Toronto Star/ZUMA PressJustice isn't going to be done, but...better late than never?
A man who's already behind bars for life has confessed to participating in an attack on Tupac Shakur at a New York City recording studio in November 1994, two years before the rapper was gunned down in Las Vegas.
But why is Dexter Isaac, who sent a statement to AllHipHop.com from prison, coming clean about this now all of a sudden?
Well, for one, the statute of limitations on the assault rap has passed. And Isaac was named in an accused drug dealer's statement as a government informant (and, presumably, no one in prison want to be labeled a rat).
But today also would have been Shakur's 40th birthday, and Isaac—he's serving a life sentence for murder, robbery , fraud and witness intimidation—also says that he wanted to clear his conscience and make sure the right people are blamed for the attack.
"I want to apologize to his family," Isaac told AllHipHop. "I am trying to clean it up to give [Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.'s] mothers some closure."
Isaac claims that he still has all the jewelry he stole from the rapper except for one diamond ring. Furthermore, he says, he still has one of Shakur's chains taken during the attack, during which Shakur was shot five times.
The 1994 shooting was notorious for allegedly setting off a deadly feud between Shakur and Biggie, who was shot to death in L.A. in March 1997, six months after Shakur was killed. Both slayings remain unsolved.
Czar Entertainment founder James Rosemond was indicted last month for his alleged role in a cocaine ring and during questioning he pegged Isaac as a government informant who was dishing out faulty information while incarcerated for other crimes.
An arrest warrant was issued for Rosemond on the drug charges, but he is not yet in custody.
Meanwhile, New York police spokesman Paul Browne said that if investigators determine the confession is legitimate, they will seek to interview Isaac.
(Originally published June 15, 2011, at 6:11 p.m. PT)