Las Vegas Police: No Evidence Linking the Rapper Murders

Original: “No evidence of link in rapper slayings” · Associated Press, reprinted in the Las Vegas Sun · Robert Macy · March 12, 1997

Three days after the murder of The Notorious B.I.G. in Los Angeles, the Las Vegas police spoke up. Lieutenant Wayne Petersen emphasized that there was no evidence of a link between the murders of Tupac and Biggie. He called talk of a deadly East-West rivalry “media hype.” In Tupac’s case, investigators had dismissed that lead early on. While they were pursuing their own theory regarding the crime, he declined to elaborate.

Sergeant Kevin Manning, the lead investigator, had also spoken by phone with colleagues in Los Angeles. Petersen did not disclose what the officers discussed.

Photos for the Witnesses from the Convoy

The report also centered on two witnesses. Tupac’s bodyguard Frank Alexander had initially said he could not identify the shooter, but later stated he might be able to after all. Rapper Malcolm Greenidge (E.D.I. Mean of the Outlawz), who was driving behind Tupac in the convoy, had come forward as well. Police announced they would show both men photos of potential suspects-yet kept the time and location secret to protect the witnesses. “Violence is so rampant in the rap music business that anyone would have to be concerned,” Petersen said.

Photo Lineups Yield No Matches

The identification procedure brought no progress. On March 19, 1997, Alexander viewed eight photo lineups and recognized no one. According to police, Greenidge declined to look at the photos at all (see No leads, lots of skepticism). This appointment only came about after both men told the Los Angeles Times in late February 1997 that police had never shown them any photos. Another witness from the convoy, Yafeu “Yaki Kadafi” Fula, had already been shot and killed in New Jersey in November 1996.

Compton Instead of New York

Petersen was essentially right in his assessment of the East-West theory. According to the prosecution’s case and the guilty verdict, the trigger for Tupac’s murder was in Compton, not New York. On August 31, 2026, Duane “Keffe D” Davis of the Southside Compton Crips was found guilty of murder in Las Vegas (not final, as of October 2026). What “theory” the police were pursuing in 1997 was never made public.