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~ ae oe fe > Christopher Wallace, was gunned down March 9, 1997, after a music industry party outside the Peterson Automotive Museum in the Mid- Wilshire district. The case has spawned several investigations, and a cottage industry of books, documentaries and magazine articles exploring possible conspiracy theories involving Wallace and Tupac Shakur, the other leading rap artist of his generation, who was shot to death in Las Vegas the year before. No one has been charged in either slaying. b6 Early on, Los Angeles Police Department detectives speculated that the BTC killings stemmed from a turf war between East Coast and West Coast rappers. Before their deaths, Shakurand Wallace had been feuding, and a rivalry between their record labe! os Angeles- based Death Row and New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment, had escalated into a series of assaults and shootings. ee | other relatives sued the city three years ago, alleging that an ex- i ; However, the FBI, citing lack of evidence, closed an investigation into this theory in January. On June 13, the family dropped] as defendants in the suit. The next day, the rapper's relatives persuaded U.S. Distz Florence-Marie Cooper to issue the arrest warrant after to answer a subpoena to testify in the trial. statements Friday cast further doubt on the theory at the center of the lawsuit: that corrupt police officers orchestrated the slaying of the 24- year-old rapper, and that top LAPD officiats covered up their actions. in a declaration filed June 6, 204[ rt —s—‘S™SCs*@zS re , “persona! knowledge" regarding Wallace's slaying, alleging that "persons within Death Row Records offered $25,000 to a law enforcement officer" to kill the rapper. According t eclaration, it was "well known within Death Row" record la observe at the 1995 Black {mage Awards, a 1996 boxing match in Las Vegas and "numerous Death Row functions” that were reserved for