After he did Juice,
he started acting like

he was the character in Juice.

His persona changed.

And he... you know,
a lot of my childhood friends

from Marin 'cause I introduced
him

to most of my friends
and family.

They said he started acting
like he was Bishop.

I ain't gots to do nothing.

You the past, bro.

My time is now.

Ready to die, n♪♪♪♪?

When they expected him
to be this thug, this gangster,

which he wasn't,
it got him killed.

It's a hard thing to be
a gun toting person

with all that malice
in your heart.

It's a burden.

Tupac Shakur.

You know, when I,
when I first met Tupac,

Suge brought him to the hood
when he came home.

Tupac was real cool.

He was real cool.

And, the next time you see him,

he owned the thug shit
like Suge.

He know he can't be touched
at this time.

I got 10, 11 motherfuckers
who gonna be around me

all day, every day.

And they ready to kill
a motherfucker for me.

So, right here, telling me,
I can do what I wanna do.

I can cuss out any motherfucker
I wanna cuss out.

I can spit on whoever
I wanna spit on.

And ain't nothing gonna happen.

There's no such word
of repercussion here.

When he put the Mob on him,
I definitely didn't like that.

Because me and my brother

used to have the biggest
arguments in the world.

Buntry, Mob James' brother,

seen here in hat and red,

became Suge and Tupac's
number one man,

which caused problems
between the brothers.

My brother and them can say...

N♪♪♪♪ can claim the Mob
if you want to.

No, you can't.

You ain't did no drive-by
shoots, you ain't did no...

you ain't beat
no motherfucking body up.

You ain't, you ain't did shit.

What it it takes
to be what we are.

So, that's just like me just...

Tupac the homie
'cause Tupac got money.

No, fuck that.

This means a lot more
to me than Tupac.

You going over there
and be Death Row Mob.

But not this, not from here.

You ain't from Compton.

I'd let my sister sing that song

but she just ain't that good,
so...

Anyway, I want everybody
give a big welcome for...

Tupac.

They were like brothers.

Tupac is, is like
a little brother to him.

They had keys
to each other's house.

They think with one brain.

Tupac never had a foundation.

Never had a foundation,
he never had like that family...

you know like, that stability.

Uncle Suge did.

So I think that's why they kind
of fed off each other.

Um, Uncle Suge
was thinking more so of

just getting money,
and making money

and uh, you know,
supporting the...

you know, I guess Black people
as a whole.

And Tupac was more so,
"No, think bigger, think bigger.

We can go international.

We can do this,
we can, we can do that."

Hence the Death Row East
and et cetera, et cetera.

I mean, he was like, "I want
our faces printed on money.

I want, I want something bigger,

let's think bigger,
let's think bigger."

And Tupac more
was on the bigger side.

Let's think bigger,
and Uncle Suge was like,

"Huh, okay."

That's Tupac and Uncle Suge
and they share everything.

Yes, they shared everything.

Things were totally
out of control.

And it's very sad.

I always had that dark sense
and, um,

I always seemed to be the one

to uh, kill the joy.

Everybody wanted to be happy

and high and drinking,

and I felt like they smoked
too much weed.

You know,
the whole atmosphere

was one of total disconnect
to reality.

But it was way beyond

what he needed to deal
with the realities

of his life at that time.

He had too much going on
that required

a lot of logical,
level-headed thinking,

and he wasn't getting that.

I was trying to give it to him,

but he wasn't listening to me.

I didn't know who to trust,

and I didn't trust Death Row.

They have a "get rich
or die ethos," the West Coast.

Doesn't matter what you do
as long as you makin' money.

Death Row made millions, yeah.

But Tupac didn't see that money.

First thing I noticed
was that David Kenner,

who was the lawyer
for Death Row Records.

And I said to him,
"Tupac, that's a contradiction.

You need your own lawyer."

Tupac did not fire David Kenner

until, I believe, August.

So we went all those months

with his business up in the air,

no accountability
about his money,

no accountability about
what was being spent,

what was being recouped.

So that's why
we were always asking,

"Well, what is... how much money
does he actually have?"

Well, every time
we would ask for the audit,

there'd be a new gift.

There'd be a new car.

There'd be a gift to the family.

And these cars
weren't even in his name.

When Tupac passed away,

that's the first thing
Death Row did was come

and take the cars back.

He didn't want to hear me
telling him that,

"Tupac, they're sending
over roses.

They're sending over cars.

