L.A. Officials Deny B.I.G. Settlement

The family of the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. was denied an $18 million settlement to end the lawsuit they had against the Los Angeles Police department for the rapper's murder. The family claims they asked for the settlement to save the city the cost of impending litigations.

Christopher Wallace, known to fans as Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, was shot to death in 1997 at the age of 24 as a result of the East Coast/West Coast rap war which previously took the life of rapper Tupac Shakur. Wallace's family believes that Marion "Suge" Knight of the California based Death Row Records asked David Mack, a former L.A. police official, to kill Notorious B.I.G. in retaliation for Tupac's murder. The Wallace family believes that Mack, his partner Rafael Perez, and his college roommate carried out the shooting.

Earlier this year, a lawsuit was halted when evidence, hidden by another police officer, was uncovered in the police station linking Mack and Perez to the murder.