Talking of hip hop crimes, the family of Notorious BIG have filed a second wrongful death suit against the city of Los Angeles, seeking damages on behalf of the late rap star's mother, wife and two children. Alleging that Biggie, real name Christopher Wallace, was killed by LA policemen back in 1997, the suit contends that it was LAPD officers Rafael Perez and Nino Durden who conspired to carry out the murder and that the police department subsequently covered up their involvement.
Perez has already denied having any involvement in the murder, but Durden has thus far remained silent on the matter. According to reports, both men are known to have been connected with events that led to the scandal over the behaviour of some officers in the LAPDs anti-gang crime unit Rampart, who were accused of brutal physical attacks on gang members.
As previously reported, the Wallace family's previous suit ended in a mistrial back in 2005 after it was found that an LAPD detective Steven Katz had concealed information linking the killing to Perez and another officer, David Mack, and the family received a subsequent $1.1m payout. Lawyers for the city maintained that the concealment was accidental, of course.