Change of Story in Shakur Case

March 18, 1998

Change of Story in Shakur Case

By Neil Strauss
NEW YORK TIMES

LOS ANGELES – A man who at one time was listed as a suspect in the killing of rap star Tupac Shakur has changed significant elements of his story in a six-hour deposition, his most extensive interview since the slaying in Las Vegas 18 months ago.

The man, Orlando Anderson of Los Angeles, changed several details concerning his trip to Las Vegas, where the slaying occurred, and admitted lying previously under oath. He was deposed as part of a civil wrongful-death suit filed against him by Shakur’s estate.

Anderson, had been named as a suspect in Shakur’s killing shortly after he was fatally wounded in the drive-by shooting. But Las Vegas police now say they have no suspects, and there is no indication that arrests are imminent in the death of the man who remains one of the country’s biggest-selling rappers.

Shakur’s mother, Afeni, has named Anderson as her son’s slayer, however. Her suit claims that he stepped out of a white Cadillac at a red light and fired a round of bullets into Shakur’s car.

The incident occurred just hours after Anderson was beaten in a Las Vegas hotel by a number of people associated with Death Row Records. Shakur was seen administering blows on a videotape of the incident, and Death Row’s chief executive, Suge Knight, was returned to prison on a parole violation as a result of his participation.

At Knight’s parole hearing, however, Anderson testified that Knight did not harm him and was trying to stop the fight. But in his recent deposition, Anderson admitted to having lied in his previous testimony. He said that he was punched and kicked by Knight.

“One thing that’s been accomplished is that we’ve shown that Anderson has lied under oath,” said Donald David, the lawyer for the Shakur estate who took the deposition. “That’s a critical accomplishment. And we now have Anderson’s side of the story for the first time. And once you have that, you can start verifying or disputing it.”

Lawyers for Anderson minimized the contradictions. They said that he previously lied because he had been threatened by Knight’s associates and that the wrongful death lawsuit was simply retaliation against a personal-injury suit Anderson filed as a result of the hotel beating.

The lawyers point to other contradictions: In previous sworn statements, Anderson pleaded his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when asked whether he and members of his family were members of the Crips, the notorious Los Angeles street gang involved in a violent longstanding rivalry with the Bloods, the gang Knight has been associated with. This time, Anderson answered both of these questions negatively.

And while Anderson previously said that the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas had given him a free room because he was a big gambler, in the new deposition, he said that he has had no income for the past five years, had not filed any tax returns in that period, spent less than $100 gambling and paid for his room in cash.

The testimony provided the most significant shift in an unproductive investigation of Shakur’s death. If they can establish Anderson’s gang connections, the Shakur Estate lawyers said, they would be able to produce a motive (fighting between Crips and Bloods has been the source of much of the rap-related violence in Los Angeles) as well as provide another instance of Anderson lying under oath.

A second defendant in the wrongful-death suit, Jerry Bonds, the driver of the white Cadillac, is also said to be a Crip and has been missing since the filing of the suit, the Shakur estate lawyers said. Anderson denied knowing Bonds.

Typically, a wrongful-death suit would follow a completed police investigation, but Richard S. Fischbein, a lawyer for the Shakur estate, said he was forced to step in when Las Vegas police dragged their heels.

“We would end the civil trial in a second if they would take a very serious look at this issue,” he said. “But I’ve called and pushed and prodded them, and these guys aren’t doing anything. So that leaves us with the mother forced into a position of having to deal with this situation on her own, and that’s an outrage.”

“I have my own theory,” he continued. “And that is that they’re trying to create the Disneyland of the Far West in Las Vegas and the last thing in the world that they want is a story about black-gang drive-by shootings taking place in their town. So this is not something they’re going to bring to a big trial that will be covered by the national press.”

In response, Las Vegas Police Sgt. Kevin Manning said: “I know what they think, and they have that right to think what they want. I don’t think they’ll ever prove there’s anything to that particular thought of theirs.” He would not comment on the extent of the investigation, but he said that the case was still open.