Did Nation of Islam Help Cover Up Murder of 'Notorious' Rapper?

They say truth is stranger than fiction and this time might not be an exception. Nearly a decade and a half after the murder of famed rapper Notorious B.I.G. a.k.a. Christopher Wallace, new developments in the case point to the alleged culprits. So who would murder a wildly popular rapper from Brooklyn? Gang members? One of rival west coast rapper Tupac Shakur's henchmen? An obsessed fan?  Try Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. As they say in the rap industry: "word?"

Clayton Hill, an inmate and former NOI member has reportedly come forward as an accessory to "Biggie Smalls" murder and implicated fellow NOI member Dawoud Muhammad as the man who pulled the trigger.

In an upcoming e-book titled "Diary of an Ex-Terrorist" Hill alleges Dawoud bragged about getting paid "twenty-five g's" for Biggie's hit. HipHopDX first broke the story:

After first contacting HipHopDX on June 8th, Hill disclosed to DX that in October of 2010 he met with Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy DePodesta and two agents with the F.B.I.’s Domestic Terrorism Unit and revealed that in May of 1997, while acting under orders as an official with Muhammad Mosque #15 in Atlanta, Georgia, he took possession of a semi-automatic handgun from a fellow N.O.I. member from Los Angeles, California who introduced himself as Dawoud Muhammad.

“[Dawoud Muhammad] stated to me that he was on the run for the murder [of The Notorious B.I.G.],” Hill wrote to HipHopDX via the CorrLinks email system for federal inmates. “He disclosed that he was the shooter of The Notorious B.I.G. because he (Dawoud) was a former Blood gang member and was paid to do so.”

According to HipHopDx, Hill was initially contacted in 1997 by ROI ministers Tony Muhammad and Melvin Muhammad with an instruction to pick up Dawoud from a Greyhound bus station in Atlanta. What is described next is Hill and Dawoud's alleged procurement, then disposal of the murder weapon:

And after picking up the man he had been introduced to as “Dawoud,” Hill procured the weapon he claims he was instructed to retrieve. Writing in his book Clayton explained, “I told [Dawoud Muhammad] I had instructions to collect some property from him. He must have been given the same instructions because he didn’t hesitate or show any signs of doubt as he bent over and removed a trash liner out of a waste can and handed it to me to hold open. He reached into the duffle bag he brought with him and pulled out a semi-automatic hand gun that could have been a .9 millimeter or a .40 caliber wrapped in a white undershirt. Carefully he placed it into the trash bag making sure his hands never touched any of the exposed parts of the gun.”

After allegedly receiving his final instructions from Melvin Muhammad, Clayton claims he was instructed to take the “property” to Louisville, Kentucky. In Louisville, Hill delivered the gun to Emile Muhammad, the personal driver of Minister Louis Farrakhan. Emile Muhammad then allegedly transported the gun to its final destination within the headquarters of the Nation of Islam.

“Somebody in Chicago wanted that weapon,” Hill replied when asked by HipHopDX why a murder weapon would not be immediately disposed of and instead be taken on a cross-country trip from Los Angeles to Atlanta to Louisville to the N.O.I.’s HQ. “Who wanted it? I can’t say for sure but whoever wanted it had to be high ranking.”

Authorities have yet to apprehend Dawoud and until that time we may never know for sure how deep, if at all, Nation of Islam's role was in Big's death. What also doesn't seem clear is the motive. What threat did a hip hop artist pose to the Nation of Islam? So far, no one has that answer, but when it comes to NOI, anything could be possible.

For those who aren't familiar with Biggie and even for those who are, below is a video of the song that launched the rapper into stardom: