A week after the FBI released all records pertaining to the murder investigation of rapper Christopher Wallace; they released all the case records regarding the murder investigation of rapper Tupac Shakur. The files, which were released April 14, 2011, noted that “The JDL… (Jewish Defense League) have been extorting money from various rap music stars via death threats.”
Shakur was shot on September 7, 1996, in Las Vegas in a car driven by the head of Death Row Records, Marion “Suge” Knight. Shakur was not the only rapper to receive such threats, according to reports. The FBI file on the case indicates that the late and great rapper, Eric “Eazy-E” Wright was also the target of such extortion tactics and death threats by the Jewish Defense League, an organization that has been characterized as a terrorist group.
According to the FBI, the JDL would make threats against a rapper’s life, and then proceed to contact him via phone and offer protection for a fee. Although the allegations of death threats and protection schemes were associated with individuals linked to the Jewish Defense League (JDL), no direct connection was made between the group and the murder of Shakur. The JDL was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, who once served in the Knesset, but whose party was later banned for its extreme right-wing beliefs, which included transferring Arabs out of Israel. Kahane was murdered in New York in 1990 by an Arab-American gunman.
The files total 99 pages and are composed of 35 pages of memos and 50 pages of clippings of newspaper, magazine and online website articles. The files also cover the investigation of Orlando Anderson, the chief suspect in the murder of Shakur. Anderson was arrested during a police raid on Oct. 2, 1996, but released two days later, without any charges being filed. In 1998, at the age of 23, Anderson was shot to death in Compton, Calif. The FBI files were released as part of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
Torrance Stephens authors the blog rawdawgb.blogspot.com. Find him on twitter.com/rawdawgbuffalo.
