THE DOSSIER

As Detective Lyga’s career twisted in the wind following the shooting death of Kevin Gaines, he would face a multitude of attacks from inside and outside the LAPD. It was just days after the incident that the Gaines family would hire Johnny Cochran as their attorney, who along with Carl Douglas immediately began to paint Lyga as an “out-of-control racist cop.” At the same time, the Officer Involve...

When any police department gets into trouble, leadership will do their best to triage the problems right away. At the biggest police departments like the LAPD or NYPD, a lot of times these internal task forces are developed, wherein seasoned investigators along with a version of Internal Affairs decide to roll up their sleeves and go after their own. But do they really? In these circumstances, som...

In the immediate aftermath of the death of Kevin Gaines, the story of the cop versus cop shootout in broad daylight would become world news within 24 hours of the incident.   While Frank Lyga received support in the hours after the shooting all the way up to Chief Willie Williams, soon after the narrative would begin to change. Especially as the Gaines family hired Johnny Cochran, and then-Head of...

If you say the name Rampart to anyone, maybe they have heard and identify it with an immense police scandal inside the Los Angeles Police Department. In this podcast, I believe if you counted, it has been mentioned 100s of times. There also is case to be made that when people say RAMPART, they might tell you they know what the story is, BUT DO THEY REALLY understand and know the various aspects of...

March 18th, 1997 - The events of that afternoon would have far reaching effects that are still felt to this day. Detective Frank Lyga’s life and career were never the same. That could also be said for the Los Angeles Police Department, which immediately faced a racial divide among fellow officers that only grew more intense once Gaines’ family hired attorney Johnny Cochran. It also served as the m...

Rehashing the day after Biggie was killed is old news, for you maybe it isn’t. What isn’t old news is Chuck Philips’ article on March 10th of 1997. In reading this for the first time with fresh eyes, it’s like staring at a painting in the Louvre for three days, and on the fourth, you find a different pattern. The headline of the article reads “Gangsta Rap Performer Notorious B.I.G. Slain.” Barely...

Since March of 1997, former LAPD Detective Frank Lyga has been an enigma, followed by whispers and innuendo regarding his involvement in the shooting death of fellow LAPD officer Kevin Gaines. With the exception of a 23 year old interview with PBS Frontline, the notoriously press shy Lyga has never gone on the record about his time at the LAPD with anyone inside the media. Because of that, very li...

It was in 1995, that the relationship between Chuck Philips and his obsession with Suge and Death Row Records started. Suge Knight was cold and calculating, and any journalist allowed around him at that time would have been part of a quid pro quo or they would have been intimidated by Suge with threats of violence. Suge trusted Chuck, but more importantly, Suge understood the power of the LA Times...

Randall Sullivan has built a journalistic legacy over the course of his career. He was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone for over 20 years, and his work has been published in places like the Washington Post, Esquire & Guardian.   He also has authored numerous books, including The Curse of Oak Island, The Price of Experience, Untouchable, The Miracle Detective, LAbyrinth & Dead Wrong.  As Rand...

In 2002, Randall Sullivan decided to publish LAbyrinth, what I consider the best piece of journalism ever written about the LAPD cover up of the murder of Biggie.  I can still vividly remember reading the book and realizing that I too wanted to become a reporter, an investigator, a writer. In some ways, you can make a case that Randall’s work inspired me and was a pivotal moment in my life. To ima...

It must be five years now that I have kept a color-coded binder of information under my desk inside my home office. The binder was sent by a fellow television producer, and it was very thorough. The full Dossier is a catalogue of the work of a journalist who has worked for the LA Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Rolling Stone, Spin, the Village Voice, the hip-hop bible Source Magaz...

After coming across Waymon Anderson’s name in numerous LAPD, FBI and civil trial documents, Don Sikorski tries to unpack his story in relation to the murder of Biggie. We take a closer look at documents from a Habeas Corpus hearing in 2008, and the testimony Waymon Anderson gave under oath in open court. Sikorski is re-joined by fellow Dossier producer John Anagnopoulos to discuss the relationship...

