Los Angeles ( CNN ) -- The 1997 murder of Christopher Wallace , the rapper also known as The Notorious B.I.G . and Biggie Smalls , remains an unsolved crime despite Los Angeles police and FBI investigations that lasted for years . The FBI , which joined the case five years after the shooting , opened up its files this week by publishing hundreds of pages of investigation reports and notes from its probe on the agencies website . Readers get a behind-the-scenes look at the FBI and LAPD 's work , but the documents are heavily redacted , hiding the names of sources , investigators and suspects . The drive-by shooting , in front of dozens of witnesses who were leaving a music industry party in Los Angeles on March 9 , 1997 , spurred several conspiracy theories , but no arrests . Smalls , 24 , was killed six months after his former friend and rap rival Tupac Shakur was gunned down on a Las Vegas street , causing suspicion that both shootings were part of an `` East Coast versus West Coast '' hip hop war . Shakur recorded for Marion `` Suge '' Knight 's Los Angeles-based Death Row Records , while Smalls was signed with New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment , founded by Sean `` Puffy '' Combs . The FBI opened its case in December 2002 because of `` multiple source information '' that Smalls was killed `` in retaliation for the murder of Tupac Shakur '' and that a rogue LAPD officer was involved , an FBI report said . The FBI 's case was closed in January 2005 when the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles decided there was enough evidence for indictments in the case , according to one letter in the files . The files include a Los Angeles Times newspaper story that suggested the FBI was pressured by the city of Los Angeles to drop its probe after the lead FBI investigator was named as a witness in a $ 400 million lawsuit Smalls ' mother filed against the city . Smalls ' mother and his estate claimed that an LAPD officer , who was later convicted of bank robbery , was involved and that the police department was ignoring evidence . The lawsuit was later dismissed . The newly-published documents , despite the redactions , do indicate tension between the FBI and LAPD . Near the end of the FBI probe , the lead agent writes that he had been ordered to have no contact with the civil lawyers for the Smalls family . The agent notes in one report that he would not contact a certain source `` because he/she is one of the main witnesses '' in the civil suit against the LAPD . Retired Los Angeles Police Detective Russell Poole , who worked on the Smalls ' case , told CNN earlier this year that he believes Suge 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 says , adding that he believes it was arranged by Reggie Wright Jr. , who headed security for Death Row Records . Poole goes even further , stating that he believes Knight was behind the shooting of Tupac Shakur as well . Poole says Shakur 's bodyguards told him that the rapper planned to sever ties with Knight 's Death Row Records which could have cost the company millions of dollars . `` That theory does n't even add up , '' says Cathy Scott , who wrote `` The Killing of Tupac Shakur , '' noting that Knight was sitting in the driver 's seat next to the rapper . `` Open fire on my car , but try not to hit me ? '' Reggie Wright Jr. told CNN he had nothing to do with either murder , and Suge Knight has repeatedly said he had nothing to do with the crime . But two months after Shakur 's killing , Knight talked to ABC News and one quote seems to follow the former record company executive : `` If you knew who killed Tupac , would you tell police ? '' To which Knight responded : `` Absolutely not . It 's not my job . I do n't get paid to solve homicides . I do n't get paid to tell on people . '' CNN 's Ted Rowlands and Michael Cary contributed to this report .
Hundreds of documents from the FBI investigation are available on the FBI website . The documents are heavily redacted , hiding names . The FBI investigated that a rogue LAPD rapper was responsible . The rapper was gunned down in Los Angeles in 1997 .