Eighteen years after Jam Master Jay was murdered in Queens, two men have been charged in the D.J.'s death.
Prosecutors announced on Monday the indictments of Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. on murder charges for the death of the D.J., whose given name is Jason Mizell.
Washington was named as a suspect in 2007 for the killing of Mizell, who was 37 years old when he was slain inside a Queens recording studio in October 2002. A 2018 Netflix documentary revisited the unsolved murder of the hip-hop icon, described as a "larger-than-life figure" whose murder one interviewee feared would be "swept under the rug."
Run RMC—Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, Joseph "Run" Simmons, and Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell
Washington, 56, is already in prison for robbery. 36-year-old Jordan was arrested on Sunday, the NY Times reported.
"This is a case about a murder that for nearly two decades had gone unanswered, and so today we begin to answer that question of who killed Jason Mizell and why, and we are confident that we can prove those charges beyond a reasonable doubt," Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Seth DuCharme said during a press briefing Monday afternoon in Brooklyn.
Jordan, also known as Little D or Noid, was identified by prosecutors as the shooter. He is accused of walking into Mizell's Queens recording studio and firing two shots at close range on October 30th, 2002, according to a detention memo prosecutors sent to federal Judge Lois Bloom.
One bullet struck Mizell in the head, killing him, while a second struck another person in the leg.
The murder was planned after a drug transaction of cocaine from the Midwest to be sold in Maryland went sour, prosecutors allege. Mizell, who had allegedly been involved in transporting cocaine to sell between 1996 and 2002, had excluded Washington, also known as Tinard, from the Maryland deal that summer. In retaliation, Washington and Jordan allegedly plotted Mizell's murder.
After entering the studio, Washington pointed a gun at someone demanding they lay on the ground, while Jordan shot Mizell, according to prosecutors.
"They walked in and they murdered him in cold blood," DuCharme said.
In addition to two counts of murder, Jordan was also charged with possession with the intent to deal cocaine, including seven occasions of distributing cocaine to an undercover federal agent, prosecutors say.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Misorek said that Jordan had previously attempted to silence witnesses from coming forward to police.
Washington and Jordan face up to life in prison, if convicted.
During a virtual arraignment for Jordan on Monday afternoon, he pleaded not guilty on all 10 counts in the indictment. His next court date is September 17th.
Jordan's lawyer, Michael Hueston, did not have comment Monday afternoon.
Washington is expected to be arraigned later this week.
The NYPD's Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said during the press briefing, "Me, being a native of Queens and being a big fan of Run-DMC and Jam Master Jay, making this arrest was very important to me."
