Labyrinth: The True Story of City of Lies, the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. and the Implication of the Los Angeles Police Department

by Randall Sullivan

Acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan follows Russell Poole, a highly decorated LAPD detective who in 1997 was called to investigate a controversial cop-on-cop shooting, eventually to discover that the officer killed was tied to Marion “Suge” Knight’s notorious gangsta rap label, Death Row Records. During his investigation, Poole came to realize that a growing cadre of black officers were allied not only with Death Row, but with the murderous Bloods street gang. And incredibly, Poole began to uncover evidence that at least some of these “gangsta cops” may have been involved in the murders of rap superstars Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.

Igniting a firestorm of controversy in the music industry and the Los Angeles media, the hardcover publication of LAbyrinth helped to prompt two lawsuits against the LAPD (one brought by the widow and mother of Notorious B.I.G., the other brought by Poole himself) that may finally bring this story completely out of the shadows.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Music, Crime, Biography, History, Audiobook

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had such high hopes for this book. I've been interested in the murders of Tupac and Biggie for years. I watched the BET six part documentary about Death Row Records and this week I plan on watching the USA limited series Unsolved: The Assassinations of Tupac & The Notorious B.I.G.

But..


This book was just awful. It was all over the place and despite the material they had to work with it was still boring. I know this book has gotten great reviews and some consider it to be the definitive book on the cases but I don't think these people know anything about rap or any of the rappers involved. I thought that this book would present actual evidence based theories but instead the book seemed to base everything on a former detective who was forced out of the department and his theories that seemed (to me anyway) to be based off his low opinion of Blacks and Hispanic people. According to this book the only dirty cops in the LAPD are Black and Hispanic. The white cops are simply too scared of appearing racist to say anything. Now I don't know about you but I think most black people can tell you that the police have absolutely no problem appearing racist.

It made me laugh that this book tried to make Diddy seem as dangerous as Suge Knight. It seemed to really bug Detective Russell Poole that all these black kids from the hood were making millions of dollars. He also seemed to really hate having a black police chief.

The theory put forth in this book is that Suge Knight had Tupac killed and then had Biggie killed as revenge for Tupac's killing. I know it makes no sense at all. My theory of the cases are that Tupac is Alive! (That's right I'm a Tupac truther) and Suge probably had Biggie killed.

No rec.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting yet highly flawed book. This book is heavily biased and very subjective. You will get to find out what the author thinks of many of those who are involved. It’s clear that the star of the book is Russell Poole, a rising star within LAPD that gets stonewalled, then shifted around, and then on the bad side of top brass until he retires in 1999. The author does not care to corroborate Poole’s findings so everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Either way, it is clear that a lot of people got killed, injured, lost livelihoods, etc. for ego. I’ve heard Murder Rap is much better, which I’m reading now. I just like to read different perspectives on this time period that as of this review is over 25 years old, a similar age to Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.

[Cwn_annwn_13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The gist of whats going on in this book is that the author concludes, mainly through interviews with a detective that was on the Biggie Smalls murder case that the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls were hits ordered by Suge Knight and were carried out by police officers who were affiliated with the Bloods street gang and worked as security for Knights Death Row record label.

I don't know if he gets it right or not but he does make a pretty good argument that this is the case. When a white detective who thought he had enough to make arrests in the Smalls murder but wasn't allowed to by LAPD higher ups spilled the beans on what was going on the media didn't pursue the story because "you can't tell a story where the good guy is a white detective and the villians are all black"! The police didn't want to delve to deeply into the case because the evidence that was there pointed to the most likely scenario being that the triggerman in both murders were probably Bloods street gang affiliated police officers who were carrying out the hits for Suge Knight and they did not want to deal with the public relations disaster. The weakest link in all this is when Shakur was gunned down Knight was sitting right next to him in the car. Old fashioned common sense tells me if Knight was planning on having someone killed it wouldn't be in a situation where he would be sitting right next to the person. But overall Sullivan makes a good case for his argument. I found this very entertaining for about the first 2/3s of the book and then it gets a little bogged down and boring the last third.

