I grew up in the movie business. Often people would find that by slowing down the production of a film that they could profit from additional people needed to complete a task or rental of additional equipment. They would sow the seeds of chaos in a movie so they could put additional dollars in their pockets. At Death Row Records you have this highly dysfunctional family that is putting out multiple hit records and cash is pouring in. Along come a couple of Chaos Merchants to sow the seeds of chaos in order to put money in their pockets. The murder of Tupac and attempted murder of Suge Knight was nothing more than a coup d'é·tat at the record label.

Russell only ever had one interest: the truth. When we were writing Tupac:187, we would uncover something we felt was significant and he would force us to dig deeper. The murders of Tupac and Biggie led back to the LAPD and Russell was always told to pursue the clues no matter where they lead. When he started finding out information about corruption inside of LAPD he was told to cease investigating. Had he been able to pursue the clues we would have averted the David Mack bank robbery, the Kevin Gaines shooting by officer Frank Lyga, and possibly the cocaine disappearing out of the evidence locker perpetrated by Rafael Perez. From Russell we learn that sweeping something under the rug today may lead to bigger problems tomorrow. Russell was an American Hero. I got to spend two very formative years with him.

The Tupac and Biggie murders always bothered him because human life was lost and investigators and investigations were compromised in bringing the killers to justice. He continued to pursue clues on his own dime to see justice served. What he uncovered cost him his life.

He was very disturbed by it. In that rant, Lyga discloses to his cadets that he knew who Kevin Gaines was prior to the shooting. Russell was disturbed by this because it contradicts the testimony he gave under oath that led to this being ruled a justified use of lethal force. Poole was convinced that if Lyga would have disclosed that he knew Kevin Gaines was a cop at the time of the shooting he would have been facing a murder charge instead of being cleared.

I became a Tupac fan on a long ride with my teenage son where control of the stereo became a huge issue. We compromised and played alternating songs for each other that we felt would stand the test of time. Many of the songs he played me that day were Tupac songs. He would explain what it meant to him and I gained valuable insight from the lyrics of Tupac into my own son that day. But I also came to love those lyrics and beats because he brought the struggle in the streets into the living rooms of America.

I worked on a humanitarian project with Russell's aunt and uncle. They told me they wanted to introduce me to their nephew. We connected by telephone first and then met in person. Russell and R.J. Bond had come into possession of a confession letter to the murder of Tupac Shakur. Russell arranged for me to meet with the source of this letter and independently verify the story behind the letter. This turned into Tupac:187. Even after the release of that book, clues piled in. Russell and I continued to gather the clues and to boil them down for Dave Demerjian at the D.A.'s office. As we got the narrative more distilled he began to show interest in reopening the cases but needed a law enforcement counterpart to run down the clues. The pursuit of this law enforcement counterpart would cost Russell his life.