"Suge" Knight charged with assault

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He was sent to prison in October 1996 for violating his probation on a previous assault case by allegedly kicking a man during a scuffle at a Las Vegas hotel.

The scuffle took place hours before Shakur was gunned down in September 1996 in a drive-by shooting. Knight was at the wheel of the car in which Shakur was fatally shot and was slightly wounded himself.

Months later, rap artist Christopher Wallace, who was known as Notorious B.I.G. and signed to a rival record label, was shot to death in Los Angeles.

Knight, who was incarcerated at the time, was named by police a few years later as a suspect in the Wallace slaying but was never charged. Both rap murders remain unsolved.

Knight was released from prison in April 2001. The following year a federal racketeering probe of Knight and his record label, which stemmed from allegations of murder, drug trafficking, money laundering and gun running, was closed with the company pleading guilty to misdemeanour tax charges.

In 2006, Knight and Death Row Records filed for bankruptcy protection as he faced the prospect of losing control of his label in a $107 million civil court judgment. But the sale of the label's music assets and Knight's publishing rights fell through last month.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Eric Walsh)

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