David Mack (police officer)

David Anthony Mack
Born (1961-05-30) May 30, 1961
Compton, California, US
Awards – LAPD Medal for Heroism
Police career
Department Los Angeles Police Department
Country United States
Years of service 1988–1997
Rank
  • Sworn in as an officer – 1988
  • – Police Officer III
  • – Senior Lead Officer
Other work Convicted in connection with the Rampart police corruption scandal

David Anthony Mack (born May 30, 1961), is a former Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer involved in the Rampart Division's Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) unit. He was one of the central figures in the LAPD Rampart police corruption scandal. Mack was arrested on November 6, 1997, for robbery of $722,000 from a South Central Los Angeles branch of the Bank of America. He was sentenced to fourteen years and three months in federal prison. Mack has never revealed the whereabouts of the money.

Early life

As an athlete, David Mack ran track for Locke High School and was champion at the CIF California State Meet at 880 yards for two years in a row.[1] He earned a scholarship to the University of Oregon, where he ran track. After finishing sixth in the Olympic Trials in 1980,[2] he qualified for the United States national team, running the 800 metres in the 1983 World Championships in Athletics.[3] Mack won three Pac-10 conference titles and an NCAA championship in the 800 meters. His personal best time of one minute, 43.35 seconds is the fifth fastest American in history.[4] A leg injury kept him out of the 1984 Summer Olympics and, after a final appearance at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, the injury ultimately cut short his track career.[5]

Police career

Mack joined the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in 1988. He first worked as a patrol officer and then as an undercover narcotics officer. Mack next moved to a late shift in West Los Angeles in 1990, where he began a relationship with Errolyn Romero, a nineteen-year-old ticket taker at the Baldwin Theatre. Mack was awarded the LAPD Medal for Heroism in 1993 for shooting a drug dealer who threatened his partner, Rafael "Ray" Pérez, with a gun during an undercover drug operation.[5]

Bank robbery

In August 1997, Romero became employed at a Bank of America branch near the University of Southern California campus. On November 6, 1997, Mack entered the bank and claimed he wanted to access his safe deposit box. Romero admitted him to the secure area, where he threw her to the floor and robbed the vault of $722,000. In her capacity as branch assistant manager, Romero had ordered double the usual amount of cash to be on hand at the bank on the day of the robbery. After one month of investigation, Romero confessed to her role in the crime and implicated Mack as the mastermind.[6] He was arrested in December 1997. His two accomplices were never caught.[5][7] Mack was sentenced to fourteen years and three months in prison and has never revealed the whereabouts of the money.[8] He was released on May 14, 2010.[9][10]

Relation to the murder of The Notorious B.I.G.

In April 2007, the estate of Christopher Wallace, a rapper who performed under the name The Notorious B.I.G., filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, which also named Mack, Pérez, and Nino Durden as defendants. The lawsuit alleged that the officers conspired to murder Wallace, and that Pérez and Mack were present the night of the drive-by shooting which claimed his life on March 9, 1997.[11] In 2010, the Wallace family voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit and their claims against the city and the officers.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "California State Meet Results - 1915 to present". Hank Lawson. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
  2. ↑ Hymans, Richard (2008). "The History of the United States Olympic Trials – Track and Field" (PDF). USA Track & Field. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  3. ↑ "2nd IAAF World Championships in Athletics Roma 28-Aug/06-Sep-87: 800 metres: Men: Heat". International Association of Athletics Federations. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  4. ↑ "800 Metres All Time". International Association of Athletics Federations. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 "The Murder of the Notorious B.I.G." Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. May 18, 2001. Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Rampart". Retrieved October 7, 2013.
  7. ↑ "LAPD officer suspected in $722,000 bank robbery". Lodi News-Sentinel. Marty Weybret. December 20, 1997. p. 10. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Rampart Scandal Timeline". Frontline. PBS. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Inmate Locator". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  10. ↑ Lawson, Edward. "Rampart". Retrieved 10/7/2013. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. ↑ Amended Complaint, Estate of Christopher G.L. Wallace v. City of Los Angeles, et al., Civ. A. No. 2:07-cv-02956-JHN-RZ (C.D. Cal. May 27, 2008).
  12. ↑ Estate of Christopher G.L. Wallace v. City of Los Angeles, et al., 2:07-cv-02956-FMC-RZx, slip op. at 4 (C.D. Cal. Apr 5, 2009) (Nguyen, J.).

Further reading

  • Sullivan, Randall (2002). LAbyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records' Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 978-0-87113-838-5.
  • Scott, Cathy (2002). The Killing of Tupac Shakur (2nd ed.). Nevada: Huntington Press. ISBN 978-0-929712-20-8.
  • Scott, Cathy (2000). The Murder of Biggie Smalls. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-26620-2.
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