Nobody ever had anything beyond that. Six months later, Bad Boy Entertainment rap star Christopher Wallace, best known as Biggie Smalls or Notorious B.I.G., was shot to death in L.A. Previously, I worked in the legal field as a secretary/bookkeeper. It wasnt out of a desire not to talk to him, but because I was an employee with the L.A.P.D., with the city of Los Angeles, conducting an ongoing criminal investigation, and he was a witness in a civil suit for the plaintiff against the city of Los Angeles. Theresa passed away on March 1 1999, at age 65. Wallace's SUV stopped at a red light on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and South Fairfax Avenue[8] just 50yd (46m) away. Kading claims that while Poochie was looking to ingratiate himself with Knight, the record boss needed to strike back at East Coast gangsters for Tupacs killing six months earlier in Las Vegas. [5] The accuracy of the article was later challenged in a letter by the Assistant Managing Editor of the Los Angeles Times, who accused Sullivan of using "shoddy tactics." The driver of the Impala, a black male, rolled down his window, drew a 9mm blue-steel pistol and fired at the SUV; four bullets hit Wallace. Theresa Elizabeth Swann. Yesterday (October 4th), Greg Kading, a Medal of Valor recipient for bravery, spoke with HipHopDX (courtesy of Rare Bird Lit) in a two-part interview, with the first half of Q&A dedicated to his investigation into the murder of Notorious B.I.G. Wait a minute, I have a clue with a guy named Amir on it. It was a very loose connection. Amir? Journalist Randall Sullivan devoted both a sprawling Rolling Stone article and a popular novel to Poole's allegations. [15], The case came for trial before a jury on June 21, 2004. Theresa was born in Long Beach, CA, daughter of the late John and Betty Dudley Holsenback. She was 42 years old, and she lived in a house that Suge owned, with their young daughter and a . Former Times reporter Philips spent years struggling to redeem his reputation, and now is co-producing a documentary on Suge Knight that will feature a soundtrack by Knight's latest company, Black Kapital. This seed of skepticism is resown in the pages of Murder Rap. About Teresa Swann. Again, the most important thing here to remember is the foundation of this whole theory is corrupted because Michael Robinson, the jailhouse informant that provided this information that led to this idea of the Nation Of Islam/Amir Muhammad, that whole thing has been refuted because we Theres another witness in this whole thing named Waymond Anderson. Former L.A.P.D. At the time the multi-agency task force was formed by the LAPD, Smalls' mother, Voletta Wallace, was suing the City of Los Angeles for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars because she believed dirty cops had been involved in her son's murder. In law enforcement, when youre doing these interviews, you have to realize how one persons conversation influences another persons perspective. The consequences were also overshadowed by the benefit and reward in their minds.. That that seems a little I mean, why wasnt it recorded? They werent able to keep that identification clean. I managed the case, I made the recommendation to my superiors as to what I wanted to do, had concurrence to do it and, I'll be quite honest with you, I'd do it again right now. Also, the U.S. Attorney's Office redacted everything in Kading's journals that was not pertinent to Torres, but the defense found blacked-out entries that did relate to Torres. So what Kenner had done was he brought Theresa Swann into the jail under the ruse of her being his legal aid. So once you realize that, and you start to really question now the viability of their clues, then the whole thing begins to fall apart. And Russell Pooles theory of course leads to the inevitable lawsuit about the police being involved because Russell Poole finds out that a guy named Amir had visited David Mack at the Montebello City Jail after his bank robbery arrest. Greg Kading: Yeah, absolutely. Theyre much more likely to open up and begin to discuss things that present their own culpability in crimes when they think that somebody else has already opened the door, that somebody else has already ratted. Once she had finished reading it, Kading says, Swann whispered, That's right. Unsolved case Kading added: "Suge would have figured out she spoke, but the reality. It may be hard to understand that sum for taking someones life, but to those guys it was a different mentality.. Everybody that we would talk to and bring that up and ask those questions it was always the same answer: Well yeah How do you know? Well, its what I read in the newspaper. Well, why do you believe that? I read it