Is Tupac alive? Claims emerge that police officer was paid $1.5m in rap's biggest cover-up

Almost two decades after his death, speculation about the rapper Tupac is still rife.

It might not be the silver bullet conspiracy theorists were waiting for, though. The Mirror has reported that terminally ill former policeman David Myers said, on his deathbed, that he helped the hip-hop star fake his death, being paid a staggering $1.5m (£959,000) for his troubles.

Unfortunately for The Mirror and several other media sources, the story comes from a hoax website known as "Daily Media Buzz", where the Tupac story lines up alongside claims that Mexican druglord El Chapo has helped rapper Gucci Mane escape from prison.

Tupac Shakur was shot and killed in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 7 September 1996. He was travelling in a car with Death Row Records founder Suge Knight after attending a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand when he was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting.

The story circulated by several websites says that Myers, who does not exist, is tired of lying and wants the world to know what really happened to the icon. "The world needs to know what I did. I'm ashamed that I let a price be put on my word and I cannot die without letting the world know," he is quoted as saying.

He also alleges that Suge Knight, who is currently in jail awaiting trial for murder, played a big part in the cover up with over 30 people – including police, medics and various witnesses – also paid to keep quiet.

This is not the first time Knight has been linked to Tupac's death. Conspiracy theorists have claimed that the former Death Row Records boss, who ruled his rap dynasty with an iron fist, may have been behind the murders of Shakur and long-time rival Christopher "Notorious BIG" Wallace.

Former LAPD detective Russell Poole, who was one of the officers that investigated Tupac's death, famously suggested Knight killed the Changes rapper because he wanted to part ways with the Death Row label and then conspired to kill Biggie to divert attention from himself in Tupac's murder. Other fans claim Knight had Tupac killed because he wanted to gain access to all of his protégé's unreleased material.

"Suge Knight ordered the hit," Poole said in a 2001 interview with VH1 and in controversial documentary film Biggie & Tupac. "I think I was getting too close to the truth. I think they feared that the truth would be a scandal."

Back in May 2014, former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer Chris Carroll attempted to finally put an end to the rumours by revealing the last words spoken by rapper Tupac Shakur as he lay dying.

"I kept asking over and over, 'Who did this? Who shot you?' And he basically kept ignoring me. He looked at me and he took a breath to get the words out, and he opened his mouth, and I thought I was actually going to get some co-operation. And then the words came out: "F**k you.'"

Tupac is one of the highest-earning deceased celebrities in the world, with more than 75 million albums sold to date.