Notorious B I G

Despite numerous setbacks, the family of slain rapper Biggie Smalls continues to pursue a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles based on a theory that a rogue LAPD detective helped orchestrate the murder. Now, with a trial set for this summer in federal court, newly disclosed police documents shed light on how that theory took shape and how police themselves discounted key parts of it almost immediately.

The family of slain rap star Notorious B.I.G. has filed a lawsuit alleging that Los Angeles police officers closely connected to the Rampart corruption scandal were involved in his 1997 killing. The suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, alleges that former Officers Raphael Perez and Nino Durden were involved in the shooting, which took place as Notorious B.I.G.

A prison inmate who had implicated a former Los Angeles Police Department officer in the shooting death of rap star Biggie Smalls has renounced his story, tying a new knot in the tangle of intrigue that surrounds the still-unsolved killing.

NEW YORK CITY -- When it comes to playing Biggie on the big screen, size matters. Take it from De'Andre Neal, a 6-foot-3, 315-pound bouncer with fingers as thick as Twix bars. The Brooklyn native was one of more than 100 hopefuls who turned out for an open casting call on a soundstage in Manhattan's meat-packing district, trying to fill the size-13 shoes of Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G., in "Notorious," a new biopic about the slain rapper.

Lawyers for relatives of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. are preparing for mediation talks in their wrongful death lawsuit against the city and several police officers. The rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was killed in a drive-by shooting in the Mid-Wilshire district in 1997. No arrests were made in the case, and family members filed suit in 2002 alleging that former Los Angeles Police Department officers and others in the rap industry had plotted to kill him.

In a stinging rebuke, a federal judge Friday ordered the city of Los Angeles to pay $1.1 million in attorney fees and costs to the family of slain rap artist Notorious B.I.G. as sanctions for intentionally withholding evidence. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper declared a mistrial last summer in the family's civil lawsuit after finding that a Los Angeles Police Department detective hid statements linking the killing to rogue LAPD Officers David A.

A new team of Los Angeles Police Department detectives is investigating the 1997 murder of rap artist Notorious B.I.G., a top city attorney told City Council members Thursday. In answer to questions about how a lawsuit alleging department involvement in the killing led to a costly court defeat, Assistant City Atty. Don Vincent told the council's public safety committee that a new group of Robbery-Homicide Division detectives had been assigned to the case.

A judge halted sales of Notorious B.I.G.'s breakthrough 1994 album, "Ready to Die," after a jury decided the title song used part of an Ohio Players tune without permission. The jury Friday awarded $4.2 million in punitive and direct damages to Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records, the companies that own the rights to Ohio Players recordings. The sales ban imposed by U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell affects the album and the title song in any form, including Internet downloads and radio play.

The City Council voted Wednesday to pay $1.1 million in attorney fees and costs to the family of rap artist Notorious B.I.G., who was gunned down in 1997 in a case that remains unsolved. A federal judge ordered the payment and declared a mistrial in January, after finding that a police detective had withheld evidence that could have helped the family's civil case.

A federal judge who declared a mistrial and ordered Los Angeles to pay $1.1 million to the family of dead rap star Notorious B.I.G. said Tuesday that she had been deceived about evidence in the family's wrongful-death lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ordered a lawyer for the family, Perry R. Sanders Jr., to explain a document that appears to undercut a key claim he made in the trial last year on behalf of relatives of the rapper, born Christopher Wallace.