Two Men Arrested in the Murder of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay
UPDATE (Aug. 17):
A 10-count indictment was unsealed today charging two men with Jam Master Jay's murder. According to The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan, Jr. have been charged with one count of murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and one count of firearm-related murder. Jordan is also being charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and seven counts of cocaine distribution.
Jordan and Washington face a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison to the death penalty.
The U.S. Attorney's Office also said that the investigation into Jam Master Jay's murder has unveiled details about the motive behind his death. Jay's killing was allegedly a result of his "previous acquisition of approximately 10 kilograms of cocaine from a narcotics supplier in the Midwest. The cocaine was allegedly intended to be distributed in Maryland by Washington, Jordan and other co-conspirators. Mizell had recently informed Washington that the defendant would not be involved in distributing the narcotics in Maryland, which precipitated the murder conspiracy."
The charges were announced during a press conference held by Seth D. DuCharme, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Dermot F. Shea, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), Daryl McCormick, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI) this afternoon.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A new development has been made in the 2002 murder of Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay.
According to a report from The New York Times on Monday (Aug. 17), the murder charges against two men, who have been suspects in the legendary DJ's killing, will be announced today. Law enforcement officials told the publication anonymously that Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan, Jr. were indicted on charges of murder while trafficking drugs. The murder of Jam Master Jay has long been an unsolved case until now.
Washington, 56, is already in prison for robbery and Jordan, 36, was arrested by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the NYPD on Sunday (Aug. 16), according to a report from NBC 4.
Karl Jordan, Jr. was arrested back in 2003, in connection to the shooting of Jam Master Jay's nephew, Rodney Jones. According to Billboard, Jones was hit in the leg by gunfire on May 14, 2003.
A press conference has been scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET this afternoon with Chief Rodney Harrison and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, was shot and killed inside a music studio in Queens, N.Y. on Oct. 30, 2002. He was 37 years old. On the day of the murder, two men reportedly entered the studio where Jay was playing video games in the lounge located on the second floor. Jam Master Jay was shot once in the head by a masked gunman and another man in the studio at the time was shot in the arm. The two men fled the scene. JMJ died at the scene. Four men were in the studio at the time, but none came forward with information regarding the incident. One man was later considered a suspect, but charges were never filed. Back in 2017, Jam Master Jay's murder was ruled a cold case.
Run-DMC, comprised of Run (Joseph Simmons, brother to Russell Simmons), DMC (Darryl McDaniels) and the late Jay, who completed the trio as the DJ, became the first hip-hop group to achieve mainstream success in the 1980s with their crossover hit record "Walk This Way" with rock band Aerosmith in 1986.
In 2009, Run-DMC was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making them the second rap act to do so at that time. Before them, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were inducted in 2007. Run-DMC was also the first rap group to cover Rolling Stone magazine on the Dec. 4, 1986 issue and earn the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
XXL has reached out to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the NYPD for a comment.
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