October 24, 1997

Metro closes probe into leaked Shakur photo

By Ed Koch
<koch@lasvegassun.com>
LAS VEGAS SUN

Metro Police have closed an internal investigation into who leaked a postmortem photo of Tupac Shakur to a SUN reporter who used it in her book about the dead rapper/actor.

Although at least nine employees of Metro and the Clark County coroner's office were questioned, there was no evidence to support who did it, so no one was charged with any crime, Metro Undersheriff Richard Winget said Thursday.

"Our concern was that because the National Enquirer had offered $100,000 for a photo of Shakur (dead) that one of the employees used county property to take the picture (and profit from it)," Winget said. Such a situation could have resulted in embezzlement charges, he said.

Winget said County Coroner Ron Flud had requested the investigation shortly after the photo wound up in "The Killing of Tupac Shakur" by SUN reporter Cathy Scott. The book was released on Sept. 7, a year after Shakur was shot near the Las Vegas Strip after attending a championship boxing match.

The investigation centered on two general assignment detectives, at least three coroner employees and as many as four other Metro employees, Winget said.

It was learned that two general assignment detectives had taken Polaroid photos of Shakur at the morgue for use in a police training book, Winget said. Those pictures were removed from the book and destroyed and the officers were cleared of any wrongdoing.

"The potential for abuse was far greater than the value of the photos for training purposes," Winget said.

He declined to release the names of the detectives or the other seven people who were questioned during the 1 1/2-month investigation. Winget said they all denied giving a photo to Scott.

Unless further evidence comes to light, the case is closed, Winget said.

Scott was not interviewed by police.

Flud has said the photo, which shows Shakur dissected on a table at the morgue, is not an official coroner or police photo.

Metro Internal Affairs Bureau Lt. John Alamshaw also said it appears that it was not an official photo.

Neither of them, however, denied that it was an authentic photo of Shakur's body.

Scott, who denied paying for the photo, has declined to comment on the police investigation, referring all inquiries to the publisher of her book.

"I don't think people care whether the photo came from Pluto," said Anthony Curtis, owner of Las Vegas-based Huntington Press, which published the book. "People just care that the photo exists."

Curtis maintains that the gruesome photo was not published just for shock value, but to stem the usual rumors following the untimely death of a famous person that he is still alive.

"We still get calls from people who read the book and say they still don't believe Shakur is dead," Curtis said. "It is a rumor that just won't go away."

Although Curtis maintains he does not know who gave Scott the photo, he says he is convinced it was obtained by legal means.

In related news, all 25,000 copies of the book's first printing have been distributed and the second printing of 25,000 copies will begin soon to meet back orders, Curtis said, noting the book has sold well in Southern California.

The book will soon go on sale in New York, where 4,000 copies have been ordered. To become a best seller, a book has to sell well in selected major outlets in the New York market, Curtis said, noting that inquiries about the book have come from as far away as Europe.

"The book has got legs, now we are waiting to see if it will sprout wings," Curtis said.

The Shakur book also recently became the No. 1 seller in the history of the small Las Vegas-based publishing company, outselling in 30 days the previous record-holder "Bargain City," by Curtis. That book about Las Vegas was published in 1993 and sold 19,000 copies.

The success of the Shakur book comes on the heels of the recently released motion picture, "Gang Related," the last film Shakur made before his death on Sept. 13, 1996, at a Las Vegas hospital, where he had undergone surgery on his bullet wounds. The slaying remains unsolved.