B.I.G. Family Issues Tupac Murder Alibi

By Stephen M. Silverman

Wednesday September 11, 2002 01:00 PM EDT

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The family of Notorious B.I.G. continues to chip away at the Los Angeles Times' thesis that the rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, helped mastermind the 1996 Las Vegas slaying of arch-rival Tupac Shakur.

Attorneys for Wallace's estate reportedly provided invoices to MTV News in New York that placed Wallace at a studio the night of Sept. 7, 1996 -- the same period when Shakur, then 25, was fatally shot. (He died six days after being gunned down.)

Last week, the Times published a two-part report based on its own lengthy investigation into the unsolved murder. The paper reported that Wallace was in Las Vegas the night Shakur was gunned down and that he provided a member of the Crips with the murder weapon, promising to pay the gang $1 million for the assassination.

Meanwhile, the family of Orlando Anderson, identified by the Times as the gang member who shot Shakur, also issued a statement Tuesday denying involvement. (Anderson died in May 1998 after a drug-related shooting at a Compton, Calif., car wash.)

"Orlando Anderson did not murder Mr. Tupac Shakur," the statement says. "He did not accept money nor was he offered any money from Notorious B.I.G., nor anyone else, to perform such a heinous crime."

Lawyers and other representatives of the Wallace family declined requests from the newspaper to review the invoices, said the Times.

Wallace, 24, was shot to death in Los Angeles six months after Shakur's slaying. Police have made no arrests in either killing.