CLUES SOUGHT IN RAPPER'S MURDER : SHAKUR SLAYING MAY NOT BE LINKED.

Byline: Jaxon Van Derbeken and Fred Shuster Daily News Staff Writer

A day after rapper Notorious B.I.G. was shot to death in Los Angeles, police said Monday that they have no suspects and they have no evidence that the slaying is linked to that of rival rapper Tupac Shakur six months ago.

The 24-year-old singer, whose real name is Christopher Wallace, was gunned down early Sunday after he left a gathering to celebrate the Soul Train music awards.

Las Vegas police say they have no evidence that Wallace's murder is tied to Shakur's.

``We will cooperate, but we really believe we do not have anything that will help L.A. in their investigation,'' said Lt. Wayne Petersen of the Las Vegas Metro police, which is probing the death of Shakur. ``We have absolutely no evidence linking these cases at all.''

``There are a lot of common ties within the rap community - all these people know each other,'' he said. ``There are people out there, who still think Shakur staged his own death, that he is alive.''

Los Angeles police said the two deaths do not appear linked, but investigators have not ruled out a connection.

``There is no evidence there is a connection,'' said Detective Raymond Futami, but he could not rule it out. ``There's a lot of different theories; we have to make sure we cover everything.''

Los Angeles police Lt. Ross Moen said there could be many motives for Wallace's murder.

``We're not overlooking any possibilities of a payback or gang-related-type shooting, or we're not overlooking the fact that this was possibly a hit, a direct target, coming out of possibly New York. It could come out of L.A. It could come out of Atlanta,'' Moen said.

Wallace suffered several 9 mm bullet wounds, Moen said. Police hoped to interview 200 witnesses to develop a sketch of the gunman, described as an African-American man in his early 20s driving a dark-colored sedan.

Moen said the suspect drove alongside Wallace's blue 1997 GMC Suburban at a stoplight at Fairfax and Wilshire boulevards and fired before speeding off. One of the cars driving with Wallace tried to chase the gunman but could not keep up.

Speculation had run high that the death of Wallace, who also went by the name Biggie Smalls, was tied to the murder of Shakur because they had engaged in a cross-country war of words as part of an East Coast-West Coast rivalry.

``It started out as hype,'' said New York-based author Ronin Ro, who has written on so-called gangsta rap.

``Biggie didn't want to be part of any West Coast-East Coast thing. Tupac repeatedly attacked him in the press, but he said in interviews that he would not respond,'' Ronin said.

``But a segment of kids in, like, Compton, have made it real. I was out there last week, and people were trying to hit me up about where I was from in very threatening ways. The West Coast seems to be overtly hostile towards New Yorkers right now,'' he said.

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Photo

PHOTO Candles and a photo of Notorious B.I.G have been left in front of the Peterson Auto Museum, where the rapper was gunned down.

Terri Thuente/Daily News