Notorious B.I.G.'s Mother Has Court Case Thrown Out

Notorious B.I.G.'s mother has had her wrongful-death lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department dismissed. Voletta Wallace had been claiming the authorities were responsible for her son's death.

Notorious B.I.G, real name Christopher Wallace, was just 24 years old when he was shot four times in the chest while he waited in a vehicle at traffic lights in LA in 1997. The crime, which happened just six months after the murder of rival rapper Tupac Shakur, has never been solved.

The New York-born MC's mother first filed the suit in 2005, and has been fighting ever since to blame the city of LA and its police force, saying they had enough evidence to arrest B.I.G.'s assailants, but failed to use it. But now federal judge Jacqueline Nguyen has reportedly finally thrown out the claims.

Wallace's case was based on allegations made by former officer Russell Poole, that her son's murder was a conspiracy between officers Rafael Perez and David Mack, and also involving boss of Death Row Records, Marion "Suge" Knight, whose label rivaled B.I.G.'s Bad Boy Records.

This is the second time the Wallace family have been thwarted by the courts. In 2006 the family were awarded $1.1m (£720,000) in an action also against city, only to have the money revoked when the judge deemed the family to be privy to information unavailable to the court.

The story of B.I.G.'s life was told in the 2009 movie 'Notorious,' which was produced by Sean Combs, the rapper's former managers Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts, as well as Voletta Wallace, who was played by Angela Bassett on screen. The film grossed more than $43million (£28million) worldwide.