[Brittany | BrittanyIsBooked · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good- but not great. I really enjoyed learning about the LAPD and the corruption within. Hopefully, this idea is nothing new to any of us, but getting another look, a closer look, was very refreshing. I also enjoyed how the book centered around the murders of Tupac and Biggie, it made the book relevant and more interesting. However, if this interests you, you probably also know that those investigations dead ended. Even after reading the book, I still do not feel like the true story has ever been told. Reading this book after Suge Knight also allegedly killed another on the set of Straight Outta Compton, was even more jarring and impactful. It shows that corruption can come to anybody, in any form, in any capacity. I think the book did a good job of explaining that.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

do i believe everything in this book? no. do i believe the death row records had lapd officers on their payroll? yes. is tupac still alive? i still dont know.

[Jonathan Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Be warned - every part of this tale might leave you uneasy

There is a saying -

Those who are fans of hot dogs and politics should not look that closely at how either is made.

The same might go for both Late 90s policing and Gangster Rap.

Dr. Dre is a musical genius, but beyond that everyone here looks bad when you look at them closely

Randall Sullivan treats everyone with a true reporter's view, and because of this, everyone looks bad.

Dr. Dre has a boatload of talent, but beyond that - it is difficult.

Cops are corrupt, rappers are horrible in real life, and rap producers are basically criminals.

Everyone from top to bottom in this tale leaves you feeling somewhat shaky.

But still - because Randall Sullivan pulls no punches - it is a great tale

I highly recommend this tale - just be warned, outside of Dr. Dre being great at making beats, it is a difficult tale to read.

But still - I recommend it!

[Travis Golob · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look into the inner workings of the Death Row record label and it’s ties to the Los Angeles Police Department.

[Paul Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of months ago my wife and I got sucked into some television show about 90s gangster rap and the glib details in that program prompted a discussion about the shooting deaths of Christopher Wallace (Notorious B.I.G./Biggie Smalls) and Tupac Shakur. I got kind of interested in the story because of course I had heard about it and I remember the news coming out at the time, and I'd heard the grumblings and rumblings since that there was something fishy about the way the murders had never been solved. That interest prompted me to watch the Nick Bloomfield documentary "Biggie & Tupac" (which was okay but not great) and check out Randall Sullivan's book LAbyrinth from the local library.

Like the documentary, Sullivan's book is okay, but not great. The story underneath this is interesting, but watching the two you get the distinct sense that all the conspiracy theorizing smoke is coming from a single source, an ex-LAPD detective named Russell Poole. Poole worked on the Wallace murder case and was part of the task force investigating internal corruption that would eventually be known as the Rampart Task Force. Sullivan goes as far out of his way as possible to make Poole look like a supercop and something of an idealized example of the perfect police officer, which makes sense when you realize that his book hinges on the credibility of this one principal source.

Documentarian Bloomfield cites and interviews Poole in his film as well, which further reinforces the notion that a lot of the "this came from the top" language and veiled (or not-so-veiled) cries of "cover up" originates in a single man's mind and is propagated by those who either believe or are predisposed to believe his tale. Which is not to say Poole is incredible, only that it would be nice if the characterization Poole gives that there were others in his department who agreed that something odd was going on during the investigations would step forward and either state definitively that they believe in Poole's evaluation or that they dismiss him out of hand.

The nutshell version of the yarn is that Shakur and Wallace were killed as part of an elaborate plot by CEO of Death Row Records, Marion "Suge" Knight, to get rid of Shakur who was preparing to leave the label, and solidify the cover story that Shakur was killed as a result of the surging East Coast/West Coast tensions in the rap world, notably between Death Row and Sean "Puffy" Combs's Bad Boy Entertainment label (of which Biggie was a part). By this explanation, then, Wallace's death was more of an opportunity to prove, after the fact, that Shakur's death was related to the rivalry. The explanation doesn't make a lot of sense; if Suge Knight wanted to blame Shakur's death on Bad Boy Entertainment, it might have been more logical to kill Wallace first and have Shakur die as the retaliation. Of course, the case could be made that such a reversal might have cast more suspicion on Death Row for instigating/escalating the tensions as opposed to casting them as simply wanting revenge for their downed star. In any case the story only makes sufficient sense when Sullivan characterizes the attack on Wallace's convoy that left him dead as being most likely intended to eliminate Bad Boy CEO Combs, but his car had run through a yellow light, leaving Wallace's car as the de facto convoy lead, suggesting the bullets weren't meant for him at all.

