Diddy’s former bodyguard has shed new light on The Notorious B.I.G.’s death, claiming his March 1997 murder wasn’t a drive-by shooting.
Gene Deal, who was part of Puff’s security detail in the ’90s, opened up about the night Biggie was killed in an interview with The Art of Dialogue, and expressed his frustration at how the events leading to his death are portrayed in movies and documentaries.
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Contrary to popular opinion, Deal insisted that the Brooklyn rapper’s untimely demise technically wasn’t the result of a drive-by as he believes the killer — who has yet to be identified by police — was already lurking in wait prior to pulling the trigger.
“It just hurts because they lie too much. A lot of that shit be lies the way they put it together ’cause they listening to these white boys who wasn’t even there,” he vented.
“I don’t want to make this racial, but they take these white boys who wasn’t even there and want to use the stories that they want to tell which is not the truth!”
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He continued: “Wasn’t no drive-by; the car was standing there at the corner. The stories they tell is not truthful. And now people are sitting here believing.
“Every Biggie movie that you see, they say it’s a drive-by. When the witness tells you the car was stood right there at the corner — the car was probably there all night.”
Gene Deal also recalled rushing to Biggie’s aid after his GMC Suburban had been shot up by the driver of a black Chevy Impala, which had pulled up alongside it at a red light near the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles where the Bad Boy hitmaker had attended a Soul Train Awards after-party.
Deal held back tears while reflecting on that tragic night, admitting Biggie’s death still haunts him to this day.
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“I saw this kid lose his life — this kid died while I was pulling him out of the car,” he said. “I wouldn’t put nobody in my shoes ’cause I don’t feel like they could handle it. If I didn’t have God in my life, if I didn’t have people praying for me, I don’t know if I could have handled it.”
He added: “Before we left Andre Harrell’s house, Puff told me I didn’t have to go. Now, I went because I knew that somebody was going to die that night, somebody was going to get shot. I did everything in my power to stop it from being Puff, and it wasn’t Puff.
“The people that was bodyguarding Big didn’t do everything in their power to stop it from being Big — and that hurts me, even though it wasn’t my principle. Every time you hear his music, every time you see one of these murals on the wall, now they got statues… it’s gon’ hurt until God takes me away from here.”
Gene Deal’s comments come after he accused Snoop Dogg of lying about his relationship with The Notorious B.I.G. The West Coast rap icon has frequently spoken about his friendship with Biggie, despite the bad blood between their respective record labels.
But according to Puff’s former bodyguard, Snoop wasn’t as close with Biggie as he makes out.
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“That’s something that sounds good for the media,” Deal said in another portion of his Art of Dialogue interview. “You know, ‘I’m the peacemaker. I’m the one that’s showing love. I’m the one that’s out here when everybody else is dead, wishing that I coulda did something to put the shit together.’
“It wasn’t all that love until ‘Pac was dead. Wasn’t Big out in California three, four weeks and Snoop never saw him? Snoop never came and smoked nothing with him. Snoop never came and ate nothing with him. But it was a lot of love? Come on, man.”
