Notorious B.I.G., Ready to Die
Time Warner sells its half interest in Interscope back to Ted Field, who promptly sells it to Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s MCA
Dr. Dre sentenced for violating 1993 battery conviction when pleads no contest to drunk driving charge in Los Angeles
Tupac Shakur pleads guilty to assault of Allen Hughes in Los Angeles
Tupac Shakur shot five times during robbery in lobby of Quad Recording Studios off New York’s Times Square; Biggie Smalls, Puffy Combs, and Andre Harrell present in studios
Tupac Shakur sentenced to prison in New York for sexual assault of Ayanna Jackson
U.S. Justice Department commences racketeering investigation against Suge Knight and Death Row Records
1995 Suge Knight pleads guilty to felony assault with a deadly weapon against George and Lynwood Stanley, given nine-year suspended sentence
Kelly Jamerson beaten to death at Death Row Records party in Los Angeles’s El Rey Theater
Biggie Smalls arrested for attacking fans with a baseball bat in Manhattan
Biggie Smalls aka Notorious B.I.G. named rap artist of the year by Billboard magazine
Suge Knight insults Puffy Combs from stage at Source Magazine Awards show; East vs. West feud escalates
Shots fired at trailer being used to film “New York, New York” video of Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound
Biggie Smalls aka Notorious B.I.G. releases song “Who Shot Ya,” taken by Tupac Shakur as a taunt
Tupac Shakur released from New York state prison at Dannemora, signs contract with Death Row Records
Suge Knight opens 662 Club in Las Vegas
Jake Robles is shot to death at Platinum Club in Atlanta; Suge Knight accuses Puffy Combs of responsibility
LAPD Officer Richard McCauley discovered manning front desk at Death Row Records studios in Tarzana; ordered to discontinue employment
Michael “Harry-O” Harris threatens Interscope and Time Warner with lawsuit, demands profits from Death Row Records
Death Row Records releases Snoop Dogg’s Dogg Food album
Mark Anthony Bell assaulted at Chateau La Blanc mansion in Hollywood Hills
January 1996 Dick Griffey and Tracy “the D.O.C.” Curry file $75 million lawsuit against Suge Knight to contest ownership of Death Row Records
February 1996 Snoop Dogg acquitted at trial for murder of Philip Woldemariam
Tupac Shakur forms own production company, Euphanasia
Tupac Shakur releases first album on Death Row Records label, All Eyez on Me; sells half a million copies first week in stores
March 1996 Dr. Dre informs Jimmy Iovine he wants to leave Death Row
Records and start his own record label
Crips working for Bad Boy Entertainment clash with Bloods working for Death Row Records at Soul Train Awards show in Los Angeles
April 1996 Suge Knight announces Death Row Records will open an East
Coast division in Manhattan
May 1996 Bruce Richardson murdered in Los Angeles
June 1996 Kenneth Knox of LAPD commences civil abatement action against Death Row Records studios in Tarzana
July 1996 Kevin Lewis assaulted in parking lot outside Death Row studios in Tarzana
Biggie Smalls’s home in New Jersey raided by police who seize weapons and drugs
August 1996 Puffy Combs makes threatening comments in interview with VIBE
Kevin Gaines places 911 call reporting self as victim of shooting at Sharitha Knight’s house; assaults officers who respond
Tupac Shakur fires David Kenner as his attorney
September 1996 Tupac Shakur shot in Las Vegas, dies in hospital
Police informant reports that Suge Knight has just delivered a load of AK-47 assault rifles to Bloods gang members in Nickerson Gardens housing project
Gang war breaks out in Los Angeles County between Bloods and Crips
Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office removes Larry Longo as prosecutor of Suge Knight in assault on Stanley brothers
Las Vegas Police Department informs Kenneth Knox of LAPD that Richard McCauley was in Las Vegas at time of Tupac Shakur shooting and afterward was a guest in a Luxor Hotel room reserved by Suge Knight
October 1996 Larry Longo placed on administrative leave from D.A.’s office
Suge Knight jailed for failing drug test
Kevin Lewis agrees to cooperate with investigation of Death Row Records
November 1996 Death Row Records releases Tupac Shakur’s posthumous Makaveli
Witness Yafu Fula shot to death in New Jersey
