after the April 29, 2002 hearing in which he was denied a second five year term as LAPD Chief ]] The Rampart Scandal refers to widespread corruption in the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (C.R.A.S.H.) anti-gang unit of the LAPD Rampart Division in the late 1990s. More than 70 police officers in the CRASH unit were implicated in misconduct, making it one of the most widespread cases of documented police misconduct in United States history. The convicted offenses include unprovoked shootings, unprovoked beatings, planting of evidence, framing of suspects, stealing and dealing narcotics, bank robbery, perjury, and covering up evidence of these activities.

The Rampart Scandal is notable in popular culture because at least three Rampart police were found to be on the payroll of hip-hop mogul Marion "Suge" Knight of Death Row Records, a convicted felon with known ties to the Bloods gang. Moreover, detective testimony and a wrongful death lawsuit filed on April 16, 2007, holds Rampart CRASH officers Nino Durden, Rafael Pérez, and David Mack responsible for the 1997 drive-by murder of platinum-selling hip hop recording artist Notorious B.I.G.. blank">Wrongful death lawsuit

As of May 2001, the Rampart investigation, based mainly on statements of admitted corrupt cop (Perez), implicated over 70 officers of wrongdoing. Of those officers, only enough evidence was found to bring 58 of those officers before an internal administrative board. Of those, 12 were given suspensions of various lengths, 7 resigned, and 5 were terminated. Bringing into question whether many of Perez' statements were factual, or an attempt to shift attention from himself and transfer blame. As a result of the probe into falsified evidence and police perjury, 106 prior criminal convictions were overturned. PBS audio transcripts of Perez The Rampart Scandal resulted in more than 140 civil lawsuits against the city of _Los Angeles, costing the city an estimated $125 million in settlements. blank">PBS Timeline

Reportedly, as a result of the scandal, Police Chief _Bernard Parks was not rehired by Mayor James K. Hahn in 2001, which is believed to have precipitated Mayor Hahn's defeat by Antonio Villaraigosa in the 2005 election. Racial Politics

The full extent of Rampart corruption is still not fully known, with several murder and robbery investigations involving Rampart police that remain unsolved to this day. Edward Lawson.com Poole Interview