in the newspaper. So everything about those guys was stuff that was hearsay information. Theresa kept the remaining $12,000 for being a lookout to give info to Poochie of Biggie's location when he was leaving the party. It took only three days to find Muhammad, who had a current ad for his brokerage business running in the Times. When Kading published a book about the case, he gave Suge's girlfriend a fake name: Theresa Swann. The conversation was almost 12 years on from the murder and he would have suspected something with her all of a sudden bringing this stuff back up. L.A. Weekly has verified her identity as Knight's longtime lover and business associate but has chosen not to reveal her name. By the time Kading had Swann in the hot seat, two other sources had pointed to Poochie (Fouse) as Smalls' probable killer. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. While her real name has been mentioned online and in books, Swann has always shied away from the limelight. It once served as the bullet-riddled headquarters of the now-defunct Death Row Records, run by Bloods with a strict policy of never talking to cops. Poole's theory quickly gained solid ground in high places, and motivated Voletta Wallace to sue LAPD in federal court. He was 24 years old. A barrel-chested black man with a front tooth missing, relaxed yet instinctively cautious, is seated across from four spellbound cops in a glass-walled conference room at 8200 Wilshire Blvd. Her name is Tammie Hawkins. Ms. Wallaces belief that former L.A.P.D. [21], Muhammad, who was not an official suspect at the time, came forward to clear his name. In another defense snippet, Kading talked to Derrick Smith about big money proof, Torres' lawyers alleged, that Kading was trying to bribe a star witness. Keffe D is up against a wall at the time he fingers Combs for Shakur's murder. that you believe was him on video, any other evidence in addition to that? Suspiciously, the first man to visit Mack in jail was named Amir the same first name a jailhouse informant gave Poole for Smalls' alleged killer. [1] Voletta Wallace's attorney Sanders tells the Weekly that Kading's book does not meaningfully refute theories that corrupt LAPD cops were involved, and Sanders does not believe that alleged co-conspirators Swann, Knight and Poochie could have known Smalls was at the Petersen Automotive Museum party on the night he was gunned down. Now Eugene Deals looking at Amir Muhammad but hes also now seeing Cause you know there were two [sketches of the suspected shooter], right? That stuff gets purged out. [16], Several days into the trial, the plaintiffs' attorney disclosed to the Court and opposing counsel that he had received a telephone call from someone claiming to be an LAPD officer and provided detailed information about the existence of evidence concerning the Wallace murder. Gradually, Kading says, all leads dead-ended. [21] The Metro section also ran a photo of Muhammad, identified by police as a mortgage broker unconnected to the murder who appeared to match details of the gunman, printing his name and driver's license. I dont know how familiar you are with interrogation practices, [but] a lot of times, especially when youre dealing with people with these kind of criminal backgrounds, theyre much more likely to I wont say be at ease, because its never that. And so, we had this long discussion, and we said, Should we record this or should we not? And we came to the collective agreement that we wouldnt. Two years later, Kading moved north, where he became a rising star at LAPD. Theres no way to go, Well, who was the deputy on charge that day? He goes, Maybe its Kenny, or maybe it was Keke. So there were these four different names that that informant gave out. Wallace". For instance, have you ever seen that movie L.A. - also known as Biggie Smalls -was killed 25 years ago in a drive-by shooting, Greg Kading, a retired detective, lead an investigation into Biggie's murder, Suge Knight is currently serving 28 years for voluntary manslaughter in a separate case, Biggie was shot in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997, aged 24, Suge allegedly set up Biggie's murder in retaliation for his friend Tupac's death, Tupac was killed in a drive by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996, Funeral cars filled with floral tributes for Biggie in Brooklyn in a farewell drive-by, Former detective Kading does not believe the LAPD will ever close Biggie's case, 1996 murder of his money maker Tupac Shakur, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Poochie was not a guy who was afraid to go out and pull the trigger. Kading's reputation almost certainly will become an issue upon Murder Rap's publication. But