Gary James' Interview With Former L.A.P.D Detective
Greg Kading



In the 1990s the most popular Rap artists were Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Tupac Shakur was murdered on September 15th, 1996 and Biggie Smalls was murdered on March 9th, 1997. Greg Kading was with the L.A.P.D. at the time and investigated the deaths of Tupac and Biggie. What follows in our interview with former Detective Greg Kading about the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls (a.k.a. The Notorius B.I.G.)

Q - Why cant' the authorities get these gangs off the streets? Couldn't they use the RICCO laws to put them in jail?

A - Well, they do often times. They've used RICCO to do very large gang investigations and brought indictments. So, they have used RICCO very effectively in the past, but it's also a little more complicated than just saying there shouldn't be any gangs because we have RICCO to use. There's lot of different social issues involved. The police today don't have the type of authority that they had in past times. So, there's a lot of contributing issues.

Q - How are these gangs supporting themselves? Are they involved in drug trafficking? Loan sharking?

A - All of the above. Gangs are pretty loosely organized. They're not like Organized Crime in the traditional sense. They function and collaborate in order to commit a whole variety of crimes. It's from simple thefts up to organized execution.

Q - Before you started the investigation into the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls had you ever heard of these guys before?

A - Of course. They were very well known icons in the industry.

Q - Did the families of Tupac and Biggie co-operate with you and give you any information they had?

A - Well, to an extent. Mrs. Wallace (Biggie's mother) was much more pro active in trying to solve the murder of her son. Afeni Shakur had a different perspective just because of her background and her understanding of law enforcement. I think she was more hesitant and less trusting. They had different ways of approaching it, but to the extent that they could help, neither of them were there. Neither of them knew what happened. Neither of them really could provide much information in so far as furthering the investigation of the murders.

Q - Biggie's mother didn't want him to go to the West Coast for that awards show. Did she sense something? Did she know something?

A - Well, everybody knew that there was the ongoing conflict between groups of people, especially between groups of people that are capable of violence, of course you're going to be concerned. So, I think she cautioned him to be careful. I don't know that she ever tried to talk him out of it. She was only one influence in his life. There were other influences that were pushing him in another direction.

Q - Why didn't Biggie and Tupac have police escorts when their vehicles were going down the street? With Biggie he had his bodyguards in a car behind him, which was as good as nothing.

A - These guys were a very loose knit protective detail. They weren't classically trained in executive protection type of activities. They were just a bunch of guys who said they'd get together and proved security. Even though on both sides there were some law enforcement experience involved, you're not giving them a police escort because they're not dignitaries. They're not Heads Of State. They've just guys in the music industry who are all beefing who surround themselves with off-duty cops who are moonlighting. For Biggie, there was one off-duty officer the night he was killed. The night Tupac was killed there were no off-duty officers. There were retired officers that were running security, but none of them were with Tupac the night of the shooting.

Q - But, if asked, would the police have provided protection for Biggie and Tupac to go to say an awards show or boxing match or wherever they were going?

A - No. Of course not. It's not what the police department's function is. The police department's function is not to go out and help rappers who are associating with criminals and then have the police provide them with executive protection services. That's not the function of the police department.

Q - There was a rumor going around that Biggie provided the gun that killed Tupac. Where did that rumor come from? Do you know?

A - It was a street rumor that was prevalent. I don't exactly know what the source of that was. It started out as a story that ultimately made it into a newspaper article saying that Biggie was in Las Vegas the night Tupac was shot and killed and that he had been involved in providing the gun I believe. It was just an urban rumor that many people believed in and it spread, but it was untrue.

Q - According to the TV show Autopsy on the Reelz Network, Tupac's autopsy report has never been made public. Do you know the reason behind that?

A - As far as I know, I don't believe it's sealed. I think the autopsy report is available if you were to petition the police department or petition the coroner's department. But, all you're going to learn is that he was shot and killed. What else is there to learn from the autopsy other than the method of his death, and that's well-known. Everybody knows he was shot and killed.

Q - Where is the car today that Biggie was riding in the night he was murdered?

A - The Suburban was a leased vehicle. It was basically a rental and it would've been given back to the rental company. I do know that they removed the door that had the bullet holes. They removed it and preserved it as evidence. The car itself would have been returned to the company that owned it.

Q - Was it a contract killing on the lives of Tupac and Biggie?

A - Well, it started off as a personal beef, but it was beefing between Suge Knight and Puffy Combs. There was beefing between Tupac and Biggie and there was beefing between the gangs. There were different levels of conflicts and it all continued to exacerbate itself until somebody got shot and killed. And then somebody else got shot and killed in retaliation for that. It was just a street type of criminal activity.

Q - What people don't understand is when Lynyrd Skynyrd mentioned Neil Young in "Sweet Home Alabama", Neil Young just laughed it off. There was no violence.

A - Well, "Southern Man don't need him around anyhow" is different than saying "Hey, I fucked your wife and I'm gonna kill all your friends and I'm gonna kill you." These are completely different types of intentions and threats. You can't really make that comparison because they're completely different in nature, and it's one thing to say you don't respect my state and screw you, and it's another thing when you make it a very personal issue. Lynyrd Skynyrd was not surrounded by a criminal element in their entourage.



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