Man dropped from suit over Biggy's Death

The mother of late rap star Notorious B.I.G. has decided to dismiss from a wrongful-death lawsuit the man she accused of shooting her son, raising new questions about theories surrounding the entertainer's slaying seven years ago. In her suit, Voletta Wallace named Los Angeles-area resident Harry Billups, also known as Amir Muhammad, as the triggerman who ambushed her son on March 9, 1997, in the mid-Wilshire district. Billups could not be reached for comment, but long has denied involvement in the killing. Wallace was unavailable, and her attorneys refused to discuss terms of the proposed dismissal or why it was initiated. The move came after Billups, never questioned by police, submitted to a pretrial deposition during which he denied involvement in the murder and offered to take a lie-detector test by the FBI, according to sources close to negotiations. The sources said no money changed hands as part of a confidential settlement between the two parties. Wallace agreed, however, to dismiss Billups as a defendant. Still remaining in the suit are the city of Los Angeles and former police Officer David Mack, who is serving a 14-year federal prison sentence for bank robbery. [more]