it never happened.. [34], United States District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper granted summary judgment to the city on December 17, 2007, finding that the Wallace family had not complied with a California law that required the family to give notice of its claim to the State within six months of Wallace's death. Though Kading spends a chapter attacking Poole's stubborn conviction that Death Rowaffiliated LAPD officers helped take out the nation's fastest-rising rap star, and follows many of the same leads as the Times, Kading's core criticism that the LAPD sacrificed justice for self-preservation tends to parallel Poole's. murder investigation. If Death Row didnt retaliate Tupacs murder then talk is that they are punk bitches for letting Bad Boy walk over them. Kading, who was assigned to the second investigation of Biggie's murder in 2006, claims to have received a confession from Theresa Swann (alias), the girlfriend and mother of one of Suge Knight . Of course Suge had been around long enough in his life to know there are informants out there and you never know who they are. Keffe D's and Theresa Swann's confessions were stunning but in no way sudden. The fourth bullet was fatal, entering through his right hip and striking several vital organs, including his colon, liver, heart, and the upper lobe of his left lung, before stopping in his left shoulder area. That expediency trumped everything, including the pledge to 'Protect and Serve' stenciled on the door of every black-and-white patrol car in the city.. As a result of the newly discovered evidence, the judge declared a mistrial and awarded the Wallace family its attorneys' fees. According to her, the solicitation was $25,000 and she gave Poochie 14 grand, clearly she kept the remainder. Sanders says he can't remember which LAPD official under Beck made this promise, but definitely recalls it being made. Theresa Kay Swann is a real estate broker in Onalaska, Texas with license number 351980. Do you accept Eugene Deals identification of Amir as being credible? It now appears that Kading was unfairly blamed by Judge Wilson and the media. Kading had properly handed his notebooks of interviews to the prosecution. Swanns lawyer secured her prosecution immunity for attempting to get Knights admission deal and she has stayed silent ever since. We put her in a corner to make those hard decisions, he said. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. He added: If he was going to let some rival crew come in and try to murder him without a reaction, what did that do for the reputation hed spent years building? We are relying on her statement, but it is backed up by other people within Death Row, who were all trying to get $25,000 in untraceable funds for something Suge needed done. She's named "Theresa Swann" in Murder Rap for her own protection. [12] The investigation stalled, however, and no one was ever formally charged. [4] Other guests included Faith Evans, Aaliyah, Chris Tucker, the Wayans brothers, Ginuwine, Irv Gotti, Jewell, Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat, Missy Elliot, Timbaland, Kenny Burns, DJ Clue, Clark Kent, DJ Quik, Ed Lover, and members of the Bloods and Crips gangs. DX: Just out of curiosity though, did you ever converse with Russell Poole during your investigation? The defense later obtained many older phone recordings on its own, and Wilson made clear it was the U.S. Attorney's fault. Greg Kading: No, actually I dont. I had to believe that they wanted to find out who the murderer of my son was. case says his memory's bad", "New Theories Stir Speculation On Rap Deaths", "Wrongful-Death Lawsuit Over Rapper Is Dismissed", "Johnny Depp's Notorious B.I.G. He says he kept handing her tissues to sop up the mascara streaming down her face as she begged cops not to tell Suge Knight they had spoken with her. They had been shooting at each other, dealing drugs, stealing cars for their lives. Greg Kading: I would love to sit down and show you their actual statements, because you see that Lil Cease doesnt give that description in his initial interview. View our online Press Pack. Her confession is summarized in an official LAPD report reviewed by L.A. Weekly: During one or more of [Swann's prison visits], Knight instructed [Swann] to help him coordinate the murder of Christopher Wallace. "Notorious B.I.G. I was like, 'We'll wipe their ass out, quick. Again, the defense attorney found out, and again, Wilson hammered Searight. After Philips and his editors mistakenly quoted from the faked documents, Philips was pushed out by the Times. But Swann's reaction meant everything, especially because, in Poochie's staged false confession, Swann herself was named as a conspirator