On the 15-year anniversary of the death of legendary hip-hop great, the Notorious B.I.G., Complex magazine remembers the icon with an in-depth interview with retired LAPD detective Greg Kading, who previously accused both Suge Knight and Diddy — in his book, Murder Rap: The Untold Story of the Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations — of orchestrating the murders of their respective label’s biggest stars at the time, Biggie and Tupac Shakur.
In the piece, Kading flat-out names the shooters in both slayings — Wardell “Poochie” Fouse, a Piru gang member hired by Suge Knight to kill Biggie; and Southside Crips member Orlando Anderson, who was jumped shortly before Tupac was shot and killed in Las Vegas. And details what happened and how things eventually led to Biggie murder and why they will never any prosecutions in the cases.
Below are excerpts from the lengthy piece, but head over to Complex.com to read it in its entirety:
On Biggie’s Murder
“Suge Knight was absolutely enraged. Not only had he been shot at, but his friend [Tupac Shakur] was killed next to him in the car. Suge always knew who was responsible. He looked directly into the eyes of Keefe D, who was in the shooter’s car. Keefe D was a member of the Southside Crips and a well known person to Suge. That explains why the next day this huge war broke out in Compton between Suge Knight’s gang entourage and Keefe D’s gang entourage.
“Suge Knight ended up going to jail on a probation violation, stemming from the beating of Orlando Anderson [Ed. Note—Anderson is Keefe D’s nephew, also a Southside Crip who allegedly shot Tupac.] in the MGM Grand hotel. While Suge was in jail, he conspired with his girlfriend. Suge gave her the directive to get Poochie.
“Wardell ‘Poochie’ Fouse was paid to kill Biggie. At the time, he was a 36-year old member of the Mob Piru Bloods. According to several Death Row insiders and FBI informants, Poochie was a down-for-the-cause, hardcore gang member. Confidential sources from the Death Row entourage, the Mob Pirus, and [Suge’s girlfriend, identified in Kading’s book by the alias “Theresa Swann”], said Poochie had done shootings for Suge in the past. Reggie Wright Jr. — who was the head of Death Row security — said Suge and Poochie’s relationship was different than other members of the gang. They had a very secretive and exclusive relationship.
“[Suge’s girlfriend] and Poochie agreed to terms. He received two payments, one for $9000 and one for $4000. Poochie lay in wait outside the Petersen Automotive Museum. As soon as he became aware of where Biggie was sitting in his car, he drove up and he shot him.”
On Whether The Cases Will Ever Be Solved
“It comes down to how you define solved. Both law enforcement agencies — the Las Vegas Police Department and the L.A.P.D. — have drawn the conclusions that Tupac was killed by Orlando Anderson and Biggie Smalls was killed by Wardell ‘Poochie’ Fouse.
“Those are the facts within law enforcement. They’re considered solved internally, but the public’s definition of solved is different. They haven’t gone through the judicial process and nobody has been prosecuted.
“Both shooters are dead. Orlando Anderson was killed outside a Compton record shop in May 1998. Poochie died in July 2003 as a result of multiple gunshot wounds. He was shot in the back while riding his motorcycle in Compton. He was supposedly killed as a result of in-fighting between the Mob Pirus—Suge’s Blood associates—and another Blood gang known as the Fruit Town Pirus.
“That’s all the justice that these cases will see. The co-conspirators are never going to be prosecuted. Unfortunately, the cases are so complicated and convoluted. These will never see criminal prosecution.
“The co-conspirators are absolutely known and I say that with conviction. I worked directly on these cases for years and know exactly where they stand within law enforcement. They would be very problematic prosecutions because of all of the convoluted peripheral issues that were raised during the investigation.
“The D.A. in Los Angeles knows that this is an extremely difficult situation to try and prosecute. Here’s the problem; You’ve got [Suge’s girlfriend] confessing, and then, there was a bad move by law enforcement to give her immunity. The shooter’s dead, the female confessor has immunity, so you just have Suge Knight.
“The D.A.’s office in Los Angeles has a policy: They don’t prosecute murders based on the testimony of one witness, which is now just the girlfriend. So the D.A.’s realizing, ‘OK, what are we going to do? We’re going to prosecute Suge Knight for solicitation of murder and the whole thing’s based on the testimony of his girlfriend? We can bring in all this circumstantial stuff and we can bring in the history between these crews, but ultimately, a good defense attorney’s going to say, ‘Hey isn’t this all just an elaborate cover-up, because the L.A.P.D. actually murdered Biggie?’ The defense is going to try and turn the thing back around. So the D.A. realizes that there’s not really a potential for a successful prosecution.”
Make sure to read the full story at Complex.com. And, order Kading’s Murder Rap: The Untold Story of the Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations now at Amazon.com.
