Detective In Biggie Smalls Murder Dies After Apparent Heart Attack

The Los Angeles police detective who said that rapper Biggie Smalls might have been killed with police help has died suddenly himself, according to NBC News.

Los Angeles Times, via Billboard, have reported that Poole died while he was talking to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide officials about an ongoing investigation into a cold case.

Poole was a leading investigator on the killing of Notorious B.I.G.

Rapper Busta Rhymes, reacting to news of Poole’s death, was quick to express his gratitude to the late gumshoe on Instagram for “dedicating your life to trying to solve B.I.G.’s death”.

No arrests were made in the murder of Biggie Smalls.

Poole suggested that Biggie’s slaying was in retaliation for Shakur’s, whose murder also remains unsolved. The theory involved cooperation from the Los Angeles Police Department in the murder (especially a Compton native and former Knight employee named David Mack), and examined Death Row Records’ hiring of off-duty cops from the department throughout the 1990s.

Poole has accused a corrupt officer for the LAPD of committing the murder after working in conjunction with Suge Knight, the head of Death Row Records. NICK UT/ASSOCIATED PRESS Former LAPD officer Rafael Perez became a key informant in the probe of corruption with the LAPD’s Rampart Division after he was convicted for stealing cocaine from a police evidence room.

Two years later, in protest to how the unit handled the investigation, Poole retired.

In his career, spanning 1981-1999 before becoming an author and private investigator, Russell Poole also worked on the 1997 murder of Bill Cosby’s son, Ennis. Poole was a razor sharp detective.