Los Angeles ( CNN ) -- A task force made up of local and federal law enforcement agencies is actively pursuing leads into the 1997 slaying of hip hop artist Christopher Wallace , better known as Biggie Smalls or Notorious B.I.G. , according to two sources familiar with the investigation . According to one law enforcement source , the investigation into the 13-year-old unsolved case was `` reinvigorated '' months ago as a result of new information , but the source would not elaborate further because of the ongoing investigation that includes the Los Angeles Police Department , L.A. County District Attorney 's Office and the FBI . On March 9 , 1997 , Wallace , 24 , was shot and killed while riding in a Suburban that was driving away from a music industry party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles . Los Angeles police said a lone gunman in a Chevy Impala pulled alongside the Suburban and opened fire on Wallace , who was in the passenger seat . Witnesses described the suspect as being an African-American man wearing a suit and bow tie . The main theory behind shooting was payback in a so-called rap war between East and West Coast hip hop artists and their record companies- Bad Boy Entertainment in New York , which represented Wallace , and Death Row Records , headed by Marion `` Suge '' Knight , in Los Angeles . Six months earlier in Las Vegas , a gunman opened fire on a car driven by Knight , killing one of his top artists Tupac Shakur . That murder remains unsolved also . `` East Coast was Biggie , West Coast was Tupac , '' Wallace 's mother Voletta Wallace told a filmmaker in the 2002 documentary `` Biggie and Tupac . '' `` Come on now , you 're messing with lives here and that 's exactly what happened . Two lives were lost as a result of what ? Stupidity ? '' Voletta Wallace told the filmmaker . Retired Los Angeles Police Detective Russell Poole , who worked on the Wallace case , told CNN that he believes Knight was behind the murder , even though the Death Row Records ' boss was serving time on a probation violation at the time . `` Suge Knight ordered the hit , '' Poole said , adding that he believes it was arranged by Reggie Wright Jr. , who headed security for Death Row Records . Reggie Wright Jr. told CNN he had nothing to do with the murder , and Knight has repeatedly said he had nothing to do with the crime . Poole said he retired early from the LAPD , in part , because he was thwarted in following leads in the Wallace case involving police officers , some of whom worked off-duty for Death Row Records . `` I think I was getting too close to the truth , '' Poole said . `` I think they feared that the truth would be a scandal . '' One of the officers Poole said was involved is David Mack , who was sent to prison for robbing a bank in 1997 , the same year Wallace was killed . Poole said Mack owned the same type of car driven by the gunman who shot Wallace , and Poole said a friend of Mack 's resembles a police sketch of the shooter . CNN was unable to reach Mack for comment , but when allegations of his involvement in Wallace ' slaying originally surfaced more than a decade ago , his criminal defense attorney Donald Re called the claims ridiculous . Poole also assisted Wallace 's family in their wrongful death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department alleging a cover-up in the investigation . Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks was the chief of police when Poole was investigating , and he told CNN the accusations about a police cover-up are `` absurd . '' `` We would have never ignored a lead that could have helped us solve that murder , '' Parks said . Perry Sanders , Voletta Wallace 's attorney , told CNN the family 's lawsuit , which was originally filed in 2002 , was put on hold in April after Los Angeles police said turning over evidence from the case would interfere with a beefed up investigation . Mack was released from federal prison on May 14 . Watch Anderson Cooper 360° weeknights 10pm ET . For the latest from AC360° click here .
Christopher Wallace was shot and killed in 1997 . A source says the unsolved case was `` reinvigorated '' because of new information . The sources say that a man named Robert James Earl Ray is believed to have been responsible for Wallace's murder, but he has never been charged with it.