December 1996 Los Angeles Times reports that Death Row Records accountant
Steve Cantrock has become a federal witness and is supplying the U.S. Justice Department with financial evidence against Suge Knight
February 1997 Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office wins court hearing to revoke probation of Suge Knight and reinstate prison sentence; Knight sent away for “diagnostic examination” by California Department of Corrections
Biggie Smalls and Puffy Combs arrive in Los Angeles to shoot videos for the Life After Death album
Afeni Shakur files racketeering lawsuit against Suge Knight and David Kenner
March 1997 Biggie Smalls shot to death while leaving party at Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles
Kevin Gaines shot to death in gun battle with Frank Lyga in North Hollywood
April 1997 Russell Poole, already assigned to investigation of Kevin Gaines, takes over as one of two lead detectives in Biggie Smalls murder investigation
May 1997 Russell Poole and Fred Miller travel to Las Vegas to meet with detectives investigating the murder of Tupac Shakur
LAPD Internal Affairs investigator John Iancin travels to Las Vegas to conduct investigation of Richard McCauley’s employment by Death Row Records; leads to McCauley’s resignation “in lieu of dismissal” from LAPD
Reggie Wright Jr. names three other LAPD officers who do “security work” for Death Row Records
Kenneth Knox ordered not to discuss investigation of Death Row Records without authorization from LAPD
June 1997 Suge Knight enters as inmate at California Men’s Colony in San
Luis Obispo
Aaron “Heron” Palmer, shot and killed on Compton Street corner
July 1997 Los Angeles Times reports that federal investigators believe Death
Row Records started with seed money from Michael Harris
November 1997 David Mack, with help of three accomplices, robs Bank of
America Branch in Los Angeles; gets away with $722,000
December 1997 David Mack arrested for bank robbery
January 1998 Dale Williams tells police what he knows about bank robbery
Russell Poole first learns of evidence that implicates David Mack in the murder of Biggie Smalls; investigation stymied by LAPD superiors
Poole learns that David Mack’s first jail visitor was Amir Muhammed
February 1998 Poole first hears name Rafael Perez, identified as friend of David Mack
March 1998 LAPD presents final report on shooting of Kevin Gaines, exonerates Frank Lyga
LAPD discovers that two kilograms of cocaine checked out by LAPD officer are missing
April 1998 Rafael Perez becomes principal suspect in cocaine theft
LAPD learns of earlier theft of cocaine checked into evidence by Frank Lyga; Rafael Perez implicated
May 1998 Orlando Anderson shot to death in Compton
May-June 1998 Russell Poole engages in a series of public disputes with LAPD superiors over Biggie Smalls murder investigation, and suspected involvment of police officers working for Death Row Records
June 1998 LAPD Robbery-Homicide Task Force formed; Russell Poole assigned to focus on links between David Mack and Biggie Smalls murder
Russell Poole informed that he won’t be working on Biggie Smalls case for task force, after all
July 1998 Russell Poole interviews Frank Alexander, Kevin Ha
ckie, and Kevin Lewis
Rafael Perez photographed in “romantic embrace” with Veronica Quesada, who is later arrested when brother Carlos Romero shows up at her apartment with a quarter-pound of cocaine
LAPD detectives discover photograph of Officer Rafael Perez wearing a red sweatsuit and flashing West Coast gang sign
Russell Poole assigned to investigate beating of Ismael Jimanez by LAPD Officer Brian Hewitt
August 1998 LAPD raids and searches home of Rafael Perez; Russell Poole assigned to coordinate evidence
Russell Poole makes arrest of Rafael Perez for theft of cocaine from LAPD Property Division
October 1998 Russell Poole approaches prosecutors from Los Angeles County
District Attorney’s office to complain about administration of Robbery-Homicide Task Force
November 1998 Russell Poole asked to leave task force and transfer out of
December 1998 Russell Poole takes sick leave from LAPD
Rafael Perez’s first criminal trial ends with a hung jury
January 1999 Russell Poole returns to LAPD active duty, transfers to South Bureau Homicide
May 1999 Deputy District Attorney Richard Rosenthal negotiates plea deal with Rafael Perez, learns that Javier Ovando has been falsely convicted
