The editor of the Los Angeles Times said the newspaper will conduct an internal investigation (yeah, right, investigate yourself) concerning the authenticity of documents used in a story that implicate associates of Sean "Diddy" Combs in a 1994 assault on Tupac Shakur. The editor said he ordered the review after the editor of the Web site The Smoking Gun told the newspaper he had reason to doubt the validity of the FBI records that were supposed to back up the story. The Smoking Gun said the documents seemed phony because they appeared to be written on a typewriter instead of a computer, included blacked-out sections not typically found in such documents, and other reasons. The Smoking Gun story claims the documents were created by a convicted con man and music fan with a history of exaggerating his place in the rap music world.
Diddy denies that he had any prior knowledge of or involvement in the 1994 robbery and shooting of Tupac at a New York recording studio. The Times said its March 17 story was based on FBI records, interviews with people at the scene of the 1994 shooting, and statements to the FBI by an informant. None of the sources was named. So you can basically trash anyone as long as you use the unnamed source alibi. This is how the media run stories when they do not have all the information, but still want a hot story. The story said associates hoping to get favor with Diddy — who was overseeing Notorious B.I.G.'s white-hot career at the time — lured Tupac to the studio because of his disrespect toward them. The 1994 shooting triggered the infamous feud between East and West Coast rappers that led to the killings of Tupac and B.I.G.
The Times as yet has not responded to a request for a retraction from Diddy’s attorney, Howard Weitzman. The March 17 story and related features on latimes.com attracted nearly 1 million hits — more viewers than any other story on latimes.com this year, the newspaper said. So, true or false they have already generated lots of cash.
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