A killer serving life claims he shot Tupac Shakur in 1994, fueling the bloody East-West war that defined hip-hop culture — and New York cops want to talk to him.
In a statement posted on AllHipHop.com yesterday, Dexter Isaac apologized for the infamous near-fatal attack and claimed he shot Tupac at the direction of talent agent James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond.
“I want to apologize to his family [Tupac Shakur] and for the mistake I did for that sucker [Jimmy Henchman],” said Isaac’s statement, written from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Within hours of the statement, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said, “NYPD detectives plan to interview the prisoner.”
Isaac, 46, said he was paid $2,500 for the attempted hit on Nov. 30, 1994, at Quad Studios in Manhattan.
Isaac is in prison for the murder-for-hire of a Brooklyn cabby.
Rosemond’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, trashed Isaac: “He’s a convicted killer who was brought back by the US attorney solely to cooperate against Jimmy Rosemond, and wouldn’t you know it, he spins this tale.”
Tupac — who was born in East Harlem but made his career in Northern California — survived the attack, only to be shot dead on Sept. 13, 1996, in Las Vegas.
The East-West war reached its climax when Brooklyn native Christopher Wallace — The Notorious B.I.G. — was fatally shot in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997.
Both murders are unsolved.
Rosemond has long been suspected of organizing the Quad Studios attack on Tupac, but was never charged. He’s on the run from feds, who are chasing him for a drug-trafficking rap.