Notorious B.I.G. paid LA gang $1m to have rival rapper killed, says report

The unsolved murder of the rapper Tupac Shakur, which shocked the US music world six years ago, was paid for and committed with a weapon provided by the artist's arch rival, Notorious B.I.G., the Los Angeles Times claimed yesterday.

Shakur, 25, was shot by an unseen attacker riding in a white Cadillac in Las Vegas six years ago today. Police have never made an arrest but, according to a year-long inquiry by the newspaper, the weapon was provided by the rapper Notorious B.I.G. (born Christopher Wallace).

The two were part of a bitter feud between west coast rappers, represented by Shakur, and east coast rappers, represented by Wallace - who was gunned down in LA in 1997 in another unsolved case.

The LA Times claims Wallace paid the Southside Crips gang $1m for the killing. One motive, the paper said, was Shakur's beating of a Crips member, Orlando Anderson, earlier the same evening, in retaliation for a Crips attack on his bodyguard, who belonged to the rival Bloods. The Crips decided to make the operation profitable and approached Wallace.

The LA Times concluded that Anderson, who was later shot dead, fired the gun.

Asked in an interview days before his death whether he had played a role in Shakur's murder, Wallace said he was not "that powerful yet".