They're sending over gifts."

I said, "Don't you think there's
somethin' wrong with that?"

And he would go all the way
live off on me and say,

and basically say,
"I know it's a problem, okay?

But I know what I'm doing,
yes."

And it caused conflict.

It caused conflict with...
between me and him.

It was a living nightmare.

Everybody just got
too comfortable

and it went the way it went

because nobody was in
Tupac's ear, "No, homie.

You... we gotta protect you.

We gotta be like this."

They say he just put
the icing on the cake

because now there's more fun,

now there's more Tupac
tryin' be like, you know,

like the security
opposed to being a rapper,

and he's not on
the Snoop Dogg tip,

he's on the homies tip.

And now there's drinking
and getting high all day

and wanting to beat up somebody.

You know,
just the whole mentality.

Every... they just changed.

I stopped Tupac
from fighting many times.

Tupac was a disturbed soul
when it came to gangbanging

and fighting
and stuff like that.

He loved to fight.

- He loved to fight?
- Oh, he loved to fight, yeah.

He loved getting
into altercations.

- Did he?
- Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely.

The night of the fatal shooting,

Tupac, to prove
his gang loyalty,

took on a Crip gunman
called Orlando Anderson.

Orlando, a Crip gang member,

was a long-term enemy
of the Bloods,

but it would turn out to be
a fatal mistake for Tupac.

Suge, himself,
took part in the fight,

for which he would be
sent to prison.

Orlando boasted
that he had shot Tupac.

Frank, Tupac's bodyguard,
was in the car behind.

The gun just starts firing.

He's obviously aware that
bullets are coming through

the car and he's being shot at.

And as he fires,
he hits Tupac a couple of times

and bullets are bouncing,
going all through the car.

As I'm running up
to the car thinking,

"Oh my God, they're dead."

Suge's laying down
on the ground.

Tupac is still
in the passenger side.

At that point,
we pulled Tupac out

and, um, we laid him down
on the ground

and that when the, uh,
paramedics were taking over

at that point right there.

Did Tupac say anything
at that point?

He just... he moved his arms
from his side

and he crossed 'em
over his body, as such,

and said, "I can't breathe."

And that was the last thing
I ever heard him say.

So, we were there
the six days that...

six, seven days
that Pac was living.

We would go in the room
and, um, you know, pray.

You know, pray for him
to get better,

and yeah, I sang for him.

I always sang for him, though.

I always sang for him,
but being able to sing for him,

in the hospital
while he was laying how he was

was something.

I sang Change is Gonna Come,

that was one
of his favorite songs

that he liked me to do.

What, remind me of that song?

So that's by Sam Cooke.

Wanna hear it?

Greg Kading,
in his book, Murder Rap,

alleges the shooting of Tupac

coincided with Keefe D,
Orlando Anderson's uncle,

and the Crips being offered
a million dollars

by Puffy for protection.

He claims that Puffy was saying,

"Listen, I need you to do
something about this conflict

I'm having with Suge Knight
and Tupac,

and you know, just I'm tired
of having to look

over my shoulders," essentially.

"Can you handle it?"

And, of course, Keefe D said,
"That's no problem.

You know, that's what we do."

And, Keefe D said,
"We wanted a million dollars."

And Puffy, essentially,
is like, "Just, whatever.

Just handle it."

It was this war the Suge Knight
had with Puffy Combs

that cost so many lives.

After Orlando shot Tupac,

he went back to Compton
bragging about it.

You know what I'm saying?

So we know who killed Tupac.

For sure, for sure.

And it was just a sad thing.

You know what I'm sayin'?

That these two guys
brung gangs into,

you know, the Hollywood world,

the music industry.

You know what I'm sayin'?

So it destroyed everything.

After Tupac's death,
a major gang war breaks out

between the Bloods
and the Crips.

Orlando Anderson is arrested
in the police raids,

but he's never charged because
of insufficient evidence.

Tupac didn't know
what he was getting into.

He didn't know
that the Crips and Bloods

been killin' each other
since the '70s.

And he was a shooter too.

See that's,
see that's the thing.

When you out here, you don't
know who you messin' with.

If you messin' with a shooter,

you gonna get shot.

If you messin' with
some fighters,

y'all might get down,
but it's gonna happen.

That's the thing about it.

He's gonna come back
and that's how Orlando was.

He wasn't going for that.

Yeah, we had to wear
bulletproof vests,

especially going toward the end.

