City to Pay Legal Cost in Notorious B.I.G. Case

The family of murdered rap artist Notorious B.I.G. will received $1.1 million in legal costs from the City of Los Angeles, because a judge ruled the city intentionally withheld evidence during the family's civil lawsuit trial.

Christopher Wallace, known as Notorious B.I.G., was shot to death at a party March 9, 1997. His murder has not yet been officially solved.

In their civil lawsuit, the family tried to establish that former L.A. officers David Mack and Rafael Perez set up Wallace's murder on behalf of Marion "Suge" Knight, the chief of Death Row Records. All three have denied any involvement U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper declared a mistrial in the civil lawsuit last summer after ruling that a police detective did not reveal statements that linked Mack and Perez to the murder.

Detective Steven Katz claimed he had "overlooked" a transcript of the remarks linking to two officers to the crime, but Cooper ruled that he and others concealed the information.

A retrial is scheduled later this year in the civil case.

See Also:
L.A. to Pay $1.1M to Slain Rapper's Family

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