Two men have been indicted by a federal grand jury in the long-unsolved murder of Run DMC DJ Jam Master Jay, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, was fatally shot at a Queens recording studio in 2002 at 37-years-old.
After almost two decades, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York unsealed a criminal indictment alleging that Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington conspired to kill the musician in retaliation for a drug dispute.
“It was important to us then and remains extremely important to us now to bring justice for the victim, his family, friends and the community that cared so much about those events,” Seth D. DuCharme, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement.
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According to the documents, Jay was targeted for cutting his killers out of a drug deal.
Federal prosecutors allege the two men went to the studio in search of 10 kilograms of cocaine they intended to distribute. Jay, who was allegedly in possession of the drugs at the time, informed Washington that he “would not be involved in distributing the narcotics,” which led to the shooting.
Jordan and Washington are each being charged with murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and firearm-related murder.
Jordan was arrested Sunday and pleaded not guilty on Monday afternoon in a court appearance held via teleconference.
As for Washington, he will be arraigned at a later date and is currently finishing a 210 month prison sentence stemming from a string of armed robberies in New York City and Long Island.