I had to have security sleep
in my room, in my hotel.

I had to stay in a hotel
for a while

and security slept in my room

and I couldn't move without 'em.

Why was that?

I mean, all the death threats
that was coming.

A lot of people lost their lives
when Pac died.

Pac died, but it was...

there was a lot of people
that lost their lives.

It appears to be
possibly a shooting.

Eighteen months later,

Orlando Anderson himself
is gunned down

and killed at this carwash
in Compton.

According to sheriff's deputies,

one person was struck
by gunfire in Compton.

Right now we have one down
outside the car,

one down inside the car.

Not surprisingly, nobody in
the community trusts the police,

who are feared and despised.

Not snitching to the police
is so basic

that even though he knew
the identity of Tupac's gunman,

Suge refused to cooperate.

If you knew who killed Tupac,
would you tell the police?

Absolutely not.

I mean, 'cause, you know,
I don't know...

- Why not?
- Because it's not my job.

I don't get paid
to solve homicides.

I don't get paid
to tell on people.

Pam, our producer,
had to defend us

from being mistaken for LAPD
police officer, Greg Kading.

Without Pam, we could never
have made the film.

No, he's not.

No, where did you hear
that from?

No.

I'm 100% sure.

Where did you get
that shit from?

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't...

if he was an ex-police officer,

you think I would help him
or fuck with him?

He wasn't in the... listen, uh-uh.

Didn't I... didn't he send you
the link to everything

you can Google and find out
about who he is?

All right, I'ma send it to you.

I want you to check it out.

Now where did you... they lyin'.

I don't fuck with the police.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, and
let me just say this to you,

it don't even
fucking matter to me

because I don't fuck
with the police

and whoever say that shit
is lyin' and the...

How the fuck
this n♪♪♪♪ ex-police

and he's from fucking England?

He's from the fucking UK.

And he started saying
stuff like,

"What do you do when you
ain't got real friends?

What do you do when the people
you love do you wrong?"

Like, these are some of
the words that I remember.

And he would talk about it
a little more

and he would turn around
in the chair,

and when he turned back around,

like about the third time,
he's crying.

You know, and I knew where
that place was coming from.

I seen it in his face.

You can almost look in his eyes
and see just like...

he's just like had this
just stare.

Like he was so surprised that
this happened to Death Row.

So surprised that this could
happen to somebody that he was,

like, the chief of watch.

He was the overseer,

and that happened on his watch.

And he already thought
that he was untouchable.

And at that time,
we'd been touched.

What happened in the end
when he got locked up,

Suge got a little selfish side
of him as well.

Mean side, mean streak.

So, that attitude,
I'm sure, kicked in.

Meaning that if I could survive
off of $5 a week,

if I could survive in jail
off of cookies and milk,

if I could survive off
of not going anywhere,

if I could live
in this shithole jail,

you should be able
to make it on the streets.

That's his attitude, so he
didn't even have to tell me.

I knew that's the kind of person
that he is.

"Oh, they out there
on in the streets."

He's not gonna pay for you
to live in Beverly Hills

and he's in a damn
Los Angeles County jail.

So, it felt like when he got
locked up, we were locked up.

For sure we was.

When Suge Knight
was sentenced to jail,

that's when everybody
went to jail.

It was a fuckin' shame, man.

And excuse my language,

but, um, you know,
at the end of this thing,

you know, Snoop is kinda like...

he's like a duck.

He's real cool, but underneath,

paddling like, "Oh shit!"

You know?

"I hope I don't drown,"
you know what I mean?

Same thing with the,
you know, Dogg Pound.

Same thing with Nate Dogg.

Same thing with all the,
you know, with all the acts.

They all get up there
and it's like, "Wait a minute.

You mean there's nothing
to actually hold on to?"

That's kinda sad.

That's like,
"What was you doin'?"

While in jail he's just,
he's just stewing

and he's so pissed off.

You know,
he just lost his friend,

his number one artist,
and his record company

is kind of beginning
to circle the drain.

And so he takes it upon himself
to retaliate.

He puts things into order
to have Biggie killed.

Somebody had to go
after Tupac.

I truly believe that.

- So...
- Somebody had to go?

Yeah, somebody would've
had to die.

It's, it's way serious now.

It's way serious now.

Y'all done cut the head
off the chicken,

so we gotta do
the same thing to y'all.

And that's all it is,

it's repercussion, revenge.

Somebody gotta do something.

