B.I.G. Murder Cover-upEx-Investigator: LAPD Cover-Up In Notorious BIG Murder

Were LAPD officers involved in the murder of rap superstar Christopher Wallace, better known as “Notorious B.I.G.”? And if so, did the department try to cover up their involvement?

Fourteen years after the fatal shots were fired; these questions are still being asked.

On March 9th, 1997, Wallace was leaving a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax when witnesses say a lone gunman in a black Chevy Impala pulled up next to him, calmly rolled down the window, opened fire, then calmly drove away.

Eight years later in 2005, a civil trial brought by the Wallace family against the city of Los Angeles exposed evidence hidden by the LAPD that suggests two rogue police officers David Mack and Rafael Perez may have been involved in the murder of the rapper also known as “Biggie Smalls”.

This potentially explosive evidence involves an alleged conversation between former LAPD officers Rafael Perez and Perez’s cellmate in the L.A. County jail.

The federal judge in the case writes that the inmate reported that Perez had told him about his and Mack’s involvement with Death Row Records and their activities at the Petersen Automotive Museum the night of Biggie Smalls’ murder.

Death Row Records was the label behind another rap superstar, Tupac Shakur, who was murdered in Las Vegas just months before Wallace’s death.

The original lead detective investigating Wallace’s murder says Mack and Perez had close ties to Death Row.

Months after Wallace was killed, officers Mack and Perez were convicted for unrelated crimes — Mack for bank robbery, Perez for stealing cocaine and other serious felonies.

According to a newly-revealed court record, Perez’s cellmate told investigators “Perez and Mack were involved in Death Row Records. Perez got involved in Death Row through Mack.”

“They went to all their parties and stuff,” the inmate said.

Investigators say Perez also told the inmate he was at the scene of the Wallace murder.

“Perez was working security. Perez had a cell phone. Perez said he called over to Mack, David Mack on his cell phone. Perez told Mack that Biggie Smalls was in his truck. Perez never said that he set up Biggie Smalls but I have heard that he…had something to do with that murder,” according to the inmate.

Former lead investigator Russell Poole says these statements are just a glimpse into hundreds of pages of documents that were hidden from Wallace family attorneys.

Poole, who resigned from the LAPD in 1999 and alleges an cover-up by the department, says these statements are “crucial” and that the murder must be put into a historical context: first beginning with the Rodney King beating five years prior and the ensuing riots, followed by the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson in 1995.

Poole says in the racially-charged environment surrounding these key cases, the last thing the city wanted was a scandal involving sworn minority officers involved in the assassination of a hip-hop superstar.

Wallace family attorney says money could be another possible reason for any LAPD cover-up.

Officer Perez was on-duty the night of the murder, and if his involvement was affirmed, the city could potentially be liable for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

Both Perez and Mack have repeatedly denied any involvement in the murder.

The LAPD says it can’t comment on the case since it is still under investigation — and sources say criminal investigators continue to follow up on new leads in this 14-year-old murder investigation that so far have come up empty.

Culled from CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc.

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National Night Out

On Tuesday, August 3, thousands of District of Columbia(DC) residents are expected to join with their neighbors, police officers and other community leaders in celebrating National Night Out. From community cookouts to open houses – block parties, candlelight vigils and athletic events – DC is gearing up for the 27th annual celebration of “America’s Night Out Against Crime.”  The citywide kickoff will begin at 6 pm at the Trinidad Recreation Center. Public safety characters McGruff the Crime Dog® and the National Knight® will be available to meet attendees and have their photos taken. In addition to the numerous activities taking place at the kickoff event, communities across DC – in all seven police districts – have scheduled NNO events during the late afternoon and evening hours.

The National Night Out campaign involves citizens, law enforcement agencies, civic groups, businesses, neighborhood organizations and local officials from 9,500 communities from all 50 states, US territories, Canadian cities and military bases worldwide.

National Night Out (NNO) is an annual event, sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch, that takes place on the first Tuesday in August. Each year, the Metropolitan Police Department actively participates in National Night Out by rallying community members throughout the District of Columbia to join with neighbors and police officers in their PSAs to be a part of this annual event.

