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LAbyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records' Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal | 
| Author: Randall Sullivan
Publisher: Grove Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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You Save: $13.99 (93%)
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Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 230162
Media: Paperback
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 080213971X
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.15230979494
EAN: 9780802139719
ASIN: 080213971X
Publication Date: January 3, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Flaunt magazine declares LAbyrinth "absolutely impossible to put down" -- a book whose stunning discoveries are nonetheless "incredibly thorough and surprisingly credible." Acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan follows Russell Poole, a highly decorated LAPD detective who in 1997 was called to investigate a controversial cop-on-cop shooting, and eventually discovered that the officer killed was tied to Marion "Suge" Knight's notorious gangsta-rap label, Death Row Records. During his investigation, Poole would come to realize that a growing cadre of black officers were allied not only with Death Row but with the murderous Bloods street gang. And incredibly, he began to uncover evidence that at least some of these "gangsta cops" may have been involved in the murders of rap superstars Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur. Still more shocking is what happened when Russell Poole became lead investigator in the murder of Notorious B.I.G.: as his shrewd detective work pointed to crooked cops such as David Mack, who orchestrated one of the biggest bank heists in Los Angeles history, Poole found his investigation stifled by a police chief wary of doing further damage to a department already sullied by the O. J. Simpson trial, the Rodney King beating, and the Rampart corruption scandal. Could it be that the Rampart scandal -- in which dozens of officers were implicated in a conspiracy of robbery, brutality, drug dealing, and false imprisonment -- was only a smokescreen for a far more damaging debacle? Igniting a firestorm of controversy in the music industry and the Los Angeles media, the hardcover publication of LAbyrinth helped to prompt two lawsuits against the LAPD (one brought by the widow and mother of Notorious B.I.G., the other by Poole himself) that may finally bring this story completely out of the shadows. Entertainment Weekly insists that "no single source presents so complete or damning a record" of this "compelling" epic tale of L.A. noir.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Incredibly in-depth somewhat-independent investigation of the Shakur/Smalls murders June 26, 2009
Doug A. Daniels (So. Illinois, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've read just about every book and seen every documentary regarding the murder of Tupac Shakur, and if you have any interest in the case at all, this book is a must-read. It is filled with information from a former LAPD officer who worked the case - many of which fuels the theory that Suge Knight had a hand in both artists' deaths. Some information, however, instead backs the idea that Shakur was killed by a Crips gang member. Whichever story you choose to believe (or if you believe something different altogether), this book has a lot of information you can't find anywhere else.
Mindblowing Information October 12, 2006
R. McRae (Saugus, CA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is one of the main reasons I could not bring myself to vote for former LAPD police chief Bernard Parks, in our most recent mayoral race. Seems we were so worried about more negative press in this city, we too often just looked the other way. One of the better documented works on the subject; the background info on L.A. street gangs, Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. are worth the cost alone. Will keep you glued to the pages.
Great book, very well-written September 2, 2006
J. W. Morris (Oak Harbor, Wa United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I recommend this book for several reasons. First off, it is extremely well-written. There's no rambling, it's very well researched, and the way the stories and facts are expressed are not dry at all. The writer, Randall Sullivan, writes for Rolling Stone magazine, so it's presented in that style. Even if you aren't interested in the Tupac/Biggie story, this book still goes deep into the origins of the Bloods and Crips, East coast and West coast rap feuds, and especially, just how corrupt the LAPD was(and probably still is). I've read other books on these subjects, including the recently released book by "hip-hop cop" Derrick Parker, but this book is by far the best. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
Mindblowing! July 21, 2004
Suge Killer (London, UK)
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
If ur a fan of either tupac or biggie GET THIS BOOK .....russell poole blows the lid on how death row was really run. He explaines the level of corruption within the LAPD, and how and why the investigations into their murders remain unsloved. After reading this book, and watching the Nick Sullivan Biggie and Tupac dvd, its plain and obvious to all who was behind their murders!
 Biased author, unsympathetic characters August 27, 2003
Scaliwag (San Francisco)
3 out of 29 found this review helpful
As a fan of both Tupac and Biggie, I was very interested in learning more about what really went down. Former Officer Poole seems to think he has the answers so I was eager to learn what he knows draw my own conclusions. I was very disappointed.
First of all, to my absolute surprise, nobody else seems to have picked up on the author's extreme bias. For example, on page 14 of the hardcover version, Sullivan notes that "[In the early 1960s], as now, black males committed a hugely disproportionate amount of crime in Los Angeles and across the country." WHAT? I can't even believe that went to print. Question: do black males commit a disproportionate amount of crime in this country or are they accused and convicted disproportionately? At the very least, if you're gonna make such outrageous comments, back it up. With no statistical data, I consider Sullivan's comment to be hearsay. Then, just a few pages later, on page 18, Sullivan gets a little diatribe going about how the LAPD hiring process has become less stringent over time, noting that "liberals had successfully argued that [baring applicants with juvenile records] limited the number of blacks and Hispanics who could join the LAPD." I'm not even 20 pages into the book, and my reading of the author is that he really doesn't like minorities or "liberals," whatever the latter term means to him because he sure doesn't define anything. Yet I decided to take these and similar comments with a grain of salt and press forward with the book.
If one-tenth of what's written in these pages is true, Biggie and Tupac were just as despicible as Suge Knight, the LAPD, the affiliated gangs, the attorneys and just about everyone else who graced the pages of the book. And that made me really sad because it's hard for me to listen to the music the same way. Tupac and Biggie were not innocent; they were just greedy [...] who courted violence successfully. Truthfully, none of the stuff about the LAPD or any of the other authority figures surprised me. Money and testosterone--bad combination. Lest you think I'm a man-hater, the women in this book are appalling, too. I hate to say it but Tupac and Biggie got what they deserved.
I do think that Sullivan's style is extremely readable and engaging. I also like the way he attempted to provide background on the LAPD history, the history of the Crips and the Bloods, etc. If you're not likely to be critical going into this book, it's not bad for escapism. Unless you were living in a plastic bubble or don't keep up w/ current events, I doubt that you'll be blown away by the overall picture Sullivan paints.
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