September 9, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Norm Clarke

Biggie questions still arise over who had rapper killed
Local author Cathy Scott, an expert on the 1996 slaying of rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, isn't buying the Los Angeles Times' claim that rapper Notorious BIG promised $1 million to have Shakur killed.
"It didn't happen that way. Biggie was a rapper, not a killer, and he was a mama's boy and not the thug Tupac was," said Scott.
"Biggie was accused early on, so that's nothing new," said Scott. "And everyone knows it was the Crips (a Los Angeles street gang) who shot Tupac.
"Who was behind it, of course, is the question. But (Times staff writer Chuck) Phillips didn't answer it. Biggie was not in Las Vegas the night of the killing, despite Phillips' claim. I interviewed Biggie's mother several times at length. She said Biggie was at her New Jersey house the next morning and cried when he heard Tupac was shot.
"It's easy to point a finger at a dead guy. The dead can't sue.
"It would have taken guts to point a finger at Sean (P Diddy) Combs, Biggie's record producer."
Scott, a former reporter at the Las Vegas Sun, wrote "The Killing of Tupac Shakur." An expanded second edition is coming out this fall.
Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.