National Night Out is designed to:

• Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness;
• Generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime programs;
• Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships; and
• Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

If you want to get involved in future NNO activites in your community, please contact your local police district, or call Yvonne Smith at (202) 727-8809.

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LSF Adeolu Adekambi

Exponent of OSU Melody

A student musical band at the Olabisi Onabanjo University in Nigeria has a history. Adeolu Adekanmbi is the nucleus of it, Adetayo Adelaja writes. 

It was in 1991 that Adeolu Ebenezer Adekanmbi was admitted into Olabisi Onabanjo University (known then as Ogun State University) at Ago Iwoye to study Philosophy

He embraced his admission into the university with a strong intent to write a new story of his own life but ended up in rewriting the history of the university.

Adeolu had attained local stardom as a musician in his immediate environment, finding it difficult to take a walk down the alley without having to respond to the calls of admiration from crowding fans.

He started well.

Initially, his aspiration was to be a physician.

“But I always noticed that I’m deeply in love with music and as I grew up my perspective on ambitions changed. As a young boy of 11, I had started achieving a lot in music. I won laurels for my school in state-organised competitions. While in secondary school, I was chosen to lead the tenor part for the state choir. That brought me into limelight in my state,” he recalled.

He cannot forget in a hurry, that moment in Abuja in 1988, during the Gala Nite organised by the organisation, Better Life for Rural

Dwellers of Nigeria, when he led the Lagos State contingent to perform in the presence of more than 10 heads of state, including Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida of Nigeria who was Nigeria’s military president.

This led to a popular demand for him to go into full scale musical performance and forget university admission which he had been striving many years to achieve. He decided against such proposition.

To him, ambition for further education does not in any way translate to the end of musical dream. It can only enhance it.

He therefore, became an OSU undergraduate in 1991.

“I observed that most musicians in Nigeria and in the world, especially the hip-hop stars are school dropouts or stark ignoramuses and they are treated as such. They see them as Alagbe (beggars). I didn’t want to be numbered among such a crowd. I wanted, and continue to want, to be different,” he said.

As he schooled at OSU he plied his musical trade. And so his fame began to expand on the campus as he was loved by all in the university community who found his type of music unique.

Before long the student union government of the institution, during a special ceremony, gave him the award of Ogun State University Music Ambassador,” presented to him by the former vice chancellor of the University, Professor Yinusa Oyeneye.

Yeah, the award is well deserved. Adeolu founded the “OSU Melody” an orchestra of sparkling stars of young talented undergraduates of OSU at the time.

Reminiscing on the humble start of the band, which came to stay in the university he said:

“We’re just about 10 young men that started the band. I remember the likes of Joseph Adagba, Tosin Ogunname, Mayowa Odusanya, Muyiwa Oyelola, Dipo Ogun, Femi Morafa, Jide Beyioku, Damilola Fashina and Soji Akinbayo (now a lawyer), that made the band what it was and gave it the image it has today in the university, long after us. My dream for the band was that it should be a lasting one in the university. That is why I gave it the name of the institution. I wanted the band to remain as my contribution to the history of the university like other campus clubs providing entertainment for the student populace year in, year out.”

Adeolu was born and bred in the vicarage in the late sixties to a clergy family. His early years in the vicarage and church influenced his choice of career in life.

“The love I have for music aroused my interest in the Palmwine Drinkards club or The Kegites. The club had an effect on my music and my life. As a socio-cultural club, it cut across all ethnic barriers and thus broadens my music and scope about people. In the club, we see each other as brothers and sisters, as we usually sing of our Unity-in-Diversity” he said.

But Adeolu is disappointed. He has discovered that all that glitters in the entertainment industry in Nigeria is not gold.

“The encouragement level is low. To get along in the industry, you must have the resources yourself. No promoters or marketer is ready to invest in new entrants. This has led to the drawbacks in the industry,” he observed.

 Today, he is yet to be fulfilled. He thinks he has a lot to offer but was sadly constrained by the lack of funds to forge ahead.

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