More than two decades after the 2002 murder of Run-DMC DJ Jam Master Jay, a Brooklyn federal jury has convicted two men – Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington – of killing the hip-hop pioneer.
Prosecutors argued Jordan, Jay’s godson, and Washington committed the brazen shooting over a failed drug deal as revenge against the pioneering DJ, who had a side hustle as a cocaine middleman.
The anonymous jury found the men guilty after several key witnesses, including Jay’s former studio aide and business manager, identified them as the shooters who stormed his recording studio that fateful day in October 2002.
“I feel like I was carrying a 2,000-pound weight on my shoulders. And when that verdict came today it lifted it off,” said Carlis Thompson, Mizell’s first cousin, who wiped away tears after the verdict was read. “The wounds can start to heal now.”
For years, Jay’s murder alongside the deaths of Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. remained an elusive hip-hop cold case. Witnesses were initially reluctant to cooperate out of fear of retaliation.
“It’s no mystery why it took years to indict and arrest the defendants,” Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, told reporters after the verdict. He said key witnesses “were terrified that they would be retaliated against if they cooperated with law enforcement.”
Prosecutors said the conviction brings long-awaited closure to one of rap’s most notorious unsolved crimes. The men’s lawyers plan to appeal, questioning the credibility of witnesses whose testimonies evolved over time.
Jordan, 40, and Washington, 59, face potential life sentences for gunning down the legendary Run-DMC turntablist, whose group helped bring hip-hop into the mainstream in the 1980s with hits like “It’s Tricky.”
The guilty verdicts mark a significant victory in finally cracking the two-decade-old slaying that rattled the rap world when the pioneering artist was killed at just 37 years old.
“Y’all just killed two innocent people,” Washington yelled at the jury following the guilty verdict.
This report has information obtained from The Associated Press.
