The possibility that Los Angeles police may have played a role in the murder of hip-hop star Notorious BIG was investigated by the FBI over a two-year period, according to recently released records. The inquiry ended in early 2005, after federal prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence to pursue a case against any officers or another man implicated in the shooting of the rapper in 1997. The decision was made after agents in Los Angeles, San Diego and New York tried to track down potential suspects and witnesses who might shed new light on the unsolved killing. The shooting of Notorious BIG, also known as Biggie Smalls, came months after former friend and fellow rap superstar, Tupac Shakur, was fatally gunned down in Las Vegas. The investigation started out as a civil rights violation and public corruption review, but efforts were made to solve the murder case. Informants told the FBI that the killing of Biggie, real name Christopher Wallace, may have been aided by corrupt police officers. The records showed that agents conducted surveillance on one man in San Diego who they thought may have fired the fatal shots at Wallace. No one has been arrested for Wallace or Shakur's killings, although both deaths have been the subject of rampant speculation about the motives. The one-time friends became rivals and instigators in an East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry during the mid-1990s. Wallace was shot and killed in LA in March 1997 after leaving a Los Angeles music industry event. Source: Skynews