In June of 2005, the Wallace Family Civil Trial was in court, the wheels of justice were spinning. On a Friday afternoon Perry Sanders told the Court and the judge that he'd received a telephone call from someone claiming to be a former officer of the LAPD. This person in the phone call provided detailed information about the existence of evidence concerning the Biggie murder. The judge directed t...

As we’ve discussed in detail, the city and the LAPD continually hid the existence of information, as well as witnesses from the Wallace family and their attorneys – while claiming there was no evidence connecting their officers to the murder of Biggie. From Kenneth Boagni to Mario Hammonds & Eric Fairmon, the city of Los Angeles played keep away, trying to hide anything supporting the Wallace fami...

In this week’s bonus episode, Criminal Minded Media's Don Sikorski and Senior Producer John Anagnopoulos of The Dossier Season II: The Secret Biggie FBI Files, continue their dissection of the FBI documents from the Biggie Smalls murder investigation.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In January of 2001, the LAPD instituted a formal internal affairs investigation bearing LAPD Internal Affairs number CF-01-0190. In what might be the most explosive revelation from the IA report, the LAPD itself alleged that David Mack and Rafael Perez conspired to murder and assisted in the Murder of Biggie.  The paragraph above is the sole reason I am recording Season 2 of The Dossier. I have ci...

After CMM's Don Sikorski is contacted by ex-LAPD Detective Frank Lyga, we take a closer look the facts and rumors surrounding Kevin Gaines. While he’s always been connected to the Biggie murder, was Gaines also involved in the killing of Tupac in Las Vegas? We also check in with RJ Bond, our resident Tupac expert, to get his thoughts on Kevin Gaines. The Dossier II: The Secret Biggie FBI Files, is...

The game was clear, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. The City of Los Angeles knew if they could just get to trial and hide all the David Mack and Suge Knight evidence, their chances against the Wallace Family were pretty good. They could beat the Wallace Family lawyers and save the LAPD from financial ruin. The Dossier II: The Secret Biggie FBI Files, is a production of Criminal Minded Media, Ac...

As we continue analyzing the legal filing introduced in Episode 2, it just gets more interesting – and more unbelievable. First, we introduce a witness who contacted both the LAPD and City Attorney Don Vincent with information pertinent to the murder of Biggie. Why did the City of Los Angeles hide this information from the Wallace family and their attorneys for over two years? Learn more about you...

"In setting out to record a second round of episodes, there was something that didn’t sit right with me," says Criminal Minded Media's Don Sikorski. There is a legal filing that I always have in my backpack — I know without a shadow of a doubt, that inside this document are the final answers as to the actual evidence that exists inside the walls of the LAPD, and inside the file cabinets of LAPD’s...

As we like to say on The Dossier, the evidence is all there in black & white. In this week’s bonus episode, Criminal Minded Media's Don Sikorski and Senior Producer John Anagnopoulos of The Dossier Season II: The Secret Biggie FBI Files, begin a dissection of the FBI documents from the Biggie Smalls murder investigation.  The Dossier Season II: The Secret Biggie FBI Files, is a production of Crimi...

As we ended up production of Season One of The Dossier, Criminal Minded Media's Don Sikorski had begun a quest to track down the alleged coconspirators of the plot to murder The Notorious B.I.G., rogue ex-LAPD officers Raphael Perez and David Mack. In this episode Sikorski attempts to get an agreement done with Mack to tell his story. Welcome to Season Two of The Dossier. A special thanks to Richa...

In today’s episode, we are releasing the Mario Hammonds deposition in its entirety, as he's questioned by Rob Frank, one of the lawyers for Voletta Wallace. Also included in today’s episode, the late Sergio Robleto and Don Sikorski discuss Sikorski’s secret meeting with Hammonds.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Dossier: the LAPD Cover Up of the Murder of Biggie is back, with two investigative angles - a dissection of all the investigative files in the cover-up, and an examination on how the LA Times and a rogue journalist named Chuck Phillips created a public narrative of lies and misdirection. Dossier II: The Secret Biggie Files, coming October 23rd wherever you listen to podcasts! Learn more about...

In this Bonus Episode, James Rosemond discusses how the government turned friends and allies into weapons against him. He and Don Sikorski also begin breaking down the murder charges he faced after the death of Lowell Fletcher.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices