Rap kingpin’s former Vegas home is raided

Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 | 11:03 a.m.

STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Authorities on Thursday raided the former Las Vegas home and the Los Angeles record label of rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight, a figure in an East Coast-West Coast rap feud that some believe led to the killings of two major stars.

Metro Police said the raid at Knight's former home at 6980 Monte Rosa Ave. was not related to the unsolved murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. Shakur was killed in 1996 while riding in Knight's car in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile three other people were arrested in the Los Angeles area on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, though authorities declined to provide further details of the alleged crime.

Theodore Peter Kelly, 29, was arrested at the offices of Tha Row Records, formerly known as Death Row Records. Arrested elsewhere were Michael Leroy Payne, 25, and Kordell Depree Knox, 37. All were being held without bail.

Knox is a former sheriff's deputy who was fired Nov. 1 because of his suspected involvement in an assault with a deadly weapon, Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Alba Yates said.

A total of 16 search warrants were served at Knight's home and at other homes and sites in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas areas.

Clark County property records show Knight owned the home on Monte Rosa Avenue from April 1996 to May 1998.

Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael O'Callaghan said the search in Las Vegas was secondary to the ones conducted in the Los Angeles area.

The search warrant affidavit is sealed, and only California authorities have the power to unseal it, he said.

Metro Homicide Sgt. Kevin Manning, who investigated Shakur's murder, said the search of Knight's former home "had nothing to do with the Shakur slaying."

Knight was not considered a suspect in the investigation, Yates said. Deputy Darren Harris said there was "some connection" to Tha Row Records.

Knight and his record label have been at the center of an East Coast-West Coast rap feud that some believe was behind the unsolved killings of Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.

Shakur was riding in a car with Knight in Las Vegas in 1996 when another vehicle pulled alongside and someone opened fire, killing Shakur. Knight has said he couldn't see who fired the shots.

Shakur had been feuding with the Notorious B.I.G., who was shot to death six months later in Los Angeles. Both killings remain unsolved.

Two other former associates of Knight have been shot to death this year.

Alton McDonald, 37, a former Death Row Records production manager, was killed in April as he pumped gas at a Los Angeles service station. Henry Smith, 33, who designed the label's electric chair logo, was killed as he sat in his parked sport utility vehicle last month.

Knight was released from prison in August after serving five years for violating probation by getting into a fight in a Las Vegas hotel. The altercation occurred hours before Shakur was killed.

Knight's attorney Arthur Barens said his client was being harassed, but was willing to cooperate with investigators.

"I have yet to see any association between the people arrested, any items taken and Suge Knight," Barens said. "We heard they were looking for weapons. There are certainly no weapons in his home, offices or anywhere else."

A heavily armored SWAT team descended on Tha Row Records' headquarters near Beverly Hills at about 5 a.m., storming the roof with drawn weapons, smashing a glass door and hauling off computer equipment and a dozen cardboard boxes. Deputies also searched luxury vehicles in the company's lot, including two SUVs registered to Knight. A handgun was seized from another location.

The search of Knight's $1 million former home in a gated community southeast of Las Vegas had "nothing to do with the Tupac Shakur slaying," Las Vegas police Sgt. Kevin Manning said.

The Los Angeles Times earlier this year concluded that Shakur was shot by a now-deceased gang member using a pistol supplied by the Notorious B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace.

In 1999 police searched Knight's record label offices in connection with the slaying of B.I.G. No charges were filed.

Knight, a former football player for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, expressed interest last November in starting an entertainment production company in downtown Las Vegas and had a meeting with Mayor Oscar Goodman.

However, city spokeswoman Diana Sahagun said yesterday that nothing came of the meeting and no plans are in the works.

Sun reporters

Jen Lawson and Kim Smith contributed to this story.