FBI releases files on Biggie Smalls murder; still no killer named

Fourteen years after his death, the FBI has released a set of heavily redacted documents on the murder of Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace, (1972-1997), the rapper known as "Notorious B.I.G." The FBI closed the case in 2005 without determining who killed him. More at Time Magazine.

• [Anonymous]

  R.I.P. Notorious B.I.G.

• [doingdoing]

  Notorius BIG???? the FBI didn’t even spell notorious correctly… What a sham.

  • [jungletek]

    And after he spells it in at least one of his songs and everything…

• [Anonymous]

  WTF? WGAF?
  Johnny Thunders was probably murdered, and he was an actual musician.

  • [Anonymous]

    “Johnny Thunders was probably murdered, and he was an actual musician.”

    Biggie was one of the most talented rappers of all time. Show some respect.

    • [Anonymous]

      “Johnny Thunders was probably murdered, and he was an actual musician.”

      Biggie was one of the most talented rappers of all time. Show some respect.

      As a lifelong fan of hip-hop and rap since the 80′s, I would say “talented” is misleading. Influential, yes. Talented, sorta. Marketed well, definitely. Hip-Pop, Crossover, music than makes the suburban kids feel like they live close to the streets, I have always felt like these artists were just glamourized caricatures brought out to sell fake culture… culture that isn’t especially helpful to lifting up the people it purports to be “down with.” There is a deep field of amazing hip-hop and rap artists out there, but the airways and media are clogged with crap and no one hears them.

      Did this man represent a segment of rap culture? Yes. Did he deserve to be shot and killed, his murder unsolved? No. Should people worry about something other than a man who may have reaped what he sowed… probably.

      • [Anonymous]

        He told the story of the streets. He started as a hustler dealin’ crack and was discovered for his powerful and real stories of what it was like for him growing up and hustlin. If that’s not what hip-hop and rap was about, then maybe you consider Vanilla Ice a good artist too. Biggie could have ended the beef between him and Tupac if someone hadn’t iced him too. Seriously, forget the violence, just move in silence.

• [Artimus Mangilord]

  Sounds like Brother Mouzone is the prime suspect.

• [Ceronomus]

  Sounds like they have an idea who did it, but perhaps not enough physical evidence to move forward with a Grand Jury Indictment?

  Sad to see this sort of thing. Nobody’s murder case should ever be closed while unsolved.

• [Anonymous]

  It certainly seems like they only need to un-redact the document to ID the killer.

  Yes, It does sound like Brother Mouzone or Farnsworth Bentley did it.

• [BrokenRobot]

  To be fair, I believe this was an investigation into the LAPD’s possible role, NOT an attempt to actually solve the murder (which was the LAPD’s job). So it’s not surprising that the case would be closed without “finding the killer.”

• [emmdeeaych]

  So…. the LAPD did it?

• [Teller]

  Favorite Onion headline of that time:
  “Notorious B.I.G Cremation Enters 2nd Week.”

• [Anonymous]

  It sounds like former DC Mayor Anthony Williams!

• [gwailo_joe]

  Some of the ‘findings’ are. . . pretty meh.

  ‘Biggie had connections with the Genovese crime family in New York. FBI theorize the family could have photo or video evidence of his shooting, but have no proof such a thing exists.’

  What? Really? You theorize? I’d like to theorize that it was the vengeful spirit of Tupac (unable to rest, roaming the material plain to exact bitter and inexorable revenge) that possessed that man to shoot Biggie. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.

  So. . .the theory is that someone else was taking snapshots or video while it happened? Why would they do that? And the tape (that almost certainly does not exist) is somehow for some unmentioned reason in the hands of the MAFIA?!?

  It’s not plausible at all. And with no proof, why even bring it up. . .great detective work, just great.

• [smearballs]

  who cares about this. THE FBI JUST ADMITTED THAT THEY FOUND FUCKING ALIENS AT ROSWELL 1950!!!

  http://vault.fbi.gov/hottel_guy/Guy%20Hottel%20Part%201%20of%201/view

• [yosemite]

  “It has also been noted by several sources that ___ other LAPD officer’s attended this party and were seen with…”

  No matter what phrase occupies this gap (e.g., “the”, “several”, “some”, “Lt. Smith and”, etc.) the following “LAPD officer’s” can only be parsed as the plural “officers” in order for this to make grammatical sense.

• [drkptt]

  Someone should just ask him:
  http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155321/biggie-smalls
  http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155324/the-ghost-of-biggie

• [That Evening Sun]

  The FBI and LAPD are aware of who killed Biggie, but there is a thin blue line that separates them from the rest of us. The killer is on the other side of that line.