in Smalls' murder. Keffe D places himself in the passenger seat of the old white Cadillac that famously pulled up, full of Crips, on the right side of the BMW carrying Shakur and Knight toward a club just off the Vegas Strip. Two minutes later, a dark-colored 19941996 Chevrolet Impala SS pulled up alongside Wallace's Suburban. [7] Wallace traveled in the front passenger seat alongside his associates Damion "D-Roc" Butler, Junior M.A.F.I.A. Detective Poole traded his job to pursue a labyrinth of failed litigation against LAPD. Long before Kading stepped into what many believe to be the cursed unsolved mystery of Shakur's and Smalls' murders, a storm of rumors and news stories suggested that a few bad apples within the LAPD had been involved in Smalls' killing. In April 2009, a jury convicted Torres on 50 counts, including conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering and bribery. They remain secret as the murder case is active. Suge was in county jail and used Swann to make the solicitation and get at Biggie. L.A. Weekly has verified her identity as Knight's longtime lover and business associate but has chosen not to reveal her. He claimed that Combs "failed to fully cooperate with the investigation", and according to Poole, encouraged Bad Boy staff to do the same. Do you believe that he didnt see what he thought he saw? Voletta Wallace's lawyer, Perry Sanders, tells the Weekly he suspended her lawsuit in part because she and the federal judge on the case strongly believed that LAPD was relaunching the investigation in full force. Keffe D tells Kading on tape that his nephew leaned over, and Orlando [Baby Lane] rolled down the window and popped him [Shakur]. Later, he adds, If they would've drove on my side [of the car] I would've popped him.. Theresa L Swann was born on month day 1933, at birth place, Vermont, to Loranger. Join Facebook to connect with Theresa Swann and others you may know. LAWeekly Instagram: Featuring the culture of LA since 1978 , Relationship with the Victim* Kevin McClure, who supervised the task force as head of the Robbery-Homicide Division, confirms that he got approval from LAPD brass to dismantle the team. The gang culture has no regard for the law. Deaths Were Nearly 'The End Of Rap', "Review: Rappers' deaths probed in 'LAbyrinth'", "Slain rapper's family keeps pushing suit", "Witness in B.I.G. Kading's big break came in 2003, when he was assigned to a task force of federal and local officers investigating George Torres, Numero Uno supermarket magnate and an alleged drug kingpin. Not only did Suge love Tupac, but he was his money maker. In December 2012, the LAPD released the autopsy results conducted on Wallace's body to generate new leads. McClure says it was his decision to shelve the case, and the Beck administration merely went along. Swanns lawyer secured her prosecution immunity for attempting to get Knights admission deal and she has stayed silent ever since. Keffe D gave the FBI a different story in 1997, denying his nephew was involved. The report said that the third bullet struck "the left side of the scrotum, causing a very shallow, .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}38in[10mm] linear laceration." While her real name has been mentioned online and in books, Swann has always shied away from the limelight. [14][15] The book stated that one of Mack's alleged associates, Amir Muhammad, was the hitman who killed Wallace. Within weeks, despite 22 devoted years on the force, in a move the fiercely independent Detective Harry Bosch might pull in a Michael Connelly novel, Kading turned in his LAPD badge and walked out the door. Kading writes in Murder Rap that his former teammates carried all of the team's hard-earned evidence to the LAPD archive room to collect dust. Kading feels that the task force, as reconstituted under Beck, jeopardized the cooperation promised to the LAPD by Keffe D by turning over Keffe D's confession to Las Vegas police. So detectives took a different approach. A police report quoted in the book says that "Theresa Swann" (an alias), one of Suge Knight's baby mothers, confessed to taking money from him in order to set up the hit: "During one or more of. What have you heard about this conspiracy to murder [Biggie]? We made a point of that. One lucky, FAMILY AFFAIR: INSIDE SNOOP DOGG AND HIS BOSS LADY, By continuing to use our site, you agree to our, Tommy Lasorda: Part Of 5 Freeway Honoring Former Dodger Manager, Newsom Ends 3-Year COVID-19 State of Emergency In California, Vanessa Bryant And L.A. County Reach Settlement Over Kobe Crash Site Case, Ventura Countys Dirty Little Secret Is The Subject of Regenerate Ojai, San Pedro Fish Market Lives On And Oscars At The Hollywood Roosevelt