2 Arrested in 2002 Cold-Case Killing of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay
After nearly 20 years of disappointment and dead ends, authorities charged two men with murder in the cold-case killing of hip-hop pioneer Jam Master Jay, who was gunned down in his Queens music studio in 2002 during what prosecutors described as a drug-related homicide.
Ronald “Tinard” Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. were slapped with murder charges for storming into Jay’s studio on Oct. 30, 2002, in Jamaica, Queens, and ordering the other people to the ground at gunpoint and fatally shooting the 37-year-old Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell, officials said.
Prosecutors said Mizell was targeted for cutting his killers out of a drug deal.
The high-profile murder of the Run-DMC DJ has gone unsolved for years — despite his family’s calls for justice. The feds did name Washington as an accomplice to the murder in 2007, during his trial on other New York robbery charges.
The accused killer was sleeping on a sofa at Jay’s home in the days before the death and had long denied any wrongdoing.
But the feds never charged him in the murder until Monday.
“There are certain crimes for which the passage of time affords no safe harbor,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme. “And murder is one of them.”
According to an indictment issued Monday, Mizell was killed during a drug deal at the studio that ended with the turntable wizard being shot at point-blank range. Court papers said Washington and Jordan, known as both “Little D” and “Noid,” were involved in “a conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing cocaine,” and “did knowingly and intentionally kill” Mizell.
According to DuCharme, Mizell was in his Merrick Boulevard studio at approximately 7:30 p.m. when Washington and Jordan, armed with firearms, entered. Court papers said Washington pointed his gun at an individual inside and ordered that person to lie on the floor.
Jordan, the court papers said, approached Mizell, pointed his gun at him, and fired two shots at close range, striking the victim once in the head, killing him. The second shot struck Uriel Rincon, who was also in the studio, in the leg.
DuCharme said Mizell was killed over drugs. He said Mizell had acquired nearly 10 kilograms of cocaine from a narcotics supplier in the Midwest.
The cocaine was allegedly intended to be distributed in Maryland by Jordan, Washington and other co-conspirators. But Mizell had recently informed Washington that he would not be in on the deal, DuCharme said.
“They shot him in cold blood,” DuCharme said.
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©2020 New York Daily News
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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