Authorities Raid Rap Mogul's Record Company

From Associated Press

November 14 2002, 3:40 PM PST

Authorities raided the record label and homes of rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight today while arresting three people on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies declined to provide details on the alleged conspiracy.

However, Knight and his label, formerly known as Death Row Records, have been at the center of an East Coast-West Coast rap feud that some believe was behind the unsolved killings of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997.

Two other former associates of Knight have been shot to death this year.

Theodore Peter Kelly, 29, was arrested at the offices of Knight's label. Taken into custody elsewhere were Michael Leroy Payne, 25, and Kordell Depree Knox, 37. All were being held without bail.

Knight's attorney Arthur Barens said his client was being harassed.

"I have yet to see any association between the people arrested, any items taken and Suge Knight," said Barens. "We heard they were looking for weapons. There are certainly no weapons in his home, offices or anywhere else."

Knight was willing to cooperate with investigators, Barens said.

Knight was not considered a suspect in the investigation, said Los Angeles County sheriff's spokeswoman Alba Yates.

"There is some connection to Tha Row Records," said sheriff's Deputy Darren Harris, referring to Knight's renamed label.

In April, Alton McDonald, 37, a former Death Row Records production manager, was killed as he pumped gas at a Los Angeles service station. Last month, 33-year-old Henry Smith, who designed the electric chair logo for the label, was killed as he sat in his parked SUV.

A SWAT team descended on the label's headquarters near Beverly Hills at about 5 a.m., stalking the roof with drawn weapons, smashing a glass door and hauling off computer equipment and a dozen cardboard boxes.

Deputies also searched luxury vehicles in the company's lot, including a 2002 Mercedes-Benz SUV and a 2002 Cadillac SUV that are registered to Knight.

Two other people were arrested on drug charges. A handgun was seized from another location. A total of 16 search warrants were served at homes and businesses connected to Knight along with other unspecified locations in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas areas.

Knight's $1 million former home in a gated community southeast of Las Vegas was searched. However, that had "nothing to do with the Tupac Shakur slaying," Las Vegas police Sgt. Kevin Manning said.

Knight was released from prison in August after serving five years for violating probation by getting into a fight in a Las Vegas hotel. The 1996 altercation occurred just hours before rap star Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting as he rode with Knight in the promoter's limousine.

Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, 24, was killed in March 1997 while sitting in his car outside a party celebrating the Soul Train Music Awards in Los Angeles.

Once close friends, Tupac and Wallace had been feuding for more than a year and had exchanged insults in recordings, at concerts and awards shows.

Knight's record label offices were searched by police in 1999 in connection with Wallace's killing but no charges were filed.

That hasn't stopped conspiracy theorists and rap fans from offering a bewildering number of scenarios linking the killings.

The Los Angeles Times earlier this year concluded that Shakur was shot to death by a now-deceased Compton gang member using a pistol supplied by Wallace.

The book "Labyrinth" alleged a link between the slayings and Los Angeles police corruption.

And a recent film documentary, "Biggie & Tupac," suggests that Knight orchestrated both killings: Shakur's because the rapper wanted to leave his label, and Wallace's, in part, to make it appear Shakur's death was part of the rap feud.