Jam Master Jay: 2 men charged in 2002 New York murder of rapper-DJ who was shot dead 'over a drug deal'
Almost after two decades, federal prosecutors on August 17, announced charges against two men of allegedly killing Jason Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay — the DJ for the rap group Run-DMC. In 2002, Mizell was shot inside a recording studio in New York City.
According to NPR, Seth DuCharme, the acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, at a press conference announced that Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington had been charged with the alleged murder of Mizell. A CNN report states, DuCharme said law enforcement never gave up on the cold case. He is quoted as saying, “It was important to us then and remains extremely important to us now to bring justice for the victim, his family, friends and the community that cared so much about those events.” The NPR report states that DuCharme didn't divulge many details about what led them to charge the two men.
The NPR report further states, newly filed court documents indicate that the killing was allegedly "over a drug deal". As per the report, prosecutors claimed that Mizell was involved in transporting cocaine across state lines and that he had around 10 kilograms of cocaine that Washington was supposed to sell in Maryland. The report further states that Mizell had informed Washington that he was being excluded from the deal and that resulted in Washington and Jordan allegedly conspiring to his murder, according to a release from the US Attorney's Office. The duo then entered the studio on the night of October 30, 2002, and “ultimately executed Mizell”, according to court documents, as reported by NPR. Apart from Mizell, another man, Urieco Rinco, 25, was also present in the room and shot in the leg and survived. According to a Billboard report in 2002, the two surviving members of the group Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels announced that the group has officially retired. “As a tribute to the positive legacy of Jam Master Jay, we started together and we want the Run-D.M.C. legacy to always reflect the three of us together," Simmons is quoted as saying.
Earlier, according to the New York Times, detectives explored several possible explanations for Mizell’s death. One included that the killer had a grudge against the rapper 50 Cent, a protégé of the DJ. However, that theory was later dismissed. Mizell was an important member of Run-DMC and their third album, ‘Raising Hell’ was the first rap album to go platinum, later reaching triple-platinum status, according to NPR. He also founded his own record label — JMJ Records — which had given a platform to artists such as Onyx and 50 Cent.
According to a 2007 report in Today.com, in court papers, the prosecutors identify Washington as the armed accomplice of a second unidentified gunman who shot the musician. According to the report, Washington was also a suspect in the 1995 fatal shooting of Randy Walker, a close associate of the late rapper Tupac Shakur. However, at that time, he was never convicted, according to Newsone.com.
Mizell’s case was also featured in a 2018 episode of the Netflix documentary series ‘ReMastered’. The episode featured interviews with Mizell's friends, family members, and acquaintances who shared their opinions about suspects in the case.
According to the CNN report, Jordan and Washington are each charged with murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and firearm-related murder. As per the report, Jordan is also facing one count of conspiracy and seven counts of distribution of cocaine for alleged incidents in 2017. The report further states, Washington is in federal custody. The report says according to a detention memo, Washington was convicted in 2007 of Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy related to a string of gunpoint robberies in New York City and Long Island. He was sentenced to 210 months in prison and is scheduled to be released in April 2021, according to the memo. The NPR report states, if charged, both Jordan and Washington, stand to face at least a 20-year prison sentence.