Sullivan paints a portrait of Suge Knight as a gangster in the sense of Al Capone, perhaps even worse. Sullivan gleeful recounts hearsay of every mythical or urban legend style tale of brutality, intimidation and shady deal perpetrated by Knight and explains away the brazenness by saying that he was protected by a group of cronies who were dual employed by both Death Row and the LAPD. These gangster cops seem to float through Sullivan's narrative like phantoms, showing up when it seems convenient and drifting away whenever legitimate law enforcement personnel try to make solid connections between the label and the department. Of course, they have help from a corrupt Deputy Chief (and later Chief), Bernard Parks (among others), who pushed back on any avenue of inquiry that may have revealed links between the record label and the police.

However, Sullivan somehow manages to both connect and decouple the insinuations at the same time by contextualizing the whole attitude of the department (and perhaps the city at large) in the framework of the heavy racial tensions of the time. This is, remember, the era of Rodney King and the riots in 1992, OJ Simpson and the racially-charged "Trial of the Century," not to mention the event that Sullivan opens the book with, the shooting of African-American Kevin Gaines by white cop Frank Lyga (Gaines, it turned out, was also a cop who may have had ties to Death Row). The problem with explaining why the department wouldn't deal with the possibility that black cops might be working with Death Row is because it fully explains why the department would be reluctant to investigate black cops, period. Sullivan (and Poole) try to characterize the feet dragging by the top brass as indications that Suge Knight had more than just a few dirty cops on his payroll but had the direct or implicit backing at the highest levels, but I think that's just sensationalist wishful thinking. It doesn't necessarily excuse the LAPD from making matters worse by not dealing with dirty cops, but it isn't quite as book-selling as saying "Parks helped cover up hundreds of crimes on Death Row's behalf!"

In a lot of ways that summarizes my complaints with LAbyrinth. Sullivan comes across like Oliver Stone in JFK, making every possible connection he can and tying it all into a central—and intentionally vague—thesis of "There Is A Conspiracy!" Some of the items stick, I'm sure, but for all of Sullivan's shots leveled at the LA media (principally The Los Angeles Times) for being predisposed to dismissing a conspiracy angle, he's no better, just working from the flip side of that coin. Sullivan also comes across as a strangely prejudicial narrator, injecting his personal politics not overtly but at that just-beneath-the-surface level of a slightly off Vietnam veteran talking about the war. There may not be any actual racial slurs tossed or anything you can pinpoint as being obviously racist, but the tone and phrasing leaves no doubt what the opinion really is. It's evidenced even in the way Sullivan throws in disgusted asides about how white cops can't follow the evidence if it looks like it might lead to anyone black being accused of a heinous crime. The subtext of reverse racism is obvious and highly distasteful coming from the author of the book. If these kinds of accusations are pertinent to the material, a truly neutral journalist would let them come in quotations from sources.

I'm really rather torn about this book. On one hand, it's a fascinating look at a set of cases that will probably always be linked together, it's a wonderful conspiracy tale and an incredibly interesting, if frightening, look at a particular time in Los Angeles' history. On the other hand, the book is clumsily written and lacks a lot of journalistic integrity which makes it feel salacious. I suppose that may just come with the territory for conspiracy books (another example is Jim Marrs's Crossfire about the JFK assassination, which has the same grudging appeal to a reader like me), but one wishes there were somehow a more studious examination of the subjects out there.

[Ignacio Estivill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a criminal investigation, that explains the many plausible causes for the murders of New York rapper, Notorious B.I.G, also known as Biggie Smalls or simply B.I.G, and his Californian counterpart Tupac Amaru Shakur. They both seemed to be really close when B.I.G was just hitting mainstream rap, but after they were both very famous, things started to get worse. Tupac and his crew were ambushed by people that Tupac assumed were connected to B.I.G and later when Tupac was in jail for a sex offence charge, B.I.G seemed to have dropped a diss track on Tupac. All of these events made Tupac choose to joins the infamous “Death Row Records” which was under Suge Knight’s, known member of the "Bloods" gang, control. The murder of this two very promising and upcoming rappers never got solved and there are many possible leads and causes, but one thing is a common factor, nobody will speak about it, because in the streets nobody wants to be labelled as a snitch.

[AJ Torres · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should start by saying that if you’re picking this book up to find out who murdered Notorious BIG and Tupac, there’s no real conclusion on those fronts. The author does a solid job of introducing all the persons that were likely involved in each of those murders, as well as detailing their involvements and connections to the murdered hip hop icons.

The author also does an outstanding job of detailing both the city and the Los Angeles Police Department during one of its most turbulent decades. According to this book, films like Training Day and Dark Blue are an accurate portrayal of how the city’s political climate was during the 90s. Corruption and cover ups ran from bottom to top in the LAPD.

