Gene Deal, a former member of Puff Daddy‘s security team in the ’90s, has offered a new perspective on the night The Notorious B.I.G. was fatally shot. He asserts that Biggie’s murder wasn’t linked to his dispute with Tupac, but rather, it was Puff Daddy who was the intended target.
Deal recalls, “[Biggie] caught a bullet for somebody else… This is from me being there, this is from the FBI investigations. That bullet may have been meant for Puff [Daddy], cause the dude came down to Puff first but he was stopped by me.” He goes on to explain the sequence of events, highlighting the shooter’s hesitation.
“When we crossed the light and [Biggie] and ‘em stopped at the light, the dude came out of [the] parking space and it seemed like the hesitance of what he did is like ‘Yo! Them n——s blew the light, they blew the light, but I got [Biggie] right here’ then somebody said ‘Take him , get him. It was just the hesitance because if it was meant for [Biggie] why would they wait till we get way across the light to start shooting… We was across the light and had stopped because Tone said ‘Yo, somebody pointing a gun at [Biggie] and ‘em, then we heard [gunshot gestures]. So, that wasn’t meant for [Biggie] somebody got the okay to do that.”
Deal’s credibility, however, should be taken with caution, as he has a history of altering his accounts. He had previously implicated both someone close to Biggie and Diddy in the murder.
During the same interview with The Art Of Dialogue, Gene Deal brought up LAPD’s purported involvement in the murder, citing statements made by Suge Knight.
“Suge said that Rafael Pérez and David Mack were trying to kill him — those are the same individuals accused of conspiring with Suge to murder the Brooklyn rapper,” he explained. “Because David Mack and Pérez were seen at the scene! There are photographs of them at the scene! Pérez was picking up bullets at the scene! Law enforcement knows you don’t tamper with evidence… They couldn’t reach Puff, and B.I.G. became collateral damage.”
So you’re saying that the same people that killed Biggie are the same people that killed 2Pac: LAPD?” the interview asked, seeking clarification.
“If Suge says, ‘If you solve one murder, you solve them both,’ I gotta go with the eyewitness,” Deal replied. “I don’t know why Suge would say that when Keefe D says that it was him, Orlando and Dre and them in the car together, but why would Suge say [that]? He said that in the documentary.
“I just believe that somebody was made to say something, and I hope the Vegas Police Department do their due diligence and get down to the bottom of it and make the truth come out … It don’t take a rocket scientist for this, man.”
The Notorious B.I.G. was tragically killed on March 9, 1997, in Los Angeles after his GMC Suburban was shot multiple times by the driver of a black Chevy Impala, which had pulled up alongside it at a red light near the Petersen Automotive Museum where the Brooklyn rapper had attended a Soul Train Awards after-party.
The murder investigation remains open, with recent police raid at Keefe D‘s residence yielding recovered bullets. Charges, potentially including first-degree murder, may soon be brought against the former gang member.