Heres Whats Popping Up, Gallery: Bravos Top Chef Brings The Best Of Britain To Hancock Park, From CHIIILD to Queen the New LA Weekly Playlist is Live, Extraterrestrial Fans Orbit into AlienCon, Jim Gaffigan on Making us Laugh and Cry (Q&A), Blondes, Brunettes and Burlesque at Peek-A-View, Hakeem Rowe Talks Insane Career Arc and His Departure From No Jumper, ASTN is Happier Than Ever about his newest release Be So Cruel, RealestK Isnt Nearly As Toxic As TikTok Is, Erykah Badu Drops That Badu Cannabis Line. to not identify former L.A.P.D. Fouse, a Mob Piru gang member and an associate of Knight, died on July 24, 2003, after being shot in the back while riding his motorcycle in Compton. As you will read in the book, I was pulled off the task force shortly after her confession and I never got a chance to do all the follow-up stuff that needed to be done. I am a native Houstonian a city that I love regardless of our unpredictable weather. . Cause now she can go back and tell Suge, if she ever gets confronted with her cooperation, she can say, It wasnt me, Poochie already snitched us out.. I dont believe that at all. 163 (C.D. The LAPD retiree is hoping that, despite the lawsuits he will potentially face for accusing Sean Combs and Suge Knight in Murder Rap, the high-profile probe he began and wanted so desperately to finish will finally get its day in court. And, we were always recognizing because we had taken this to the federal investigative level including [having] the F.B.I. Sean Combs told the Weekly via email: This story is pure fiction and completely ridiculous. Suge Knight could not be reached. Swann wore a body-wire during a meet with Suge, now out of prison, which ended in failure. In April 2002, Wallace's mother Voletta filed a wrongful death claim against the City of Los Angeles based on the evidence championed by Poole. We have no idea who mightve been helping him. They remain secret as the murder case is active. He says Searight decided not to call him to the witness stand because the prosecutor thought the defense lawyers would call Kading instead. Watch the video of Greg Kading discussing why he wrote the book. But for Duane Keffe D Keith Davis, a shot caller for the Southside Crips, it now happens to be his lawyer's office. But I dont believe that some guy in the Nation Of Islam was the shooter. Like a tense scene from L.A. Law, they prepared a fake confession from Wardell Poochie Fouse, a close associate of Suge Knight's, then asked Swann to confirm it a creative tactic used by LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide Division. Without his years of nuanced insight into the vast array of characters involved, he says, the investigation began to peter out as he watched helplessly. Greg Kading: We believe its a guy named Poochie, who was a Blood affiliate of Suge Knights. Theresa is potentially known by Walter G Swann, Walter G Swann, Walter G Swann and twenty-nine other people due to residence history. ", "Interview: Former L.A.P.D. Nearly a year later, in April 2010, when Voletta Wallace withdrew her lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, what remained of the task force was quickly dismantled by Robbery-Homicide Capt. Kading has no faith in the case ever being closed following Poochies death and the silence of Swann and Knight, who is serving 28 years for voluntary manslaughter after running down two men on a film set. Much of the holes that youre gonna find in this is simply because there was nobody there to follow-up on the investigation once I got ripped out. | music at popturf", "Notorious B.I.G. It was described by The New York Times as "one of the longest running and most contentious celebrity cases in history. And you dont see that Eugene Deal brings up the fact that theres this guy in the parking lot who he identifies as a Nation Of Islam-looking guy who approached them that stuff doesnt get brought up until a second interview, at which time Lil Cease and Eugene Deal have had a chance to kinda compare notes. Kading added: Suge would have figured out she spoke, but the reality was that he was not going to kill or harm the mother of his child, especially if she is working with law enforcement. Greg Kading: I do believe that. This is a very key element, because its this clue that takes the entire investigation down that rabbit hole of Russell Pooles. Kading used the word procedure for policy when quoting someone in the affidavit and he changed an or to an and. LAPD also determined there was absolutely no evidence that Kading intentionally or maliciously misrepresented material facts, and, further, that Kading was attacked by high-priced attorneys and was left virtually unsupported by the Assistant U.S. Attorney.. I had no