Something got to happen
because if don't nothin' happen,

then you'll have everybody
and their momma from everywhere

tryin' to get at you

because y'all sat back
and let Tupac get killed.

So, it had to be something.

- Sup, sup?
- How you doing?

Biggie shouldn't have came
to California after Tupac died.

That was a bad choice
for them to make.

With the East Coast,
West Coast thing,

like I told... said before,
it's just a situation

where it was just me and Pac

had our little differences
or whatever.

But I'm here to take over.

Saying it's all over with.

I'm in the West right now.

If you need me, wanna see me,

talk to me,
whatever you wanna do.

- Cool.
- Now the time, call on up.

And they all on Power 106

and they just all over
the radio stations

and, you know,
and Pac is dead now.

I'm like, "What the fuck
is these dudes thinkin' about?"

And, and there's already
an undercurrent,

grumbling happenin' in LA.

Like, "These n♪♪♪♪s
got a lot of nerve.

They just think they gonna
just come out here?"

I'm serious.

These is now all
the gang dudes in LA.

And I'm talkin' about
Mexican gangs, too.

This had nothin' to... this wasn't
just Black gangs sayin' it.

"Gonna get them motherfuckers."

No doubt.

- B.I.G.
- B.I.G.

- Hey, what's up B?
- What up, dog?

- Hi.
- What's up?

Both theories about the shooting
of Biggie Smalls

agree that Suge Knight
ordered the hit from prison.

Kading argues the police
were not involved

and the hit was carried out
by Blood gangsters.

Russell Poole has always argued
that dirty cops did it.

You know, had it been just
your ordinary drive-by shooting

by some unexperienced
gangbangers,

we would have solved it
a long time ago.

No question about it,
but you gotta think to yourself,

"Well, who could do this
and get away with it?"

You gotta get into their minds.

Cops.

911 emergency,
what are you reporting?

Yeah, we need an ambulance
on 5th after Wilshire.

Please, Los Angeles,
we have a man shot.

- We have a man shot.
- Wilshire Boulevard.

Okay, hold on while I get that...

Right on the corner of Wilshire
and 5th Avenue.

Wilshire Boulevard.

We've a man shot
in our car right now.

We're in the car right now.

We're rollin' to the hospital
right now.

I don't know, I'm not from here,
I'm from New York.

Is the party that was shot
in your car?

- No.
- I thought you said

you were going to the hospital-

The car was in front of me.

What hospital are you going to?

N♪♪♪♪, that was a pro.

That wasn't no bunch of
scattered fuckin' bullet holes.

Them bullet holes went
straight across like that.

Wasn't no scattered bullets
like in the BMW, the Tupac car.

It was a straight nine.

Russell Poole gave up his career
to solve this murder

and was vilified
by his superiors.

I was told not to talk about
the Biggie Smalls killing.

During the course
of the investigation

of David Mack
possibly being involved

in the Biggie Smalls case,
I was told,

"Hey, Mack had already gone down
for the bank robbery.

Let's not get into any more
controversy,"

and that was that.

And there was no urgency
to investigate David Mack

for the killing
of Biggie Smalls.

Four years later,
in the year 2000,

when still nobody had been
charged for the murders,

we take Russell to New York

and introduce him
to Voletta Wallace,

Biggie's mom,
who is equally frustrated.

Hi.

So this is...

Hi, Mrs. Wallace, how you doin'?

I'm Russ Poole.

Nice to meet you.

Oh, hey there.

How are ya?

Nice to see you again.

Hi there.

You know, there are
some private investigators

- working on some good leads.
- Uh-huh.

And if they come up
with some good stuff,

we'll be sure
to come back out here.

Okay.

Voletta went on to file
a $500 million lawsuit,

an estimate of her son's
lifetime's earnings,

against the city of Los Angeles.

All it was is a Puffy
and Suge Knight war.

So if that's the case,
Puffy, Suge Knight,

solve your damn problem.

They should have done that.

So that's where the East Coast,
West Coast thing came.

Everybody wants to be famous,

so they went to the newspaper

and gave their own
little stories

and everybody start,
"East Coast, West Coast."

East Coast was Puffy.

West Coast was Suge Knight.

East Coast was Biggie.

West Coast was Tupac.

Come on now.

You're messing with lives here.

And that's exactly
what happened.

Two lives were lost
as a result of what?

Stupidity?

Years later I discovered
that this earlier film I did

with Voletta did prompt
an FBI investigation

into possible LAPD involvement

with her son's murder.

