Note: the original title of the video is "The Mysterious Death Of Biggie Smalls｜Part 2," however, vertical bars are not permitted within FANDOM article titles.
The Mysterious Death Of Biggie Smalls | Part 2 is a video made by Ryan Bergara and Brent Bennett, uploaded onto YouTube on May 27, 2016. It was the seventh episode of the first season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime, and was the eighth episode overall. It was the second episode of a two-parter series "The Mysterious Deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls" (the first being The Mysterious Death of Tupac Shakur). You can find it here.
Description[]
Who killed Biggie Smalls?
Notable Events[]
This episode was one of the only episodes where Brent Bennett co-hosted. The two also brought along Daysha Veronica, a BuzzFeed coworker, due to her "superfan" status.
Background[]
On March 9, 1997, at the Petersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles, California, Christopher Wallace, or Biggie Smalls/The Notorious B.I.G., was attending a Soul Train Awards afterparty. At one a.m., he left with Sean Combs, A.K.A. P. Diddy or Puff Daddy, and CEO of Bad Boy Records―the label that Biggie was signed to. Both left separately, in different cars, while Biggie's car followed P. Diddy's north on Fairfax Avenue. However, Biggie's car got stopped at Wilshire Boulevard.
While the car was stopped, a black Chevy Impala pulled up at Biggie's side of the car and fired shots from the driver's side of the window. Biggie was hit four times, and was the only person in the car to be shot. According to most witnesses, the shooter was a black male in a blue suit with a bow tie.
After the shooting, P. Diddy got out of his car, running across Wilshire to Biggie's car, and drove to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. At 1:15 a.m., Biggie was pronounced dead.
Similarly to the Tupac case, the Los Angeles police were criticized for poor work, and former LAPD lieutenant, Sergio Robleto, said that "[the LAPD] were there that first night, but they were gone by the next morning and didn't come back to the case until an entire month had passed. In 30 years, I had never seen that: a murder case involving a major celebrity that wasn't taken over by robbery-homicide right out of the gate."
Steven Katz, lead investigator, made many "missteps" handling the case, including forgetting to turn in over 200 documents pertaining to the case. These documents implicated that another LAPD officer was involved in Biggie's murder.
In 2002, Voletta Wallace, mother of Biggie Smalls, filed a wrongful death lawsuit, prompting further investigation. Unfortunately, because the previous documents were not available for the court, the judge declared a mistrial, rendering Biggie's murder inconclusive. In 2007, the lawsuit was refiled, claiming the LAPD had been involved in a cover-up, but was dismissed.
Ryan, Brent, and Daysha drive around Los Angeles and visit several important locations, like the site of Biggie's shooting and the former location of Death Row Records. Brent and Daysha experience discomfort at being at the same intersection of the killing. Ryan runs out of gas and has to pull into a gas station while shrieking.
in 2011, the case was reopened when the FBI's files on Biggie's murder were released, revealing connections in Biggie's murder to a LAPD officer. However, no arrests were ever made in connection with the murder.
Biggie Smalls was cremated, and his ashes were given to family, or a friend.
Theories[]
- Suge Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records, along with LAPD officials, killed Biggie Smalls. This theory was presented by Russell Poole, former LAPD detective.
- A possible motive for the murder might be avenging Tupac's death, which some suspected was orchestrated by Biggie.
- Poole discovered in a former case that LAPD cops were on the payroll of Death Row Records, serving as security guards. David Mack, an officer on the payroll, was there the night of the party, and owned a black Impala similar to the one in the shooting. Mack was also affiliated with an alleged hitman, Amir Muhammad. Muhammad would have matched the description of the shooter. Poole believes Suge Knight hired Muhammad to perform the hit on Biggie.
- Poole also believes that since Mack was involved, the LAPD engaged in a cover-up of the murder. When presenting this theory to his superior officers, Poole claims that they told him "we're not going that way." Steven Katz, the lead investigator, also never interviewed Amir Muhammad nor tested Mack's Chevy Impala.
- Mario Hammonds, prison informant, claims that after Biggie's death, Suge Knight said "My people handled the business. We took care of him... We just missed Puffy."
- Eugene Deal, a former bodyguard of P. Diddy, when interviewed, said that after the party, a man was lurking outside near P. Diddy, and that the man walked north towards where the crime scene would be located. When shown a lineup of photographs, Deal said that Amir Muhammad looked most like the man at the party.
- In 2011, when the FBI files were released, it was revealed Biggie was shot by Gecko 9MM Armor-Piercing Ammunition―which was so rare, only two distributors existed in the United States. The same type of ammunition was found in David Mack's home.
- The FBI killed Biggie and Tupac in order to put an end to the East Coast-West Coast rivalry.
- Biggie Smalls is still alive.
- P. Diddy killed Biggie Smalls.
- A possible motive might be that P. Diddy would make more money off of Biggie's music if Biggie died. Biggie was also apparently planning to leave Bad Boy Records, of whom P. Diddy was the CEO of.
Quotes[]
- Ryan: "We're about to drive through the intersection where he got shot. They came out of this parking structure right here, and then they got stopped right here, at this light."
- Daysha and Brent: "This is really weird."
- Ryan: "Yeah, like, can you imagine looking to your right, and the first thing you see is a gun?"
- Daysha (on the LAPD possible cover-up): "I don't wanna say... corruption."
- Ryan: "[Poole's superior officer] didn't say 'no, you're wrong,' he didn't say 'that's stupid,' he said 'no, don't look that way.' That's always the sentiment of an innocent man."
- Ryan (narrating): "And the same type of ammunition was found in none other than David Mack's home."
- Brent: "What? The―the―guh―the cop?"
- Ryan: "'A super rare ammunition found only in two places in the US? Found in Biggie, found in this guy's house? Pffft, irrelevant.'"
- Brent (over Ryan's laughter): "He was like, 'the murderer didn't write his initials on the bullet, so... there's no way we can trace it back to him.'"
- Brent: "Three-point-nine miles to the gas station."
- Ryan: "How did we run out of gas?"
- Brent: "Two miles."
- Ryan: "Get out of my way, truck!"
- Brent: "One mile."
- Ryan: "Any second now, we're gonna stop moving."
- Brent: "The Shell's there."
- Ryan: "I'm gonna coast through that stop sign." (shrieks) "Oh no, come on!"
- Daysha: "Ryan! Oh, my God."
- Ryan (shrieking as he pulls into the gas station): "Get the fuck out of my way!"
Trivia[]
- This is one of the few episodes where Brent is the co-host rather than Shane.
- This is one of the few episodes that was part of the BuzzFeed IRL series instead of having its own show separate from BuzzFeed Multiplayer.
- In chat, Ryan remarked that this two-parter series was one of his favorite cases covered.