Hip-hop's murky whodunit

The Crips theory has been floating around for years. But the Times shocker was that Wallace himself signed off on Tupac's murder, offering to pay $1 million for the hit. Not only that, Philips for the first time placed Wallace in Las Vegas on the night of the killing. The 300-pound Brooklyn rapper even gave his gun to Crip killers, wrote Philips, because, "He didn't just want Shakur dead. He wanted the satisfaction of knowing the fatal bullet came from his gun."

Within hours of publication, Wallace's friends and family members condemned the Times report as "patently false." If they can prove without a shadow of a doubt that the rapper was not in Las Vegas on the night in question, then Philips' entire yearlong investigation would be worthless. And the reporter, well known for his due diligence, must have known that before he ran with the story.

Wallace's estate quickly provided MTV with documents from a New York recording studio that suggest the rapper was on the East Coast the day of the Vegas shooting. But the paperwork in question merely indicates that studios were reserved in Wallace's name. There were no dated signatures, for instance, or at least none that MTV showed on its news special. The fact is, no videotape stamped with a date has been produced to prove where Wallace was on Sept. 7, 1996, which means the Times' claim cannot be dismissed.

Hip-hop fans, though, might well be wary about other elements of the Times piece. For instance, the article is very lightly sourced and reads less like a detached piece of investigative journalism than like a screenplay. ("The city's neon lights vibrated in the polished hood of the black BMW as it cruised up Las Vegas Boulevard.") Philips notes early on that the story is based on "police affidavits and court documents as well as interviews with investigators, witnesses to the crime and members of the Southside Crips." But it seems that most of the blockbuster charges are drawn from those anonymous Crip gang members, which raises the question: What was to stop them from simply spinning a tale they want to tell?

Philips' chronology of events on the night in question also raises a red flag. Shakur and his Death Row posses beat Anderson down at approximately 9 p.m. Roughly two hours later Anderson allegedly gunned Shakur down on the Vegas strip.

What happened between 9 and 11? Anderson picked himself up off the MGM lobby floor and was detained by hotel security personnel, who wanted to know if he was going to press charges. (He declined.) Anderson then made his way back to his room at the Excalibur Hotel, where he talked by phone to fellow Crips members who'd already heard about the fight. He changed his clothes and headed over to the Treasure Island Hotel, where a gang meeting was convened to discuss revenge and where it was decided that Anderson would take out Shakur that night.

Then the Crips, hoping to earn a payday for their assassination, arranged a rendezvous with Tupac's rival Wallace, who agreed to sponsor the killing. The Crips sent a posse over to the MGM Grand to meet with Wallace, who gave them the gun. Crips members then set out by car to find Shakur in the Las Vegas night.

All that was accomplished in just two hours by gang members who, according to the Times' own reporting, were operating that night in a haze of marijuana and booze?

One fact overlooked in the latest Times account is that back in 1997 Anderson actually filed an assault and battery claim against Shakur's estate and Death Row Records, seeking approximately $1 million for physical injuries and mental suffering stemming from the MGM assault. If Anderson was the trigger man in Vegas, he was an amazingly brazen one, knowing a lawsuit like the one he filed could open him up to pointed depositions with attorneys. (Anderson was killed in a 1998 shooting at a Compton carwash; police said it was unrelated to Shakur's murder.)

In the end, neither the Times nor Broomfield's "Biggie and Tupac" can offer a definitive answer to the gangsta whodunit. In moving forward, hip-hop friends and family members would be wise to focus on Philips' professional effort and forget about Broomfield's sensational flick.

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