On the 1996 night Tupac Shakur was killed in Las Vegas, Suge Knight was nabbed for violating his probation (for stomping a guy); he spent five years in prison. During this time, Knight’s former high school classmate and head of security, Reggie Wright junior, took over the bulk of Knight’s duties at Death Row Records, the once-obscenely popular rap imprint, which was about to go downhill.
It was a bad time to be in charge for the ex–Compton police officer, and Wright spent much of his stint fighting lawsuits and dealing with an exodus of artists from the label, notably Snoop Dogg. Making matters worse, LAPD Detective Russell Poole’s murder investigation implicated Wright in the 1997 murder of rapper Biggie Smalls, though he was never charged. Furthermore, former bodyguard Frank Alexander publicly blamed Wright for Tupac’s death.
Wright and another former Death Row business associate, Lloyd Lake, are producing a documentary on the crimes, Justice for the Murders of Tupac and Biggie, which is in the fundraising stage.
Wright advances the claims made in LAPD Detective Greg Kading’s 2011 book, Murder Rap, which blew the case wide open and was the subject of an LA Weekly cover story.
Murder Rap, for which a documentary of the same name is also in the works, implicates Southside Crip Orlando Baby Lane Anderson for the murder of Tupac, and Mob Piru gang member Wardell Poochie Fouse for the murder of Biggie Smalls. (Both Anderson and Fouse have since been murdered themselves.) The book fingers Sean Combs (aka Puff Daddy) and Knight, respectively, for setting the deaths in motion. Combs and Knight could not be reached for comment for this story. LA Weekly online article Jake Paine 10th April 2014, ‘Time to Close the Book on the Tupac & Biggie murders?’
Tupac was gunned down in 1996 and his killer has never been found. Las Vegas, Nevada: September 1996 ... He died of his gunshot wounds on September 13th. Initial reports said that Tupac was a victim of gang violence ... In the months before his death Tupac was at the centre of a heated dispute between East Coast and West Coast rappers ... There is another theory: perhaps the murder was an inside job set up by someone close to Tupac. Otherwise, how did the gunman know where Tupac would be? Why did he seem to be the only target? And why were his bodyguards unarmed at the time of the shooting when they had been armed earlier? And why with the Strip swarming with people was no-one willing to cooperated with police? Unsolved Mysteries, 1997
Monster: The Autobiography of an LA Gang Member … In August 2008 Grove Press released T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. a new novel by Sanyika Shakur. American Gangster s3e2: Monster Kody Scott, 2008
‘He’s a revolution, he’s an innovator’ … ‘He taught us to be soldiers’ … ‘He represented defiance’ … ‘Five heavily armed gunmen came out shooting and two cops were killed.’ American Gangster s3e10: Mutulu Shakur
When the smoke cleared three officers lay dead, four robbers were in custody, and several more were on the run including the man officials believed was the mastermind behind it all: Mutulu Shakur. ibid.
His stepson who would grow up to become a rap legend: Tupac Shakur. ibid.
The Republic of New Africa – whose goal was to create a black nation within the United States. ibid.
A raid on a New Jersey prison to free a well-known activist – Assata Shakur. ibid.
‘The Panther Party at that time took my rage and channelled it against them, instead of against us. They educated my mind and gave me direction, and with that direction came hope.’ Adam Curtis, Can’t Get You Out of My Head II: Shooting and Fucking are the Same Thing, Alice Feye Williams aka Afeni Shakur, BBCiplayer 2021
The question of who to attack in New York got more and more complicated … Afeni Shakur’s group came up with a plan: they were going to plant bombs in big department stores like Macey’s and they would bomb the Bronx Botanical Gardens, and attack local police stations. ibid.
One morning armed police stormed into Afeni Shakur’s apartment and arrested her. All the other members of her cell were also arrested. They were charged with what the government said was a giant plan to destroy those elements of society which the defendants called The Power Structure. It included attacking police stations and planning to bomb five large department stores and the Bronx botanical gardens. They became known as the Panther 21. Their trial was held in a state of paranoia … Three of the founding members of the group had been undercover police officers. ibid.