I literally was
watching TV one night

and I came across
this documentary.

It was on the whole
Biggie murder.

So I wrote up a long report
to my bosses.

They all signed off on it.

They said, "Yeah, you know what?

You got something here,
let's run with it."

So that's how, that's how
the whole case got started.

The LAPD did not welcome
this FBI investigation

and set up their own,
looking for evidence

to counterattack
the Biggie Smalls lawsuit.

Greg Kading was the head
of Operation Transparency.

Yeah, so as that lawsuit kinda
weaved in and out of the courts,

it came to a point where
the LAPD realized that,

you know, in civil court just
about anything could happen,

and they thought it would be
in their best interest

to relook at the case.

The City of LA prevented
the lead FBI investigator,

Phil Carson, from testifying
at the trial.

They said, "Yeah.

You're not looking
into solving a murder.

You're looking into
solving a murder

that involved the LAPD
orchestrating it."

They said, "You guys gotta
squash this subpoena

because if Phil testifies,
we got at least a 50/50 chance

of losing
a $500 million lawsuit."

And to be honest with ya,
they're right.

They got a... I think it's better
than a 50/50 chance.

Greg Kading, who headed up
the LAPD task force,

disputes that LAPD cops
were involved

in the hit on Biggie Smalls.

He not only wrote a book,

but was involved in a major
series on Netflix and on BET

and his views
are widely accepted today.

He says that officers
Mack and Perez

never worked at Death Row,

but we came up with new evidence

showing Greg Kading
is incorrect.

David Mack, the LAPD officer,

never, ever worked or was
affiliated and associated

with Death Row Records at all.

Neither was Rafael Perez.

And those were
the two individuals

that jailhouse informants
had claimed

were part
of Death Row's security.

They weren't, ever.

And that was looked into
not only by

the original investigators
back in the mid-'90s,

but also by our task force.

Officer David Mack
was apparently

a charismatic and social guy.

So many people at Death Row
remember him.

I knew David very well.

I was actually quite shocked
when I saw David

and he was an LAPD.

Very surprised.

And he came with me
to the video shoot

when we were doing Mac Mall
and Ray Luv's video shoot

and Tupac was directing
and he wanted to be connected

because he wanted to do
off-duty work for rap artists.

And I brought him
to that video shoot

and a little later,
I found out he was working

with all the rappers I knew,
off-duty

and a lot of other cops
that I knew.

Leila isn't the only one
who remembers Mack and Perez.

Yeah, I seen it.

I seen David Mack
plenty of time.

They had to come to the party
'cause, you know,

never knew when
it was gonna jump off.

Hung out with 'em.

Been in the room with 'em.

Been around 'em.

You know, ever they been around,
I was around.

And what, who was the other one,
Rafael Perez?

Rafael Perez.

Seen him too.

Yep, all that.

But like I said, shit, they
wasn't no different from us.

The only thing,
they had badges, we didn't.

So, we have... you know,
we might be somewhere,

you know, it go like this,
we get into it

with whoever
we get into it with.

And when the police rush us,
our police rush them.

That's how it went.

That's how the get down went.

Yes, Officer Perez.

He was friends with Suge.

I seen him up there
several, several times.

Several times.

And he was friends with Suge.

I seen him in uniform
and out of uniform.

And when you're out of uniform,
you try to be...

try to look like
he cool and shit.

He wear little accents of red,
you know?

You know, like try to fit in,
I knew who he...

I'm like, "Ah,
that's the the police dude."

But I never knew
that he was the part of

that Rampart Division shit
until I seen him.

I'm like, "Oh!"

Out of all the police
in the world that I remember,

I remember him
for being up at Death Row.

And then there was another one.

The one that they say
killed Biggie, right?

Black dude.

He used to be up there too.

I don't know if he did this,

but the one that they had
on the news,

he was there a lot.

- Hi.
- Hey.

Good morning,
very good of you to see us.

What makes Kading's comments
about Mack and Perez

look especially weak is that

even Police Chief
Bernard Parks himself

said they worked for Death Row.

We know that David Mack
and Rafael Perez

both worked security
in this rap culture,

as it relates to
some of these artists,

- but we have had...
- Pertaining to Death Row.

Death Row Records,
but we have no information

nor has any information
come forward that would cause us

to believe that either one
of them are suspects.