All in all, I found the story intriguing from the beginning, up until the last quarter. It got pretty convoluted by the end.

Soft recommend for me

3.5/5 ⭐️

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You can't tell a story in which the good guy is a white detective and the villains are all black. That isn't allowed, even if it's true." -Jan Golab

[Manoj Saha · Rating 4 out of 5]

City of Lies(2021)

[Gina · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is really rare for me to give a one star review, but I can't feel right giving this anything higher, due to its flaws.

There was a noticeable streak of racism early on, about how you can't prosecute Black people, so only white suspects are pursued, and the reason that the quality of the police had gone down was due to liberal politics making the police academy tests easier. There are multiple assurances that Poole can get along with anyone and is noted for his sensitivity, so he doesn't believe he is racist, and Sullivan doesn't believe he is racist, and yet, they clearly are.

That would raise my hackles anyway, because it never seems willing to consider the actual influence of racism or the presence of white corrupt cops. Certainly some things are opinion, and some could have elements of truth. For example, Johnnie Cochran does pop up, and he would use race to manipulate feelings. However, there was so much that was biased that then when there were little errors or opinions stated as fact, I kept losing confidence in the narrator.

Then as the narrative progresses, Poole becomes more paranoid, with more of a persecution complex, and it becomes harder and harder to trust. I do not doubt some stalling and lots of corruption, but it all becomes a bigger and bigger conspiracy, when some things were likely just publications seeking drama, and some things seemed pretty clearly to be laziness, and probably some is trying to avoid scandal, though that was always going to be fruitless.

So then the opinion is that Rampart was blown all out of proportion, despite all of their own evidence of corruption, but apparently that was only Black gangbanger cops; the organization was not overall corrupt, except for that.

And for a book that purports to be about two specific, high-profile murders, you get a lot of other junk because of Poole's own sense of martyrdom.

Pretty annoying.

I was going to try and see if I could find that Poole campaigned for Trump, because that would have made sense, but he died in 2015, so apparently not. It does seem perfect that he was portrayed by Johnny Depp.

I found some questionable things in Greg Kading's Murder Rap, but in comparison it is much better at perspective and at maintaining focus.

[Zaidawg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof. Logically I know every author is biased to some extant, but rarely is it as blatant as it is in Sullivan's case.

According to Sullivan, there are no good black cops in the LAPD. They're all either horribly corrupt and/or only made it on to the force because "liberals" forced the LAPD to get rid of the 100% unbiased and accurate written tests that candidates had to take.

Every white cop in the LAPD OTOH, is either Jesus Christ or is too afraid of having their career ruined to speak out against corruption. It's those blacks and liberals who are stopping the good cops from doing good police work.

Sullivan does a good job at presenting all the evidence for systematic corruption protecting officers of a certain skin color who shouldn't be cops, but then hand waves white cop's misdeeds such as Mark Furhman's as single incidents with single cops rather than a widespread problem. (Hilariously, one of his golden boys, Frank Lyga, eventually was terminated for saying, amongst other things, that he didn't have any regrets shooting Gaines; in fact, he wished there were more of "them" in the car at the time. He stated that he could have killed a truckload of "them" and not felt anything and would be happy doing it."

Sullivan's book is best, ironically, when it's talking about anything other than the main point of it: the corruption of the LAPD. As someone who isn't into rap, I thought he did a fairly good job explaining the start of Death Row Records, its ties to the Crips and Bloods, and making the East Coast-West Coast feud simple enough for a layperson to understand.

Unfortunately, the book loses what little momentum it had about half-way through once it gets to the aftermath of Biggie Small's murder and was basically a slog from there until the end.

[David Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldnt put this book down... captivating & shockingly eye opening. The info about LA COPs working as hitmen/security for SUGE is unreal. Theres a pic of Dre and Pac sitting at decks looking very uncomfortable with all these Gang Banger cops partying it up behind them while they try and mix tunes. Also makes Training Day look like a documentary - think a guy called Perez was the inspiration for Alonzo. Another Gangster Blood Cop apparently was caught for pulling off one of the biggest heists in American history..... grew up with Suge, best mates, star athlete, both bloods and a cop who moonlighted as Suges protection.

