Hip-hop pioneer Jam Master Jay was executed in an ambush motivated by “greed and revenge” for drugs, federal prosecutors announced Monday as the trial of the Run-DMC DJ’s alleged assassin begins. .
Ronald Washington, 59, and Carl Jordan Jr., 39, are accused of fatally shooting Jay, whose real name is Jason Mizell, at a music studio in Queens in 2002.
“It was a brutal crime,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Miranda Gonzalez said in opening arguments in Brooklyn federal court.
Washington and Jordan were arrested in 2020, with prosecutors claiming the long-unsolved shooting was retaliation for a large-scale cocaine deal gone awry.
“The defendants murdered a world-famous musician in front of his acquaintances,” said Gonzalez, who detailed the events leading up to the cold-blooded incident.
“It was an ambush. It was an execution,” she told the jury. “And you’ll find out it was motivated by greed and revenge.”
Prosecutors alleged that Mizell served as a “middleman” for cocaine shipments after Run-DMC’s funds began to dry up by the mid-1990s.
“Once the spotlight on Run-DMC started to fade, the money stopped coming in to Jason Mizell like it used to, and he turned to drugs to make money,” Gonzalez said.
Prosecutors allege that Mr. Mizell made hundreds of thousands of dollars from illegal transactions. One such transaction, known as the “Baltimore deal,” allegedly involved the transportation of $200,000 in drugs from New York City to Washington, D.C.
But prosecutors said the 10kg coke deal “did not go as planned”.
Mizell was reportedly removed from the contract because the distribution company did not want to work with Washington, Mizell’s childhood friend. It also meant that Jordan, Mizell’s godson, would lose the share of revenue that Washington had expected.
This minor injury led the men to ambush and kill Mizell, prosecutors allege.
On the night of the murder, Mizell was sitting on a couch playing video games at his 24/7 studio on Merrick Boulevard.
Gonzalez said the famous DJ had left a .380 pistol on the arm of the couch because he feared for his safety after visiting from Washington earlier that day.
“Those close to Jason will tell you that he seemed different in the days leading up to his murder,” she told jurors.
Jay Bryant, 49, who is separately charged with involvement in the killing, let Jordan and Washington into the studio through a back door on a fire escape, according to the indictment.
Mizell stood up when he saw Jordan enter the studio, but prosecutors said Jordan was “instantly killed by a .40 caliber bullet in the head.”
Gonzalez said the fatal shot was fired at close range and “burned the hair and skin on his head.”
Prosecutors also noted Jordan’s callous indifference to the killing, noting that Jordan later said, “If Jason Mizell was still alive, [I] Will kill him again. ”
Defense lawyers briefly addressed the court, declaring their client’s innocence and questioning the reliability of eyewitness accounts of the crime from more than 20 years ago.
“Karl Jordan Jr. did not kill Jason Mizell,” Jordan’s attorney John Diaz said.
“This entire case revolves around a moment that happened 10 seconds ago, a generation ago, 21 years ago,” said Washington attorney Ezra Spilke.
Spirke went on to say that Washington and Mizell were like family, acknowledging that his client was an alcoholic at the time and often clashed on the hip-hop DJ’s couch.
“If that’s the case, why should I bite the hand that nourished me? Why should I kill the one person I depended on?”
Also testifying in court today was Detective James Rusk, who now works for the Queens District Attorney’s Office but was with the 103rd Precinct at the time of the murder.
Rusk testified that shortly afterward, Mizell’s business partner, Randy Allen, who was present at the shooting, walked across the large municipal parking lot that separates the studio from the subdivision to report the crime.
Lusk arrived at the studio about a minute later and found Mizell unresponsive and “lying on the ground” in a large pool of blood, and Allen, who identified the gunman to police nine months after the crime. ‘s sister Lydia Hyde found him “hysterically crying”. ”
Jurors were then shown photos of the crime scene, including a man lying on the floor next to a couch wearing white socks and a beige sweater, with a PlayStation 2 video game controller nearby. It also included a photo of Mizell’s bloody body.
During cross-examination, one of Jordan’s attorneys, Michael Houston, asked the detective why he did not film the fire escape where Jordan and Washington entered the studio in 2002.
Lusk said she did not know at the time whether the photo was taken.
Washington’s attorney, Jacqueline Cistaro, questioned why none of the five people who were in the studio at the time of the murder called 911.
The detective said, “I don’t remember anyone calling 911,” but later pointed out that Allen would have been quicker to run to the precinct instead of calling for help.
Hailing from Hollis, Queens, Run DMC is a pioneering rap trio credited with bringing hip-hop to mainstream audiences with hits like “It’s Tricky” and “My Adidas.”
Unlike other artists, Run-DMC eschewed the violence and criminality of street life in both their lyrics and political activism.
The group famously campaigned against drugs in 1987, held voter registration drives at concerts, and was an outspoken opponent of gang violence in Los Angeles.
They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.