If, in our continuing
investigation,

we uncover facts
that we can prove,

then we will continue moving
forward to clear that case,

but until then,
what we've seen so far

is merely undocumented
speculation

that has not led
to any significant leads.

It would appear that
Police Chief Bernard Parks

should have been well-acquainted
with Mack and Perez,

according to Xavier Hermosillo.

One of the most shocking things
in that Board of Rights,

or anything that I've ever done
in over 30 years,

was there was a photograph of
Rafael Perez and David Mack,

who were the two police officers
that were bad, bad, bad news,

and a woman
standing in the middle.

And they were all dressed
in red, from head to toe.

A hat, whatever, which is
the color of the Blood gangs.

There's the Crips
and their clothes are blue.

And so these guys
were dressed in red

and they were standing
behind a table.

There was a, a cake
that said something like,

"Bloods rule," or, you know,
something like that.

And I was startled,
because I recognized the woman,

and it was the daughter
of Police Chief Bernard Parks,

who it appeared was
a Blood gang member.

That's incredible.

Yeah, tell me about it.

I looked at this thing
and I turned to my two partners

and I said,
"Is this who I think it is?"

And they said, "Yeah."

The Biggie Smalls' estate
lawyers were never able

to get a copy
of this photograph,

which mysteriously disappeared.

It is also alleged
that Michelle Parks

and Officer Rafael Perez
were in a dating relationship.

Officer David Mack was later
convicted for this bank robbery.

It's alleged that on the night
of the robbery,

Michelle Parks, Mack and Perez

celebrated at the Rio Hotel
in Las Vegas.

When, on a subsequent occasion,

Michelle Parks was arrested
in Las Vegas for narcotics,

it is Rafael Perez
who posts bail.

Xavier also mentions the account
of this man, Boagni,

and another cellmate
of Officer Perez

who alleged Perez took part
in Biggie's murder

and were threatened with death
if they testified against him.

I have a great admiration
and respect

for the Los Angeles
Police Department,

but this is the one time...
and I've been around

the department 40 years
as a civilian.

And one of the things that
I think bothered me the most

was how this one case,

being the murder
of Biggie Smalls,

and everything
that emanated from it,

was really problematic.

And in this particular case
with these two prisoners,

they were visited
at their prisons,

thousand miles apart,
and told not to come and testify

at the Board of Rights hearing
that I was involved with.

And they were told
that if they did testify,

that friends of Perez
who were in prison

would have them killed
for testifying,

for snitching.

That I found to be,
you know, just abhorrent,

just illegal.

And it was LAPD police officers
who told them?

It was two detectives.

And, uh, we heard it
for the first time

when Boagni, Kenny Boagni,
sort of blurted it out.

I asked him a question
and he started,

you know, kind of shaking
a little bit.

And then the advocate
for the department,

who was like the prosecutor,

he jumps up
and he gets in his face

and he says,
"Keep your mouth shut.

You were told
not to talk about that."

That was so unreal.

I'd never seen that
in all the years

of being involved
with the department.

Shortly afterwards, I received
a phone call from Boagni,

who is currently serving
a 40-year sentence

in state prison.

This call is from an inmate
at a federal prison.

So are you saying
that Suge Knight

was behind the hit, though?

So which, which offi...

which officers are you saying
were implicated

in the murder of Biggie Smalls?

This call
and your telephone number

will be monitored and recorded.

It is this testimony from Boagni

that is concealed by the LAPD

and kept from
the Biggie Smalls lawyers.

The LAPD will be fined
$1.1 million

by a US district judge
for concealing evidence.

However, it's Kading's
unfounded theory

that, over time,
with podcasts and TV shows,

is accepted as valid today.

Whereas, Russell Poole,

an outstanding police officer
for 20 years,

is discredited and ostracized.

And I mean,
I almost took my life,

but it was my kids that actually
saved me, okay?

And it hurt.

I was betrayed
by my own department

because of the core values

that the Los Angeles
Police Department

preached from day one.

Honesty, integrity.

Okay, tell the truth.

Swear to tell the truth,
nothing but the truth,

so help you God.

Do a good job.

Do a thorough investigation.

Work for the community.

Uh, I believed
in the oath of office.

I believed in the protect
and serving the people,

I really did.

But on the inside,
behind closed doors,

that it wasn't the case.

When it came to cops
being investigated,

we weren't serving the public

the way we should have
served the public.

And when I'm assigned to...

Solving these murders would
dominate Russell's life.