I read in the news that Sly Stallone bought the rights to make the movie adaption of this book.... until Suge caught wind of it, bought the house next door to Sly and turned up on his doorstep announcing himself as Slys new neighbour... the project has been moth balled..... dont blame ya ROCCO! Suges aff his nut!

[Badly Drawn Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the title, which brings to mind a quickly written and poorly researched book who's sole purpose is to capitalize on a sensationalistic crime, this is a book that clearly maps out the interconnected murders of Biggie Smalls, and Tupac. This is a well researched book that reads like a thriller. Even though I knew the end result, I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat.

This book has it all, sex, drugs, murder, gangs, a corrupt police department, celebrity , money and crime. At the center of the maelstrom is Shug Knight, a larger than life figure who comes across as evil incarnate.

The book doesn't solve the crimes, and you are left to draw your own final conclusions, but you won't be disappointed by the incomplete ending. This book was a thrilling ride!

[Licha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love intrigue and this doesn't disappoint. This was a juicy read about rap stars, murder, gangsters, and dirty LAPD cops. Who killed Biggie? Who killed Tupac? How was the LAPD involved? Police corruption opened wide. A fascinating read, even the second time around.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in the Tupac and Biggie murders, this an enjoyable read, although occassionally it feels almost too detailed. But given that its partly based off of Detective Russell Poole's investigative notes, its not surprising.

[Adorina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off really great and then I got completely lost in all of the back and forth. The story telling is scattered and reads like someone took a bunch of reports, dumped them on a table, and had someone sort them out as best as possible in chronological order.

[ron swinea · Rating 5 out of 5]

True story of LAPD detectives implicated in death of Tupac & others, & connections to Shug Knight. Excellent reporting & well written

[Bstep · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read ‘murder rap’ instead

[Danielle Branch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book goes into details ability the murders of Biggie and aTupac. My take away is that they were innocent victims of a hyped up war between the east coast and the west coast. How very sad

[Dark Passport · Rating 4 out of 5]

At its most basic roots, this book is about the good guys and the bad guys. A true “cops versus robbers” tale. What keeps the readers turning the pages, however, is the impossible task of figuring out which side the LAPD was on throughout the rise and fall of the tumultuous West Coast rap scene in the 1990s. Infamous names like Biggie Smalls aka The Notorious B.I.G., Suge Knight, Tupac Shakur, and P. Diddy are interwoven among terms familiar to those with knowledge of LAPD’s troubled history such as the Rampart Division’s CRASH Unit. It was a decade (and city) going through the growing pains of a rebirth. As Gary Busey’s character in the 1991 Hollywood action film Point Break said of Los Angeles during the same time period, “The air got dirty and the sex got clean.”

Those living healthy middle- and upper-class lives may think the storylines are exaggerated or even bordering on the cusp of conspiracy theories. How could Los Angeles police officers be moonlighting as armed security guards for the same thuggish gangsters they arrest during the day? These lawmen, who swore to uphold the peace, were regularly witnesses if not accomplices and perpetrators of assault, extortion, kidnapping, rape, and narcotics trafficking; not to mention the occasional murder. But those who have personally experienced police and civic corruption didn’t need the author’s hard, fact-based research to know the plausibility of the stories in this book.

A word of caution that the author relies heavily on the informal testimony of one detective who alleges the LAPD’s insistence of implicating white officers in baseless corruption claims in an effort to avoid the media discovering the rampant problem of black officers engaging in gang violence. There remains a plethora of evidence supporting such claims, but at times this book feels more like a biography of that one detective rather than an independently researched work.

At any rate, the high-profile murders discussed in this book are believed to be incapable of being solved. Much of the subject matter is speculation and assumption. This provides the entertainment aspect to the book, allowing the reader to reach their own conclusions on the “who done it” murders that plagued the LA rap world just a few decades prior.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watched the movie based on this book so I think having done so made it easier to read. There are a lot of players and a whole lot of information to keep track of and the author did what he could with that. It does definitely make it a more challenging read to have to refer to the roster or go back to keep track of everyone.

This book is much more an indictment of the LAPD’s corruption in the wake of Rodney King and OJ Simpson and for that reason alone I think people should read it. There are some familiar faces in politics too and I think people would be wise to understand how much influence these people had then and have now. You may not love auntie Maxine so much when you’re reminded that Suge and the Cosby family could always rely on her help. It is enlightening on many fronts that are relevant to today’s political climate.

