Two men convicted of 2002 murder of Jam Master Jay, founder of rap group Run-DMC

The suspects, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr., were indicted in 2020, nearly twenty years after Jam Master Jay’s death. Their sentence has not yet been pronounced.

Two men were found guilty on Tuesday February 27 by a jury in Brooklyn federal court of the 2002 murder of DJ and founder of the trio Run-DMC, Jam Master Jay, a hip-hop figure whose sudden death shocked the world rap.

Jam Master Jay, a father of three, was shot and killed at age 37 on October 30, 2002, at his recording studio in Queens, New York, a crime that remained unsolved for nearly two decades before the indictment. in 2020 of the two suspects, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. “You just killed two innocent people.”, said Ronald Washington as he was led out of the courtroom, while relatives and friends of the accused, present at the trial which lasted almost a month, burst into tears. The sentence will be pronounced at a later date.

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“No matter how much time passes… justice will be done and the harm caused by those who intentionally and wantonly end life will be repaired,” declared, shortly after the verdict was read, the federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace. According to the prosecution, the two men had acted out of revenge, after being excluded from a cocaine sale. According to this thesis, Karl Jordan Jr, 18 years old at the time and godson of the victim, had shot a 40 caliber bullet in the head of the DJ, while Ronald Washington held the other people present in the studio at gunpoint.

Prosecutors relied on two witnesses to the crime who had long remained silent. “Witnesses in the recording studio knew the killers, and they were terrified that they would face retaliation if they cooperated with law enforcement.”added Breon Peace.

But defense attorneys pointed to a third suspect, Jay Bryant, who was charged in May 2023 and is scheduled to be tried separately and at a later date. According to the prosecution, Jay Bryant is involved because he allowed the two accused to enter the studio. For the defense, it is on him that the heaviest suspicions of having been the murderer weigh.

Drug trafficking, a new source of income

The death of Jam Master Jay in Queens, the popular New York borough where Run-DMC was formed in the early 1980s, was a huge shock for the rap world, recalling the violent deaths of two others giants, Tupac Shakur, murdered in Las Vegas in 1996, and The Notorious BIG, killed in Los Angeles in 1997.

The DJ’s funeral, in the Allen Cathedral, was grandiose, bringing together the elite of American rap of the time, from LL Cool J to Queen Latifah, including Chuck D (Public Enemy) and his friends from Run-DMC, Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, among several thousand people. The trio is often considered the first great rap group, with their hits It’s Like That, It’s Trickyand the famous cover of the Aerosmith title, Walk This Wayin duet with the rock group.

The trial revealed a darker side of the DJ, whose real name is Jason Mizell, who got involved in drug trafficking to support his lifestyle and that of his loved ones, while Run-DMC was losing its notoriety, according to prosecutors.