A jury found two men guilty of murder in the killing of hip-hop icon Jam Master Jay in a New York City recording studio in 2002, federal prosecutors said.
Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington were accused of killing Jam Master Jay — born Jason Mizell, who co-founded Run-DMC in the early 1980s — in a drug deal.
Jordan and Washington face at least 20 years behind bars and a maximum of life in prison. Prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty.
Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, thanked witnesses, who he said showed bravery in testifying.
“It’s no mystery why it took years to indict and arrest the defendants,” Peace said. “The witnesses in the recording studio knew the killers. And they were terrified that they would be retaliated against if they cooperated with law enforcement and identified the ruthless executioners of Mr. Mizell.”
Federal prosecutors have said Mizell got involved in cocaine trafficking in the mid-1990s as Run-DMC’s notoriety was fading.
Authorities have said Mizell had acquired 22 pounds of cocaine that Washington, Jordan and others were going to distribute in Maryland.
Prosecutors have alleged that when Mizell informed Washington that he wouldn’t be part of the distribution, Washington hatched a “murder conspiracy” against Mizell.
At 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30, 2002, Washington and Jordan entered a 24-hour recording studio in Queens where Mizell was and ordered him to lie on the floor, prosecutors said.
Jordan fired two shots at close range, with one fatally striking Mizell in the head, prosecutors alleged. Jordan was 36 when the charges were announced in 2020; Washington was 56.
“They murdered him in cold blood,” Seth DuCharme, then the acting U.S. attorney, said when charges were announced.
In 2007, when Washington was on trial in connection with a string of armed robberies, he was first mentioned as a possible suspect in Mizell’s slaying. He has maintained that he had no involvement.
DuCharme in 2020 credited…
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