idea there were such powerful forces involved in all of this.. We know they're baseless, Greg, totally without foundation. The release was criticized by the long-time lawyer of his estate, Perry Sanders Jr., who objected to an autopsy. The hit was allegedly orchestrated by Death Row Records boss Marion "Suge" Knight in response to the 1996 murder of his money maker Tupac Shakur and to maintain his hardcore gangster status, according to former LAPD detective Greg Kading. Sitting in the backseat of the Cadillac, according to Keffe D, was his own nephew, Orlando Baby Lane Anderson, who got his ass kicked in the MGM Grand lobby earlier in the evening by Shakur's posse over a piece of Death Row bling that Baby Lane supposedly had stolen. Theresa has been a resident of six cities, including Navarre, FL and Gulf Breeze, FL. The prosecution basically got caught doing something they didn't know was wrong, but the judge ruled it a discovery violation, Kading says. Not only did Suge love Tupac, but he was his money maker. They were the fruit of an intensive investigation by a special task force of LAPD officers plus agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation that had begun years earlier, in May 2006. They included: In one snippet, Kading was made to sound as if he had helped Del Real's brother, Albert, evade spousal-abuse charges. In Laguna Beach, however, his mother learned that her boyfriend had been arrested; she decided Orange County was as good a place to live as any. [9], Wallace's death was mourned by fellow hip hop artists and fans worldwide. Greg Kading: Well, no, theres no I.D. In 2006, Wallace's mother, Voletta Wallace, his widow, Faith Evans, and his children T'yanna Jackson and Christopher Jordan "CJ" Wallace, filed a $400 million second wrongful death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) alleging that corrupt officers were responsible for Wallace's death. This is for the best. Voletta Wallace decided to withdraw her final lawsuit against LAPD in April 2010. Voletta Wallace once told Rolling Stone that, before she learned of Detective Poole's conspiracy theory, I trusted the Los Angeles Police Department. [35] The Wallace family refiled the suit, dropping the state law claims on May 27, 2008. Amir Muhammad was a name actually, there was never an Amir Muhammads name, there was just an Amir, which was part of a clue given by a jailhouse informant named Michael Robinson. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. On March 5, he gave a radio interview with The Dog House on San Francisco's KYLD, in which he stated that he had hired security because he feared for his safety. Two months after Swann's 2009 confession that she was the paymaster in Biggie Smalls' killing, Kading was taken off the case because Internal Affairs had to probe his role in the Torres prosecution in which he was ultimately cleared. Just as investigators had done with Keffe D, they tracked Swann (again, not her real name) until they had gathered enough evidence against her to put her away for other crimes to motivate her to talk. The first bullet hit his left forearm and traveled down to his wrist; the second hit him in the back, missing all vital organs, and exited through his left shoulder; and the third hit his left thigh and exited through his inner thigh. member Lil' Cease, and driver Gregory "G-Money" Young. He told me to tell Poochie to get over there and take care of it, you know what I mean?. The piece was almost entirely based on anonymous sources. On the eve of the trial, a key witness who was expected to testify, Kevin Hackie, revealed that he suffered memory lapses due to psychiatric medications. Wallace's autopsy report was released to the public in December 2012, fifteen years after his death. It was definitely necessary to follow-up on it, but it wasnt enough to build a whole theory around. DX: Lastly in regards to the Biggie Smalls murder investigation, were you ever implicitly instructed by your superiors in the L.A.P.D. SpouseParentChildSiblingFamily memberOther, Sweet James has my permission to help provide a free police report, Tupac Shakur; Credit: PHOTO COPYRIGHT NEWSCOM, Ciel Spa aka @CielSpaBH located the SLS Hotel i, Welcoming over 100,000 people every year, what beg, The holiday season is a time of giving! DX: You believe he did the shooting himself? Kadings force strategically manipulated Swann into an interview as she faced other criminal charges. As a matter of fact, if you look at that official video the YouTube video, theres several versions of it but theres one that says official if you really dissect that, which we did, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that that is Poochie in his car in that dark-colored Impala.