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Although it has been more than six years since Tupac Shakur's death, his murder remains, from a legal standpoint, unclosed. There have been no arrests made, no charges pressed there aren't even any suspects to point to. However, in an attempt to put together the known clues to reveal the full story, the Los Angeles Times conducted extensive research on the matter. The newspaper then ran a two-part story the weekend of the six-year anniversary of Tupac's death. The L.A. Times tapped as many sources as possible for information leading to a conclusion, including various police departments, especially those of Las Vegas and Compton, court documents, gang behavior experts and witnesses to the crime. Perhaps most importantly, though, interviews were conducted with members of the Southside Crips who, according to the story, had never before discussed the killing outside the gang. The article concluded that failure on the part of the Las Vegas police to sufficiently investigate the crime led to what continues to be a case without a finale and one without justice for any of the criminals involved. At the time of his murder, Tupac would have been serving a four-and-a-half year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a 19-year-old New York fan, had it not been for Death Row Records founder Suge Knight's offer to post a $1.4-million bond if Tupac would sign a recording contract with the label. Tupac agreed and the result was the five-times-platinum All Eyez On Me double album. According to the L.A. Times, Tupac's murder was a direct result of his physical attack on Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, then 21, a Southside Crips member. The attack was retaliation for an assault on one of Tupac's bodyguards at a mall in Lakewood, The L.A. Times reported. As a final insult to both the Bloods and Death Row, after the beating, Anderson stole a Death Row medallion from the guard's neck. And on Sept. 7, 1996, immediately after a boxing match in which Mike Tyson knocked out Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Tupac spotted Anderson, for whom the Bloods had been lusting after ever since the beating of the bodyguard. And the rapper, happening upon this pleasant surprise, decided to take matters into his own hands. The L.A. Times wrote that a 30-second struggle ensued during which not only Tupac, but his bodyguards, and even Suge Knight joined in. On the night of the attack, Tupac and other Death Row acts were to play a benefit concert for a youth boxing program. The ill-fated concert was to be held midnight at Death Row's recently opened Club 662 in Vegas. As Anderson recovered "MGM security guards and Las Vegas police tried to persuade him to file a complaint against his assailants, but he declined," stated the L.A. Times. Word of the attack, which was captured on the hotel's surveillance cameras, spread quickly among the Southside Crips members and, according to the L.A. Times article, to the Notorious B.I.G. The Crips sought vengeance, and this is where the story becomes unclear. The L.A. Times article stated that, at this point, Crips members, fuming at the attack on Anderson, organized a plan to kill Tupac as well as make money by convincing his longtime foe, the Notorious B.I.G., to pay for the murder. The article alleged that Biggie agreed to pay $1 million on the condition that the gunman use Notorious B.I.G.'s own .40-caliber Glock pistol to commit the homicide. However, according to a statement issued by Biggie's family immediately after the article was published, the rapper was in New Jersey at the time of the murder. The statement called the L.A. Times story "irresponsible journalism" and indicated that there were various family members and friends willing to testify that the Notorious B.I.G. was indeed in New Jersey at that time. In any case, with or without Biggie's presence in Vegas, the murder was on its way. The Crips had thought they would be able to find Tupac at Club 662, but before they even reached it, they happened upon a fleet of Death Row vehicles. Tupac was sitting in the passenger seat of Suge Knight's BMW, unaware of the Crips presence. So the Crips took the opportunity and pulled up alongside the black BMW. E.D.I. Mean, an Atlanta rapper who was in the vehicle behind the BMW, told the L.A. Times, I saw a gun come from the back seat out through the driver's front window. The gunman began firing. Tupac was hit four times as he tried to get into the back seat for cover. It all happened so quick. It took three or four seconds at the most, E.D.I. Mean added. In the ensuing chaos, Suge Knight, in an attempt to pursue the killers, crashed his car into a cub on the Strip. Whe Las Vegas police arrived, the L.A. Times reported, they called an ambulance for Tupac and forced everybody who had been attacked, including Suge Knight, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head onto the ground. The mix-up gave the Crips plenty of time to rush back to their hotels, round up their stuff and leave. Tupac, in the meantime, had been taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where his right lung was removed. Following Tupac's death six days later, three people died and 12 were injured in Compton as the Bloods sought vengeance on the Crips. Notorious B.I.G. was killed in March 1997, and Anderson was fatally shot on May 29, 1998 in Compton, an incident unrelated to Tupac's slaying. Las Vegas police, the L.A. Times asserted, had plenty of resources at their fingertips that they did not use in order to solve the crime, including Yafeu "Kadafi" Fula, an eyewitness to the crime who told police that he might be able to identify one or more of the suspects. Two months later, though, before police talked to him, he was killed. Additionally, the Compton police squad arrested many of the potential suspects on drug and weapons charges. Among them was Orlando Anderson. The Las Vegas police were invited to question them. Anderson was questioned for about 20 minutes, the article says, but the Las Vegas police left the rest of the detainees alone, much to the surprise of the Compton police. In defense, Las Vegas homicide Sgt. Kevin Manning, who oversaw the investigation, told the L.A. Times that the police's failure to locate any suspects was due largely to the fact that they received little or no cooperation from those involved in the murder, including the victims. It's the typical gang mentality. Their best friend got shot and nobody saw nothing. The way I see it, if somebody tells me they don't want to talk, what's the point of calling them back over and over again? In this country, citizens have rights. Unfortunately for those who would have liked to see justice brought to the case, though, without any answers, it is difficult to bring legal action into reality.
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