It's been more than nine years since rapper Notorious BIG was gunned down at the height of his fame, and although conspiracy theories abound, no suspects have been apprehended.

Now, with the City of Los Angeles facing a retrial in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the rapper's mother, Voletta Wallace, the Los Angeles Police Department is reopening its investigation, albeit with the intent to uncover information that will aid the city in its defense of the lawsuit, according to a report yesterday in the Los Angeles Times. Wallace's suit claims that rogue police officers, one of whom was allegedly on duty at the time, were involved in the killing of the 24-year-old rap star.

According to the Times, the city has formed a task force comprising six veteran homicide detectives to lead an investigation into whether BIG was killed by gang members as retaliation for the slaying of rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas six months earlier. Shakur's murder has also gone unresolved and will cross its 10-year mark in September.

BIG--real name Christopher Wallace--was gunned down in March 1997 while he sat at a red light inside an SUV as he and his posse were leaving a music-industry party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Because of BIG's fame, as well as his heated feud with Shakur and both of their untimely deaths, conspiracy theories abound about who murdered the men and why police have been unable to close either investigation. Such theories include that BIG put a contract hit on Shakur and that when he refused to pay the Crips the promised $1 million bounty once Shakur was killed, the Crips in turn killed BIG.

Despite no new evidence in the cold case, the task force will pursue leads related to the involvement of the Crips or the Bloods, the latter of which has been connected to Marion "Suge" Knight, the then-owner of Shakur's record label, Death Row Records. Knight was in the car with Shakur at the time of his murder. Knight has denied any involvement in the killing.

The Times report claims that investigators are closely examining a home video taken in the area where BIG was murder moments before the shooting.

The task force has an office, budget, and computerized tracking system to organize the messy 72-volume "murder book." They are offering a $50,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to a conviction in the case.

Voletta Wallace's lawsuit claims that rogue police officers were involved in her son's murder. It charges that Suge Knight put a contract out on BIG, and that ex-LAPD officer David A. Mack facilitated the hit. The case ended in a mistrial in July 2005 when it was discovered that a police detective intentionally hid statements by a jailhouse informant linking the killing to two former officers.

A judge ordered a retrial and forced the city to pay $1.1 million in legal fees and other expenses to the rapper's family. A separate, 18-month FBI investigation of the LAPD's involvement in the murder was closed last year with the finding that there was "no basis for prosecution."

The retrial is set for January 2007.