It's a story that almost beggars belief. Two of the world's biggest selling recording artists shot down in cold blood in public within just six months, and not a single arrest has ever been made in connection to their tragic deaths.
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In 1996, 25-year-old Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was shot dead in Las Vegas after watching Mike Tyson defeat Bruce Seldon in one of the shortest heavyweight championship fights in the history of boxing. Born Lesane Parish Crooks, Shakur had been in the city to celebrate the birthday of his business partner Tracy Danielle Robinson alongside his record label owner Marion "Suge" Knight.
You wonder how anyone could do it and get away with it.
- Nunanboy Promotions' Nick Nunan
Six months later Shakur's one time confidant Christopher George Latore Wallace, also known by his stage names Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls and Biggie, was shot dead after his appearance at the 11th Annual Soul Train Music Awards in Los Angeles. Wallace was killed as his vehicle approached a busy intersection as he left an afterparty at the Petersen Automotive Museum on Wilshire Boulevard.
A decade after both police investigations claim to have hit a brick wall, now former Los Angeles Police Department detective Greg Kading was selected to lead a special task force into Wallace's murder. It was an investigation which would eventually see Kading taken off the case after Wallace's mother Voletta dropped a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the department for negligence.
Kading was removed from the joint task force when he became the subject of an Internal Affairs investigation surrounding another case, and it was eventually disbanded. He was cleared of any wrongdoing and retired from the department in 2010. He may have retired, yet the investigations continue to be a large part of his life.
He alleges Bad Boy Records founder Sean "Puffy" Combs and Death Row Records founder Knight are responsible for organising the murders that shook the world. Combs has since denied any involvement in Shakur's murder.
During his investigation Kading drew information from high-level gang members, and alleges Knight gave the mother of one of his children $13,000 to pay Wardell "Poochie" Fouse to murder Wallace. He also alleges Combs commissioned South Side Crip member, and part of his security team, Duane Keith "Keffe D" Davis to kill Shakur and Knight for one million dollars. Davis claims his nephew Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson pulled the trigger.
Anderson had been in an altercation with Shakur and Knight on the night of the Las Vegas fight.
Kading is bringing his unique world first speaking tour to Australia thanks to former Bega and Moruya high school student Nick Nunan.
Nunan's company Nunanboy Promotions has helped bring "The Murders of Tupac and Biggie - A night with Greg Kading" to life, with a guest appearance by Mob James McDonald, a childhood friend of Knight's who introduced him to the MOB Pirus.
"I was from a pretty dysfunctional family and getting into that music got me through a lot," Nunan said.
"When I was at Bega Primary School in the early nineties I was already listening to NWA, but I probably shouldn't have been listening to it," he said with a laugh.
It was also the time of grunge music, and Nunan also had bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Silverchair blasting through his speakers when he heard Tupac had been killed.
"You wonder how anyone could do it and get away with it," he said.
"Back in those days, before social media, you found out a few weeks later in magazines what had happened.
Not many people may know but the South Coast has it's own connection to Wallace, through Red Hot Chilli Peppers bass player Flea, who at times lived near Moruya and was close to the New York rapper.
"Flea and Biggie had a relationship, and Flea was pretty upset," Nunan said.
Nunan began to delve deep into the conspiracy theories surrounding Tupac's murder, and in 2008 he reached out to Kading while he was writing his book Murder Rap.
Nunan wrote for the blog thruthabouttupac.com, at a time when endless theories on who killed the two superstars were all over the internet. Some even alleging Shakur is still alive and living a new life in Cuba.
Nunan said he and Kading clicked immediately as they both shared the same theory as to who the shooters may have been.
"He's very down to earth and saw it all as pretty black and white," Nunan said.
"He sent me the book and it was fantastic. I didn't think it would blow up that big."
Kading has also helped turn his police work into the Netflix series Unsolved, a dramatised version of his investigations. The pair have created and designed the Australian tour together, and will include music and players integral to Kading's investigation. Nunan said the show will also include never before publicly seen photographs of both murder scenes as well as audio recordings.
"It's really different to anything he's done before," Nunan said.
"Nobody has ever seen this presentation before, but it's not about that, it's about the way he approached the investigating the case.
"For Greg, he was investigating the homicide of another human being. he was handed the Biggie case, and he solved it and Tupac's murder in about 10 months.
"The show is a celebration of their lives as well. They need to be celebrated."
Through his investigation Kading was able to draw confessions, and spoke to high-level gang members.
"Once he got the nuts and bolts of the Tupac case he was drawn back into the Biggie case," Nunan said.
"The hardest thing was the individuals involved in this are dead, but the ones behind it are still alive.
"Nobody who actually pulled the trigger is still alive.
"Suge was behind the Biggie one, and he knows that. Suge knows Greg has information on someone who transferred the money to the hit man for around $25,000. Suge was in jail that night and she visited him. She confessed to that."
While the first detective to work the case, the late Russell Poole, was convinced corrupt LAPD officers were involved in the Wallace murder, Nunan said Kading would have had convictions if he had the case from the outset.
"We owe this man. We don't need to scrutinise him, he was just doing his job," Nunan said.
"If he had've been involved in the case then there would've been convictions. He sat with Voletta Wallace for three hours, and she thanked him. They cried and she told him she wished he was involved earlier.
"Both families believe what he's saying and respect him."
The fact nobody has yet been arrested over either murder, combined with the fact not even the FBI could not make an arrest, has only fueled conspiracy theories.
Discussions online still debate the Poole versus Kading investigations, while recorded interviews with Davis, McDonald and other players backing Kading continue to be published online. Poole died tragically from a heart attack in 2015 while still investigating the cases.
The murders also occurred at a time when music industry players from America's East and West Coasts appeared to be feuding, which is why Davis allegedly became involved with Bad Boy Records security. Davis claims Harlem drug dealer Eric "Zip" Martin introduced him to Combs.
Heavily redacted FBI files released in 2011 outline a 1997 investigation into Shakur's murder alleging links to Meir Kahane's Jewish Defense League. The bureau alleges the group made extortionate death threats against Shakur and NWA member Eazy-E, also known as Eric Wright.
However it seems just months into the investigation it stalled.
More heavily redacted FBI files on Wallace released in 2011, alongside an autopsy report, show they were looking into police officers who were employed by Death Row Records were on duty while at the Petersen Automotive Museum afterparty.
Wallace was shot with rare, German manufactured metal-piercing Gecko 9mm ammunition. The same kind of ammunition was later found at the home of LAPD officer and onetime college track star David Mack. Mack was later convicted for robbing $722,000 from a South Central Los Angeles branch of the Bank of America, in one of the largest heists in Los Angeles history.
The bureau described the Wallace murder as resembling similar tactics to professional bank robberies at the time, but ended the investigation in 2005 after failing to find enough evidence to charge anyone.
Knight was sentenced to 28 years in prison Thursday for the death of a man during a hit-and-run incident on the set of the movie "Straight Outta Compton."