Los Angeles City Attorney James Hahn, Police Chief Bernard Parks, and attorney Johnnie Cochran negotiate deal to settle Gaines family lawsuit
Suge Knight transferred from California Men’s Colony to Mule Creek State Prison
June 1999 Rafael Perez details alleged corruption in LAPD Rampart Division
August 1999 LAPD disbands South Bureau Homicide; Russell Poole transfers to Harbor Division Homicide
September 1999 David Mack sentenced for bank robbery
Rafael Perez plea deal made public
October 1999 Russell Poole resigns from LAPD
December 1999 Los Angeles Times publishes “botched” account of Biggie Smalls murder investigation provided by Russell Poole
Rafael Perez fails all five lie detector tests administered by district attorney’s office; Perez sentencing postponed
February 2000 Rafael Perez sentenced in Los Angeles Superior Court
May 2000 Los Angeles Times prints “veiled retraction” of earlier article implicating Amir Muhammed in murder of Biggie Smalls
June 2000 Kevin Hackie interviewed at Cornell Correctional Facility by
LAPD’s Emmanuel Hernandez, Brian Tyndall, and Gregory Grant; identifies David Mack, Kevin Gaines, and Rafael Perez as LAPD officers who attended Suge Knight’s private parties
September 2000 Los Angeles City Council votes 12–3 to accept “consent decree” imposed upon LAPD by U.S. Department of Justice
Russell Poole files lawsuit against LAPD
October 2000 First Rampart-related trial of LAPD officers (four) begins in Los
Angeles Superior Court
Media discovers that Sonia Flores has told FBI she was present when David Mack and Rafael Perez executed a pair of drug dealers; district attorney announces Perez will not be called as a witness at criminal trial
November 2000 Jury delivers guilty verdicts against three of four accused LAPD officers
December 2000 Convictions of LAPD officers voided on basis of prosecutorial error and juror misconduct
Sonia Flores confesses she made up story about murder of drug dealers
January 2001 Police Protective League poll indicates that two-thirds of LAPD officers would like to quit their jobs; LAPD unable to fill Police Academy class
February 2001 Jail inmate Mark Hylland tells FBI he was hired by Suge Knight,
David Mack, and Rafael Perez to courier money to pay for murder of Biggie Smalls
March 2001 Nino Durden makes plea deal with U.S. Attorney’s office, reportedly will testify against Rafael Perez and unnamed others in connection to criminal acts not specified
“The Row” releases posthumous Tupac Shakur album Until the End of Time
May 2001 Puffy Combs’s bodyguard Eugene Deal identifies Amir
Muhammed as “Nation of Islam guy” he suspects of involvement in Biggie Smalls murder
June 2001 Rolling Stone and New Yorker magazines publish articles that link
Rampart scandal to Biggie Smalls murder and involvement of LAPD officers with Death Row Records; majority of Los Angeles media either ignore or attack articles
August 2001 Suge Knight released from federal prison
September 2001 Attorneys Perry Sanders and Robert Frank begin preparing wrongful death suit against LAPD and City of Los Angeles
DOCUMENTS
GAINES-LYGA SHOOTING
Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Division Report of Officer Involved Shooting DR #97-1511566 OIS# 029/97 20 pages
“Chronological Record” of LAPD Case DR #97-1511566, stamped “Confidential” Begins 3/20/97 Ends 5/27/97 31 pages
Fact Sheet, Gaines-Lyga Shooting, Internal Affairs Division, stamped “Confidential” and dated May 27, 1997 6 pages
LAPD Follow-Up Investigation, “Confidential DR #97-1511566,” dated 5/27/97 21 pages
Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Bureau of Special Operations, Special Investigations Division report to Capt. William O. Gartland of the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division, regarding S.I.D. File # 100-8226/97-0211 LAPD OIS # 029/97, dated 3/19/98 7 pages
LAPD Property Report for DR #97-1511566, dated 5/1/97 1 page (videotape)
Photocopies of all evidence recovered from Kevin Gaines’s vehicle and person 6 pages
List of numbers left on Kevin Gaines’s pager on 3/18/97 4 pages
Government Tort Claim filed by the Law Offices of Milton C. Grimes “In the Matter of Kevin Gaines vs. City of Los Angeles” Case # C96-4857 stamped “Confidential” 5 pages
LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division “Clue Form” stamped “Confidential” (Statement of Sig Schien) 5 pages
LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division “Clue Form” stamped “Confidential” (Statement of Glen Vanevera) 3 pages
LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division “Clue Form” stamped “Confidential” (Statement of Robert Vanina) 3 pages
LAPD Interdepartmental Correspondence from Captain Paul H. Marks to Kevin Gaines, dated 2/25/97 1 page
LAPD Personnel Complaint, Internal Affairs Case #96-1295, stamped “Confidential” and dated 8/16/96 2 pages
Memo titled “Gaines Shooting” and stamped “Confidential” from Detective B. Farrar of the LAPD’s Anti-Terrorist Division 2 pages
LAPD Six-pack photo lineup including mug shot of Kevin Gaines, stamped “Confidential”
LAPD “Statement of Earnings and Deductions” for employee Kevin Gaines, period ending 12/7/96 1 page
LAPD Employees Report, Subject: “Information on Death Row Records” in connection to Kevin Gaines, dated 3/31/97 1 page
LAPD memo dated 4/1/97 from Det. Inabu to Det. Poole requesting photo of Kevin Gaines for Wilshire Homicide “Gaines may be involved in their case. They need picture.” 1 page
DEATH ROW RECORDS
“Statement Form” of Interview with Long Beach Police Officer L. A. Arnwine, assigned to “multi-agency federal task force” investigating Death Row Records Conducted by LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division Detectives McCartin, Martin, and Katz, dated 9/29/97 3 pages
LAPD “Follow-Up Investigation” report on DR# 95-07 14398, murder of Kelly Jamerson, dated 5/1/95 9 pages
LAPD “Preliminary Investigation” of DR# 95-0648425, assault and robbery of Mark Anthony Bell, dated 12/18/95 5 pages
LAPD “Follow-Up Investigation” report on DR# 95-0648425, robbery and assault of Mark Anthony Bell, dated 1/5/96 2 pages
LAPD “Follow-Up Investigation” report on DR# 95-0648425, robbery and assault of Mark Anthony Bell, dated 4/30/96 7 pages
LAPD “Statement of Hen
ry Lee Smith,” dated 10/9/97 2 pages
LAPD list of “Compton Blood Street Gang Members,” compiled by gang intelligence unit, no date 1 page
LAPD list of “Compton Southside Crip Gang Members,” compiled by gang intelligence unit, no date 1 page
LAPD “List of Suge Knight’s Associates,” compiled by Kenneth Knox during his investigation, no date 3 pages
LAPD list of “Vehicles Registered to Death Row Records, Marion H. Knight, Lessee,” no date 1 page
TUPAC SHAKUR MURDER
New York Police Department “Arrest Report” on Walter Burns aka “Runner,” dated 9/12/96 1 page
Las Vegas Police Department list of “Death Row Vehicles in Las Vegas,” no date 1 page
LAPD memo on “Information Gathered from Search Warrant Affidavit Prepared on 9/25/96 by Compton Police Department” 5 pages
Orange (New Jersey) Police Department “Incident Report” on the murder of Yafu Fula, dated 11/10/96 3 pages
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Homicide Section, “Fax Transmittal” sent to LAPD Officer Kenneth Knox, no date (October 1996) 13 pages
LAPD “Statement Form” of Interview with Andre Luzano aka Paul Lewis aka “Lucky” by LAPD Criminal Conspiracy Section Detectives Kent Anderson and Kenneth Wheeler, dated 4/24/97 6 pages
LAPD “Statement of Corey Lamont Edwards,” dated 6/9/97 7 pages
LAPD “Statement Form” dated 10/29/97 Statements provided by Detectives R. B. Griffie and S. J. Anderson, and Lt. A. J. Biello of the Atlanta Police Department, includes statement of Fulton County Sheriff’s Deputy C. J. Howard 4 pages
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department “Notice to Appear” issued to Calvin Cordozar Broadus on 5/1/98 1 page
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department “Office Correspondence” from Lt. Brad Welker to LAPD Det. Russell Poole “Subject: Calvin Broadus Interview,” dated 5/14/98 2 pages
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department “Statement of Facts” File # 298-03037-0980-189 Arrest of Calvin Cordozar Broadus, aka “Snoop Doggy Dogg” Dated May 1, 1998 1 page
LAPD list of “Police Contacts” in connection to Tupac Shakur murder, no date 2 pages
BIGGIE SMALLS MURDER
LAPD “General Time Line” chronicling alleged criminal activities connected to Suge Knight, Death Row Records, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, Mob Piru Bloods, and South Side Compton Crips, dated 12/12/97 9 pages