A trial in Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay’s 2002 killing is starting, and testing his anti-drug image
NEW YORK — For nearly two decades, the 2002 murder of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay was one of the hip-hop world’s most infamous and elusive crimes, one of three long-unsolved murders of major rap stars.
Now Jay’s case is the first of those murders to go to trial. Opening statements are scheduled for Monday in the federal murder trial of Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington, who were arrested in 2020.
“A brutal act,” then-Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said at the time, “has finally caught up with them.”
Washington and Jordan are accused of shooting Jay in his recording studio over a drug dispute, a prosecution story that calls into question public understanding of a DJ known for his anti-drug advocacy. They have pleaded not guilty, as has a third defendant who was charged last May and will be tried separately.
Jay, born Jason Mizell, founded Run-DMC in the early 1980s with Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Joseph Simmons, known as DJ Run and Rev. Run. Together, the hat-wearing, Adidas-loving friends from the Hollis section of Queens built a rap giant that helped the fledgling genre go mainstream.
They were the first rappers with gold and platinum albums and a Rolling Stone cover. They were the first hip-hop group to have a video on MTV, where their subsequent 1986 collaboration with Aerosmith on the classic rockers’ “Walk This Way” would break through the wall between rap and rock, which literally happened in the accompanying music video. The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.
“We always knew rap was for everyone,” Jay said in a 2001 MTV interview. “Anyone can rap over all kinds of music.”
Embracing rock sounds, rap puns and a New York attitude, Run-DMC scored hits about issues ranging from their fame to people’s foibles, including perhaps the only Top 100 reference to someone accidentally eating dog food.
The group also made it clear where they stand on drugs and crime.
“We’re not criminals, we don’t do drugs,” they declared on the platinum-selling 1987 single “It’s Tricky.” The group made a public announcement and shows against drugs, calling for a day of peace between warring gangs from Los Angeles, established scholarships and conducted voter registration drives at concerts.
Along the way, Jay opened a 24/7 studio in Hollis and a label, where he mentored newcomers including 50 Cent.
Jay was murdered in that studio on October 30, 2002. His death followed the drive-by shootings of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and The Notorious BIG in 1997, a trio of hip-hop tragedies that frustrated investigators for decades. A man was charged in September with Shakur’s murder in Las Vegas and has pleaded not guilty; No one has been arrested in the murder of The Notorious BIG in Los Angeles.
More than $60,000 in rewards were offered for information about Jay’s death. Theories abounded. According to a court filing, police received enough tips to fill 34 pages. But the investigation languished when investigators say they encountered reluctant witnesses.
Prosecutors have said in court filings that the case has made crucial progress in the past five years, including interviewing new people, conducting more ballistics tests and getting key witnesses to cooperate.
But defense lawyers argue the government waited too long to charge Washington and Jordan, making it harder for them to defend themselves.
Authorities say the two men confronted Jay at his studio after being buzzed in. Prosecutors allege Washington brandished a gun and ordered a witness to lie on the ground, and Jordan shot 37-year-old DJ in the head and another witness in the leg. .
The motive, according to prosecutors: anger that Jay Washington would be left out of a scheme to distribute 10 kilos of cocaine in Maryland. Prosecutors allege the DJ has been involved in kilo-coke deals since 1996. His family has insisted he was not involved in drugs.
Investigators quickly zeroed in on Washington, who had reportedly been living on Jay’s couch. Washington already had a criminal record that included gun, assault, drug and other convictions, and authorities said he committed a robbery after Jay’s death, hopping between motels until he was arrested during the robberies three months later. authorities said.
He had told authorities and Playboy magazine in 2003 that he was present during Jay’s murder, but the gunmen were Jordan and another man. Prosecutors publicly identified him as a suspect in 2007.
After he was arrested during the shooting — while still in jail for the robberies — he told officers he “never wanted anyone else to get in trouble for something he (Washington) put them up to do.” prosecutors said in court filings.
Lawyers for Washington, 59, have said in court filings that he had no match to DNA from a wool hat found at the crime scene and have raised questions about a witness’ identification of him. A message sent Friday seeking comment on the upcoming trial was not immediately returned by his lead attorney, Susan Kellman.
Prosecutors have portrayed Jordan in court filings as a veteran drug dealer who bragged about his activities in his own raps, including a video called “Silver Spoon” — filmed in front of a Jay mural — and a gun-filled clip titled “Aim for the Head .” Authorities say they also have their own videos: recordings of him repeatedly selling cocaine to an undercover police officer in 2017.
Jordan, 40, has pleaded not guilty to the weapons and cocaine charges that will be decided at the murder trial. Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall said in 2020 that she “will not hold any individual responsible for the lyrics of a rap song consumed by our community — and in fact, it is consumed by me,” according to the New York Daily News.
Jordan’s lead attorney, Mark DeMarco, declined to comment ahead of the trial. In court papers, he has said Jordan “adamantly denied his involvement in the murder” and was at his then-girlfriend’s house when the killing happened.
He considered Jay family, as the DJ grew up across the street from Jordan’s father, his defense wrote.
If convicted, Washington and Jordan face at least 20 years in prison. The government has said it will not seek the death penalty.