He died tragically
of a heart attack

at LA Sheriff's Headquarters
during a meeting

about the Biggie Smalls murder.

...not be suppressed
and kept away from the public.

A lot of what Russ Poole did...

telling you right now,
that guy was legit.

For people to say that
he was a disgraced detective,

it's not fair.

The guy knew what he was doing.

He was actually a good cop,

and they did what they could
to shut him down.

And I know a lot of people
like to say,

"Oh, he keeps going down
this theory."

No, his theory is correct.

The only time I met Suge Knight
was in 2002

when he was serving nine years

for the Orlando Anderson fight.

Both Kading and Russell agree
Suge Knight commissioned

the Biggie Smalls murder,

yet he's never been charged.

When I went to visit him
at Mule Creek State Prison,

Death Row
was already collapsing.

Both Dre and Snoop had left,

and Suge Knight was trying to
manage Death Row from prison.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

By now, Suge had mentally
moved on to his new enemy,

Snoop, who had just left
Death Row.

If you hear about
a lot of the artists,

used to be some of them
used to be on Death Row,

some of them on other labels,
you might hear them,

um, getting caught up
with drugs,

getting caught with a gun,
stab somebody,

do those type of crimes,

and they're gonna come
to prison.

One of the reason
they're gonna come...

- You mean like Snoop?
- Oh, Snoop would never come.

I mean, Snoop is on... you know,
we'd be at the murder trial

for him, but then
he was on probation.

Then he got caught
with two ounces of marijuana.

Then he got caught with guns.

And each time, it's nothing,
they're not gonna violate him,

because for the street guys,

street guys know
what I'm talking about.

There's no puzzle.

I mean, if you get a guy that

constantly getting in trouble
and never got come to prison,

that's because
he's an informant, he's a rat.

- Yeah, yeah.
- A snitch, you know.

And they more important
to the police

on the streets than in here,

because they let them know
what's going on.

They might say what
they saw by telling

three or four, five other guys.

You know, I'm from Compton
and I'm...

a rat is the lowest you can go.

A rat will do anything.

This was Suge's message
to Snoop.

When Suge got back out in 2001,

you know, he changed the name
to The Row.

It never rose.

It never,
it never prospered at all.

Suge was just living off
of Death Row reputation.

He was living off
of the reputation of people

that wasn't even alive no more.

So I left Death Row
in like 2002,

'cause it was really over with.

It was just like...

to me, it was just like
a little gang hangout.

How you doing, man?

Yeah.

Once Suge lost everything,
he lost everything.

He lost his accountants,
he lost everything.

He didn't have nobody
really on his side.

And Jimmy Iovine, them,
they businessmen,

they was consistently
getting the money.

I need $50.

Can I have $50?

Where did all the money end up?

I don't know.

I know a fool and his money
shall soon part.

I know that the fool
lost his money

from doing foolish things,

and that's Suge.

We know the big boys
got the bag.

They took the bag.

David Kenner ain't...

I guarantee you,
David ain't broke.

Ted Field, come on.

That's Marshall Field's brother.

The Seagrams family
is intertwined in that.

They're not broke.

But, you know,
Suge was standing up

in the wrong way
to the wrong people.

You know, you can't scare
Jimmy Iovine.

Don't even make sense.

Hey.

That's coming from
the East to the West.

Hey, check this out.

This my homeboy.

BJ, you know what I'm saying?

My PO let me out here,
but I fuck with me,

my n♪♪♪♪s, right here,
but this BJ is my n♪♪♪♪.

This man is like my brother.

I'm gonna fuck n♪♪♪♪s up
behind the homeboy, n♪♪♪♪.

Suge, money wasn't the way
it was no more.

Now what?

You know, he wasn't making
no more money,

so when he wasn't making
no more money,

the people that he want to get
from the neighborhood,

he wasn't paying them,
so they start dropping off.

And that's why, a lot of times
used to see Suge,

he used to be by himself.

Once the people on the street
seeing that,

they start attacking Suge.

He got shot
at Chris Brown's party.

He got knocked out.

Well, that looked
like Suge, bro.

Some people was like,
you know what I'm saying,

"You ain't nothing."

I mean, things start
to happen to him

that would never
would have happened.

But once...
it's just like Moses.

Moses had a veil.

He didn't want nobody to see

that the light was gone
on his face.

So Suge's veil start to appear

that it... that these people
weren't behind him no more.

So the people
weren't scared no more.

