David Anthony Mack (born May 30, 1961) is a former professional runner and

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

(LAPD) officer involved in the Rampart Division's

Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums The Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) was a specialized unit of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) tasked with combating gang-related crime between 1979 and 2000. The unit was established in the South Central district of ...

(CRASH) unit. He was one of the central figures in the LAPD Rampart police corruption scandal. Mack was arrested in December 1997 for

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

of $722,000 from a

South Central Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a ...

branch of the

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

. He was sentenced to fourteen years and three months in

federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for convicts who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), inmates considered dangerous (Brazil), or those s ...

. Mack has never revealed the whereabouts of the money.

Early life

As an athlete, David Mack ran track for

Locke High School Alain Leroy Locke College Preparatory Academy (formerly Locke High School) is a Title 1 co-educational charter high school located in Los Angeles, California, United States, and is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District/Green Dot Public ...

and was champion at the

CIF California State Meet The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direc ...

at 880 yards for two years in a row. He attended the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

where he ran track with his high school rival Jeff West. After West transferred to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, Mack considered following suit, but was convinced to stay at UO by coach

Bill Dellinger William "Bill" Solon Dellinger (born March 23, 1934) is a retired American middle-distance runner. He competed in the 5,000 m at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1964, setting his personal record.Flo Jo. In 1980, as a freshman in college, he finished sixth in the Olympic Trials. Mack won three

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

conference titles in the 800 and in his junior year, the NCAA Division I Championship in the 800 meters. As a professional, Mack ran for

Santa Monica Track Club Santa Monica High School Girls Track team first coach is Dalal M. Ahmad, a USC graduate doing her second semester of student student teaching . She was placed in charge of the team in 1972 during her second semester of student teaching The Santa Mo ...

. He qualified for the United States national team, running the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

in the

1983 World Championships in Athletics The 1st 1983 World Championships in Athletics were run under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations and were held at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland between 7 and 14 August 1983. Summary The overall med ...

but failed to advance to the final. He was the

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

in Sydney Maree's 1500 meter world record and one week later rabbited Steve Ovett to surpass that record. A stress fracture in his shin caused him to fail to make it out of the heats at the 1984 USATF Championships. In 1985 he ran 1:43.35 seconds which at the time was the second fastest time ever by an American and still ranks 9th fastest. He failed to advance from the heats in the 800m at the

1987 World Championships in Athletics The 2nd World Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy between August 28 and September 6, 1987. Men's results Track 1983 , 1987 ...

. Beset by fatigue from

iron deficiency Iron deficiency, or sideropenia, is the state in which a body lacks enough iron to supply its needs. Iron is present in all cells in the human body and has several vital functions, such as carrying oxygen to the tissues from the lungs as a key ...

, his last professional race was in 1988.

Police career

Mack joined the

(LAPD) in 1988. He first worked as a patrol officer and then as an

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an indi ...

narcotics officer. Mack next moved to a late shift in

West Los Angeles West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped differently by di ...

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 reportedly threatened his partner, Rafael "Ray" Pérez, although the event described by the two was later discovered to be a lie, and that the officers additionally had planted a gun on the suspect.

Bank robbery

In August 1997, Romero became employed at a

branch near the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

campus. On November 6, 1997, Mack entered the bank and claimed he wanted to access his

safe deposit box A safe deposit box, also known as a safety deposit box, is an individually secured container, usually held within a larger safe or bank vault. Safe deposit boxes are generally located in banks, post offices or other institutions. Safe deposit ...

. Romero admitted him to the secure area, where he threw her to the floor and

robbed Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

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. He was arrested in December 1997. His two accomplices were never caught. Mack was sentenced to fourteen years and three months in prison and has never revealed the whereabouts of the money. He was released on May 14, 2010. According to the

Tupac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

documentary ''Assassination: Battle for Compton'', citing official legal documents, a reliable jail informant by the name of Ken Boagni, who befriended Rafael Perez in prison, stated Perez claimed the money stolen in the bank robbery was intended to go to Harry Billups, also known as Amir Muhammed, who was friends with Mack, for allegedly carrying out the murder of late rapper Christopher Wallace, also known as

Biggie Smalls Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

, because Billups was not paid in full by his contractors, namely Reggie Wright Jr. and David Kenner, because he failed to also murder

Sean Combs Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent directo ...

, the second intended target. Boagni claimed both Perez and Mack were involved in the murder of Wallace, but Billups was the shooter.

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

In April 2007, the estate of Christopher Wallace, a

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

who performed under the name

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

, filed a

wrongful death Wrongful death claim is a claim against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute. In wrongful death cases, survivors are compensated for the harm, l ...

lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles, which also named Mack, Pérez, and

Nino Durden Gino Floyd "Nino" Durden (born May 5, 1963) is a former American police officer in the Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal ...

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 A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...

which claimed his life on March 9, 1997. In 2010, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit against the city and the officers.

Depictions in media

In the biography film ''

City of Lies ''City of Lies'' is a 2018 crime thriller film about the investigations by the Los Angeles Police Department of the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. It is directed by Brad Furman, with a screenplay by Christian Contreras ba ...

'', David Mack is played by

Shamier Anderson Shamier Anderson (born May 6, 1991) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing U.S. Deputy Marshal Xavier Dolls on the television series ''Wynonna Earp (TV series), Wynonna Earp'' and ''Invasion (2021 TV series), Invasion.'' Background Ander ...

. The film features the 1997 bank robbery.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mack, David 1961 births African-American police officers American bank robbers American male middle-distance runners American police officers convicted of crimes Bloods Living people Los Angeles Police Department officers Oregon Ducks men's track and field athletes Police officers convicted of robbery Sportspeople from Compton, California Track and field athletes from California World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people