Late Notorious B.I.G. Autopsy Released, 15 Years After His Death

The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office released the autopsy report on Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, on Friday, more than 15 years after the rapper was shot to death. The 23-page report offers fresh details about his death, which remains one of the city’s best-known unsolved homicides. Wallace, 24, was shot and killed early on March 9, 1997, as he was leaving a music industry party. He was riding in the front passenger seat of a Chevrolet Suburban when another vehicle pulled up beside his and someone opened fire. Wallace was shot four times, according tothe autopsy report. The fatal bullet entered his right hip and ripped through several organs, including his liver, heart and lung. The other bullets struck Wallace in his left forearm, his backand his left thigh. He was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he arrived in full cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead shortly after 1 a.m. At the time of his death, he had no drugs or alcohol in his system. Wallace was 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighed 395 pounds and had a tattoo on his right forearm that read: “The Lord is My Light and my Salvation …” His slaying has long stumped investigators. Los Angeles police and the FBI both looked into the case but made no arrests. Wallace was killed just six months after his former friend and rap rival Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, leading some to believe both shootings were tied to a so-called rap war between East Coast and West Coast hip-hop artists and their record companies. Shakur recorded for Marion “Suge” Knight’s Los Angeles-based Death Row Records, while Wallace was signed with New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment. Shakur’s killing is also unsolved. Hear, See, and Say it