All I know is,

none of the guys that
was working for Death Row

got a house,
didn't get a car out of it,

don't have a big bank account.

Everybody is just back...

it's like the Cinderella story.

Twelve o'clock,
everything changed

back into the same thing,

changed back into what it is.

That's how it is in Compton.

Everybody just changed back
into what they were.

You know what I'm saying?

It was good.

Tupac, they had Tupac
for 11 months, I think,

and everybody was good.

But soon as he passed,

everybody turned back into

just a regular old cat
in the neighborhood.

It was all gone,
from rags to riches to worse.

Or to the dirt.

This is Rosecrans and Atlantic.

I believe this is still Compton.

Looks like more than likely
they were shot

while trying to fill up
their car with gas.

Suge Knight,
struggling to maintain control,

created a rivalry between
his own Blood gang members,

who started killing each other.

A lot of them died for him,

including my brother.

Some guy got out of a van
and AK'ed him down.

I think he got shot
nine times, ten times,

and he was laying there.

I've seen the scene
so many times.

I've seen what happened
to him so many times.

You know...

I can say I can't even imagine

that somebody would do him
like that,

but that's how we was living,

that's the shit we was doing
when we was doing drive-bys.

That's the shit
that I lived for,

that I had to go out
and live like that.

So, seeing my brother,

it was, it was so different.

It was like I'm...
I had to step outside of myself

and to see him laying there

with his eyes open and just...

I had, I had so much anger
in me.

It's, it's... hm...

It's rough
talking about him.

Every time they mention
his name, I get choked up.

The pain is a cold feeling.

That's my brother.

But I guess, in a way,
his death gave you something.

His death gave you
something too.

It taught me a lot.

It gave me
a better understanding

of my self-destruction,

what I was doing
to other people.

I know there's somebody
right now

and they feeling the same way
about their brother.

You know what I'm saying?

And you know, I can't do nothing
but apologize

for the way I lived,

and I'm trying
to make it better.

I'm trying to help people.

Karma's a motherfucker.

And he's paying for it.

If you ever been to prison,

you ain't got nothing
but time to think,

especially when you're sitting
in that damn cell.

You gonna think about every one
of those guys that's dead.

Your Big B's,
your Herons, your Hen Dogs,

your Chias, your Buntrys.

You're gonna think about
all of these guys

that lost their lives.

People felt freer to talk once
Suge commenced his sentence.

Many of the people who witnessed
Biggie's killing that night

have kept a secret for 24 years.

I didn't wanna do interviews
for years.

It was dangerous.

It's dangerous to know anything.

I was there that night
Biggie got killed,

and so were some of the LAPD
officers we talked about.

I would put money on LAPD's
involvement, you know?

They're all not on
the force anymore,

so I guess it doesn't matter,
but...

Did you see David Mack
and Perez

at the event
at the Petersen Motor...

They were all there.

Yes, they were there.

'Cause the LAPD now have sort of

come up with
a whole other theory.

Mmm, outside of the police?

- Yeah.
- I'm sure they did.

What's their theory?

That a gang member
called Poochie

shot and killed Biggie.

You know, really it doesn't
matter who pulled the trigger,

although I wouldn't
agree with that,

but what I would say is

any gang member that was
to shoot or kill Biggie

could have only done so

with police involvement
and support.

It would have been impossible.

They were everywhere.

It was...
you don't have an event

that's a party after
the Soul Train Awards,

and especially in LA and
there's that many Black people,

and you think the police
aren't everywhere?

They're everywhere.

Didn't work that way.

So there has to be compliance.

They were, they were complicit
in everything that happened

that had to do with Death Row.

I hold the police department
responsible for so much.

Word up.

- Ready, n♪♪♪♪?
- Yeah.

Ready for that
raw dog shit, n♪♪♪♪?

Okay, all right.

Let me see how
my head should win.

You want to set it off?

Man, I'm scared to do
some freestyle.

Biggie didn't give a fuck.

Tupac didn't give a fuck.

It's fucked up that
the cause of their deaths

is behind the pettiest shit
on the planet.

They were buddy-buddies.

They were,
they were street buddies.

At the time of Tupac's death,

I think they were still buddies,

because when I told my son
that Tupac died,

I could see the pain
in his eyes.

It sometimes brings me to tears

just thinking about
what could have been.

Where would we be right now
if they both were alive?

The world lost someone

that could have made
quite a difference.

Hey, that's what
I'm talking about.