LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles Times has linked two former associates of Sean “Diddy” Combs, the hip-hop star and businessman, to a 1994 attack on Tupac Shakur, the rapper, and suggested that Mr Combs knew in advance of the assault. He called the story a lie.

The story cited an unnamed source who said that he was questioned during a federal investigation of the shooting and beating of Shakur at the Quad recording studios in New York City. Mr Combs’s associates – James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond, a talent manager, and James Sabatino, a promoter – helped to plan the attack, the source told the FBI and the newspaper.

The paper’s story linked the two to Mr Combs, who wanted to sign Shakur to a recording contract. It suggested that Combs and another rapper, the Notorious BIG (Christopher Wallace), knew that Shakur was being set up.

The assault ignited a feud between East Coast and West Coast rappers that is said to have resulted in the murders of Shakur in 1996 and Notorious BIG in 1997. Neither killing has been solved. (Reuters)

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