Johnny Depp To Play Detective Investigating Tupac's & Biggie's Murders
By Amanda Wicks
(RADIO.COM) – When he's not performing as one of the Hollywood Vampires, Johnny Depp is an ace-crack detective. At least that's the character he'll play in the upcoming film Labyrinth, which explores Oakland rapper Tupac Shakur's and the Notorious B.I.G.'s deaths and the detective who tried to solve their murders.
Depp will play Russell Poole, who had difficulty ironing out all the tangled threads surrounding Biggie's death, but did manage to uncover corruption in the LAPD that appeared to be connected to it (via ScreenDaily). The film will be based on Randall Sullivan's 2002 book by the same name.
p style="text-align:justify;">Poole was tasked with investigating Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace's death on March 9th, 1997. He believed that Death Row Records' Suge Knight worked with LAPD officer David Mack to have Biggie killed. He also alleged that Knight was responsible for Tupac's murder on September 13th, 1996, because he didn't want to pay the rapper royalties.
Poole said in the 2002 documentary Biggie & Tupac, "Had we'd been able to aggressively investigate [the B.I.G. shooting] and had the heart to connect the two and do a thorough investigation, I think we probably would have found out more information. I think the fact that law enforcement officers were working for Death Row, that was a scandal in itself… Suge Knight, to me, was one of the most powerful gangsters around. He was well-organized, he had a lot of power, and what gave him the power, he had dozens and dozens of police officers working in his organization" (via Rolling Stone).
Pool died in 2015 of a heart attack. Labyrinth is currently seeking funding to begin production.
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