On the surface Tupac Shakur was part of the age of the individual. He believed deeply in the idea of self-expression. But he was also one of the few in the 1980s who still believed in the power of grand stories to move people and to inspire them to change the world. His mother Afeni had been a Black Panther and she still believed in the idea of revolution in America. Adam Curtis, Can’t Get You Out of My Head VI Are We a Pigeon? Or Are We Dancer? *****
‘She always raised me to think I was the black prince of the revolution.’ ibid. Tupac
‘We’re not being taught to deal with the world as it is. We’re being to taught to deal with this fairyland which we’re not even living in any more.’ ibid. Tupac school interview 19988
‘More kids are being handed Crack than are handed diplomas.’ ibid.
By the 1980s it was clear that the promises of the civil rights movement had not been kept in America. And the idealism of black politics fell away. And the communities divided into gangs then turned on each other. Then Crack swept through the black communities in America. And a fading Shakur finally gave up: she became addicted to Crack, and Tupac found himself alone. ibid.
Tupac Shakur set out to awaken the radicalism of the Panthers. And to do it he was going to use himself as the central character. ibid.
Maybe many people didn’t want to change. They were happy living in their own fairytale world of gangs and violence. ibid.
His [Tupac’s] message was simple: that suspicion was just another form of control. ibid.
After Tupac everybody wanted to be a gangsta/rapper. Get Rich or Die Tryin’ 2005 starring Curtis 50 Cent Jackson & Marc John Jefferies & Terrence Howard & Joy Bryant & Omar Benson Miller & Bill Duke & Viola Davis et al, director Jim Sheridan
People would talk about Mike Tyson and Tupac Sharkur … Mike and Pac has this friendship that a lot of people didn’t know about. One Night in Vegas, ESPN 2010
There was more blood shed out of the ring than in the ring. ibid.
‘He didn’t just knock people out, he destroyed them.’ ibid. commentator
Mike Tyson was charged with two counts of deviant behaviour and one count of rape. ibid.
‘Mike Tyson cautioned him about some of the people he was around there.’ ibid. Gloria, Tupac’s aunt
Is Tupac Crazy or Misunderstood? ibid. Magazine article Kevin Powell
‘His self-destruction and his love and hope for black people define an ambiguity that is characteristic of his genius.’ Tupac Shakur: Before I Wake, 2001, foreword Michael Dyson
Tupac’s first album reflected his militant upbringing. ibid.
Tupac was robbed and shot five times including twice in the head. ibid.
‘Cadillac pulls up … This arm comes out and just starts firing immediately … took off and made a right … all you see is the smoke …’ ibid. bodyguard
No leads or suspects were given at that time. ibid.
A story about ambition, violence, redemption and love. Tupac: Resurrection, 2003
When I was young I was quiet, withdrawn, I read a lot, I wrote poetry, kept a diary … ibid.
Why can’t you take some of them people off the street and put them in his [Reagan’s] White House? (Shakur & Homelessness) ibid.
America is Thug Life. ibid.
Eddie Murphy with all that dough he’s making, he’s done nothin’ for us. ibid.
On September 7th 1996 Tupiac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas. More than 20 years later no-one has been arrested for the crime. Who Killed Tupac? I II III IV V VI, History 2018
At 8.49 p.m. Tupac is in an alteracation in the MGM lobby. That is the moment he encountered Orlando Anderson. And at 10.30 he heads to the Las Vegas strip. ibid.
The theory that is most common out there and that is it’s gang related; a beef between the Crips and the Bloods. ibid.
A white Cadillac pulled in behind them and fired 12-14 shots and sped away. ibid.
Everybody believed that it was a hit, and that it was a paid hit, and most people thought it came from the East coast. ibid. investigator
For years now people have been making a connection between the murders of Tupac and Biggie Small. ibid.
Suge Knight: but why would he want to kill his number one artist and money-maker? ibid.