Tupac death

15 years on from his death after being shot by a mysterious assassin, Tupac's former bodyguard Frank Alexander reveals who he thinks was the killer (and explains why he wasn't to blame).

How are you doing Frank?

Just riding my horse, man. Just hanging out and chasing those cowgirls.

How did you come to be Tupac’s personal bodyguard in the first place?

I spent  11 years in the Marines and trained to become a world-class bodybuilding champion. I was working as a prison officer when I got a cal from a friend of mine, asking me if I wanted to work security for Death Row Records, owned by the man Las Vegas police believed to be the New Prince of Darkness, Marion ‘Suge’ Knight.

We heard they hooked you up with Snoop and the Dog Pound, and after your quick thinking saved them from being shot in New York, Tupac asked you to work for him.

I was 5 foot 11inches and almost 20 stone. I knew my size was a factor or Tupac. He liked having a big-ass nigga on his side. They used to call me ‘Big Frank’.Tupac also liked me cos I was the only one that could keep up with him. He was like the Energiser Bunny; he was a workaholic. Plus he loved to drive fast and crazy. He used to try to shake his security, but I was the only one who managed to stick with him. Tupac was a lot of fun. We had a blast.

How much did you get paid?

About $300 a day, but there were other perks.

Like what?

Like candy – Tupac’s code name for weed. Pac smoked weed 24/7. When he first got out of bed every morning, he rolled a Philly Blunt. Tupac taught me how to make one. You basically take a cigar, slice it up in the middle, take out the tobacco and replace it with weed. The shits so good, you’ll never go back. Tupac looked at things like this: money, first; weed, second; pussy, third. That’s saying a lot, because he really loved women.

So Pac wasn’t exactly training for priesthood?

I couldn’t count the number of hoochies Pac slept with while I was working with him. But it would have to be in three digits. Women threw themselves at Pac and he wasn’t dodging – including Madonna; Faith Evans (Biggie Small’s wife); OJ Simpson’s daughter, Arnelle; and Kidada Jones (Quincy Jones’ daughter).

You must have met some cool people.

I met a ton of people – like Samuel L Jackson and Tim Roth. One time, we were invited to Men’s Fashion Week in Italy and Pac and Versace hit it off real well.

Tupac was pretty close to Mike Tyson, wasn’t he?

Mike hung out with us all the time. He and Tupac had a lot in common: the bad boy thing. It goes back to where they came from. I remember one time on tour, Tupac had Mike come up on stage and do a song with him. Pac started rappin’ about Mike and Mike was jumping up and down on the stage, throwing his hands in the air and screaming like a bitch, he was so excited.

Tupac didn’t mind a scrap, did he?

Pac wasn’t a big guy: 5 foot 7 inches and 160 pounds, but he loved to fight. It was my job to neutralise those situations before they got out of hand.

Didn’t he get into a fight on the night he got shot?

That’s right. It was with Orlando Anderson, a Crip from the South Side. Anderson had previously got into a scuffle with one of the Death Row guys. They’d torn up a mall. That was the kick-off for everything that was to eventually happen.

So what happened with Anderson and Tupac?

On the night of the Tyson/Seldon fight, a friend of Suge Knights came up to Tupac and whispered that he had spotted Orlando Anderson in the arena. Tupac ran over and that’s when they got into it. I ran over and saw Tupac throw a couple of blows. Anderson tried to throw one back, but ended up going down, and that’s when a ton of Death Row guys jumped on him.