Police Reportedly Tried to Ask Jailed Producer About Rapper’s Slaying

One day after identifying him as a suspect in the killing of rapper Notorious B.I.G., Los Angeles homicide detectives Wednesday tried to interview rap executive Marion “Suge” Knight in prison, sources said.

Knight, however, apparently declined to talk with investigators without his attorney present, according to one source associated with Death Row Records in Beverly Hills, the rap label that Knight founded.

“It was inappropriate for the investigators to try to do that,” said one attorney close to the record company.

Attorney David Kenner, who represents Knight, did not return calls seeking comment. Other Death Row officials declined to be interviewed.

LAPD Lt. Al Michelena declined to confirm the whereabouts of the investigators other than to say they were “out of town.”

According to police sources, investigators suspect that Knight--while he was behind bars--helped plan a murder-for-hire plot against the rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace. While police sources close to the case characterized Knight as “a key” and “a prominent” suspect in the slaying, Michelena--who says he prefers to be “softer with my adjectives”--called him a possible suspect.

In either case, investigators Tuesday served several search warrants on locations linked to Knight. Police officials acknowledged that they searched the offices of Death Row and seized a dark metallic purple Chevrolet Impala looking for clues in the March 9, 1997 slaying.

Sources also confirmed that detectives served search warrants on the residence of the man who provided security services for Knight and Death Row, and searched the home of Knight’s girlfriend’s grandmother.

The focus on Knight builds on speculation the ambush slaying of Wallace stemmed from a feud between East and West Coast rappers.

Wallace, a 24-year-old “gangsta” rap star from Brooklyn, N.Y., was shot to death as he sat in a car preparing to leave an industry party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles. According to police and witnesses, a lone gunman driving a dark sedan fired at least seven rounds at Knight and fled.

Police sources called the attack a professional hit.

Knight, 33, is now serving a nine-year prison sentence for attacking two aspiring rappers at a Hollywood studio in 1992. He originally was given a suspended sentence and probation as part of a plea agreement but was jailed in 1996 for violating his probation. He is serving that sentence at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.

Police officials declined to say what evidence they have that leads them to suspect that Knight is involved in Wallace’s killing. Police sources, however, said investigators believe that a bicoastal feud between rap organizations was behind the incident.

Some music industry officials dispute the degree or the existence of such a feud. In the past, however, artists from Death Row and the New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment have clashed. Tensions ran high between the late Tupac Shakur, who worked for Death Row, and Wallace, who worked for Bad Boy Entertainment.