The astonishing revelations come on the 22nd anniversary of the murder of Tupac - infamously left for dead in a drive-by shooting while with rap mogul Suge Knight in Las Vegas in 1996.

Now RJ Bond, a director who's worked on documentaries about Tupac's death, claims Knight may have been target of the attack because gangsters feared his high profile brought "undue attention" to a huge drugs operation secretly being run out of his record label Death Row.

The label's security chief Reggie Wright Jr - a former cop - is among 22 Crips gang associates accused of running a heroin, cocaine and meth pipeline from the Mexican cartels into the US.

It is claimed Wright Jr may have used his job at the label to secretly run a Cartel-linked drug operation without Knight's knowledge.

At the time Wright Jr also worked in the gang unit for the Compton Police Department before retiring from the LA County Sheriff's Department to offer private security to the stars.

Wright Jr worked for Knight as the head of security at Death Row Records and has long been linked to claims he was somehow involved in the shooting of Tupac - allegations he has always laughed off.

Knight has reportedly claimed Wright was involved in killing Tupac while insisting HE was the real target of the infamous shooting in 1996 - but has never explained why he thought that was the case.

Now those close to the case think a massive drugs operation being running out of Death Row may have been the real reason for the shooting.

Knight is currently behind bars awaiting a separate murder trial not connected to the Tupac case. He is charged with murder and attempted murder after running over two men in Compton.

Wright Jr's alleged links to the drugs world come as no surprise to the producers of the viral documentary 'Battle for Compton' which revealed corruption in the Compton Police Department dating back to the early 90s.

RJ Bond - behind the Tupac Assassination documentary series - told the Sun Online: "Battle for Compton pretty much laid out that Death Row was somehow involved in the drug trade.

"The kind of interstate drug connections and interstate trafficking alleged by the Feds in Wright's case take years to develop; you have to have the trust.

"Just because the Feds picked it up in this investigation in 2013 means that whatever they were in the MIDDLE of doing in 2013 had begun long before that. How long remains to be seen."

Last April, the Sun Online exclusively published a startling "confession letter" said to be key in finally solving the Tupac murder mystery.

Bond claims the document names the killers and clears Knight of any involvement in the drive-by shooting - adding weight to the claim he was always the intended victim.

The letter is said to have been written by one of the gunmen who opened fire on Tupac's car in Las Vegas in 1996.

In the unverified letter he tells how he was 'told to take night out' a reference to Death Row Records boss Knight.

The former rap mogul was with Tupac in the Cadillac the night he was shot. The rapper died days later of his injuries aged just 25.

The 'confession letter' then points the finger at Wright Jnr claiming he told the shooters where Tupac would be on night at the attack.

Wright has long denied he had anything to do with the shooting of Tupac.

In 2015, he responded to the claims by pointing out that several people that had linked him to Tupac’s murder had died in the past decade.

They include the late rapper’s ex-bodyguards Michael Moore and Frank Alexander.

"I believe in karma," he said. "All these people are dropping dead. I keep telling people God don't like ugly. I hope people learn a lesson from this."