The author lays out the most likely scenarios for who killed both Tupac and Biggie but I think it’s unlikely we will have any definitive answers on these cases in our lifetimes. This book ends around 2002 while Russell Poole is still alive, and before Suge went to prison (this current time) so a lot is left unsaid. There’s a follow up book that I am reading next.

If you love 90s rap and want to be even further disgusted with police corruption at high levels, this is for you. If you’d rather not be super bummed out whilst reading for pleasure, this is one to skip.

[Steven Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really only wanted to get this book for the coverage of the Lapd rampart Scandal. It was decidedly a lot less of that than I wanted. Even then it was obvious that the writer wasn't going to be impartial and was wholly in the pocket of and believing everything given to him by detective Robert Poole.

I was not as interested in the hip hop aspect of this story as I am very Familiar with it. However for the bulk of this I was fine with his work on breaking down some of the music industry information and I could appreciate that this book might be able to educate a different audience. Nothing about that large section seemed to be aimed at someone like me who lived through that era.

However by the time it came around to the end of the book the writers dislike and seeming disdain for the rap artists was coming through loud and clear and it seems though he had a bone to pick with everyone from Suge Knight to Bernard Parks. In fact it was glaring obvious when he went from criticizing the police force and how they treated Poole and the investigation to then criticizing the media coverage while defending the same force he says didn't do their job. It was annoying and I got very little that I was looking for. His bias ruined what could have been at the very least a normal book.

[Fivequotebookchallenge · Rating 3 out of 5]

American ganstar rap in the 1990s consisted of a multi-layered conflict between; the east coast and west coast, the bloods and crips gangs and death row and bad boys record labels. The face of the conflict were two rappers - Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Both would be murdered within six months of each other in separate drive by shootings. The murders remain unsolved...

Enter LAPD detective Russell Poole, a highly decorated and respected member of the LAPD. Tasked with investigating a fatal shooting between two plainclothed police officers - he uncovers evidence of LAPD police officer misconduct and corruption. Randall Sullivan details the facts in this book as uncovered by Poole in performing his investigation and the links between the three seemingly unrelated murders. The book moves between different timelines however it is used to mirror Poole's investigation and the internal resistance to his findings.

Recommended for those interested in 1990s ganstar rap and true crime buffs.

@fivequotebookchallenge

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

look all you need to do is read the long ass title of this book to understand that it's the rambling, delirious fever dream of an author who probably uses "woke" as a pejorative. like sullivan clearly can recognize when systemic racism is at play but thinks it's something that's only done by black LAPD cops lol!?!?!?! uhhh and what was all that "they had to lower standards so black and brown people could enter the police academy"?? like multiple times in the book. is this guy on twitter bitching about DEI hires now or what. god he must feel so alive in 2024.

don't get me wrong, the book's central theory is plausible and suge and diddy are menaces. i just think the author is annoying and not really good at writing a coherent narrative. 2/5 stars but i'm still gonna read his book about going to medjugorje during the bosnian war and converting to catholicism hahahahaha

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is astonishing how much of the LAPD Death Row Records seemed to own and control. It's also astonishing how pretty brazenly open they were about it by just refusing to investigate certain lines of inquiry. It is also baffling how, in the wake of Rodney King and the OJ Simpson trial, they thought they would somehow dodge a bad reputation by just refusing to properly investigate the murders of black men. It's frustrating to see the level of corruption at every turn. The LAPD sounds like it was as dangerous of a gang as any of the other popular/well known street gangs from the time. Totally ludicrous the amount of murder, drug dealing, gun running, perjury and all kinds of heinous acts the upper echelons of the organization actively allowed to happen. It's sad that it doesn't really seem like anyone got their comeuppance.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stunning takedown of LAPD in sweeping the two rappers' murders under the rug. The author does a detailed, excellent job of implicating Death Row Records, Suge Knight (currently in prison on an unrelated murder conviction) and LAPD in orchestrating, carrying out and covering up the two murders. I scoffed when I first learned of author Randall Sullivan's theory, but those of us who always believed LAPD was a paragon of virtue (!) will be shocked by this book. Sullivan provides detailed analysis and evidence that all point to Death Row Records and LAPD taking out Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.

[Caravaughn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating examination of the killings of both Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G, beginning with the fallout after an undercover cop is shot by another - this victim connecting directly to Suge Knight. It weaves well the history of each rapper, the origins and tensions between the LA gang scene, and the rap industry. I thought that this was incredibly well written and researched, and highly feasible.