#Two Men Indicted for Murdering Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay in 2002

Nearly two decades after his unsolved murder, the late Jam Master Jay of the legendary hip hop group Run-DMC just might finally have justice served to his killers. In 2002, Jam Master Jay — whose real name was Jason Mizell — was executed in cold blood at his New York studio. In the 18 years ever since, the case has officially remained unsolved, but a new report suggests that the perpetrators just might finally have to answer for the murder in a court of law.

According to The New York Times, federal prosecutors have announced that they are formally indicting two men who’ve long been suspected of the murder. Reportedly, prosecutors now feel they have enough evidence to prove that the men charged were involved. Per the indictment, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan, Jr. have been charged with murder while engaged in drug trafficking with ten counts against them. The indictment also states that the men “together with others, with malice aforethought, did unlawfully kill Jason Mizell, also known as Jam Master Jay.”

“They walked in and murdered him in cold blood,” said Seth D. DuCharme, acting United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, at a press conference on Monday. “This is a case about a murder that for nearly two decades has gone unanswered… Today we begin to answer that question of who killed Jason Mizell and why.”

Straight from new court papers, prosecutors allege that Mr. Washington and Mr. Jordan, both armed, broke into Mizell’s studio in Queens on Oct. 30, 2002. Reportedly, Mizell had recieved about 10 kilos of cocaine “on consignment” from a supplier, and that the hip hop pioneer had threatened to cut them out of the deal after a dispute. Washington is alleged to have forced a person in the studio onto the ground while Jordan allegedly fired the fatal bullet into Mizell’s head. Their motive for the execution is believed to be a response from Mizelle excluding the pair from a “multi-kilogram, multistate narcotics transaction.”

Police had previously reported that Mizell was playing video games in his studio on the night in question when two masked men broke in and shot him to death. Multiple angles were investigated by detectives with no clear motive for the heinous crime An anonymous law enforcement official reportedly claims that two witnesses are now cooperating with the case, which could have led to the additional information needed to charge Washington and Jordan. As of now, Washington had already been serving time for robbery charges, while Jordan was taken into custody on Sunday. Unfortunately, the case quickly went cold, though it was reopned by a cold-case squad in 2016 giving it another crack.

The famous hip hop trio Run-DMC was founded in 1983 by Mizell, Joseph Simmons, and Darryl McDaniels. It wasn’t long before the group found success, establishing themselves as one of the most influential hip hop acts of the 1980s. Along with Simmons and McDaniels, Mizell had often been referred to as a pioneer of hip hop culture as well. He was just 37 at the time of his death. Hopefully, answers will be uncovered with the two suspects in custody, and the legendary rapper known professionally as Jam Master Jay may finally get the justice that he deserves. This news comes to us from The New York Times.