LA Times to probe Shakur documents

Investigation begins after Smoking Gun report

By PHIL GALLO

A Los Angeles Times report connected Sean 'Diddy' Combs to an assault on Tupac Shakur.

Responding to an extensive report on the Smoking Gun website, the Los Angeles Times will conduct an internal investigation into the authenticity of documents that connected associates of Sean "Diddy" Combs with an assault on the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

Smoking Gun reported that documents containing statements from an informant to an FBI agent were forgeries created by conman James Sabatino, whom the Smoking Gun referred to as "an audacious swindler who has created a fantasy world in which he managed hip-hop luminaries."

The Times story, written by Chuck Phillips, names no sources. It appeared online March 17 and then ran in the print edition two days later.

The story was deemed newsworthy as it presented new details about the 1994 beating and nonfatal shooting of Shakur, after which a war broke out between rival rap factions.