New York, NY (February 27, 2024)—Two men charged with the 2002 murder of Run-DMC member, DJ and producer Jam Master Jay were found guilty in a Brooklyn courtroom Tuesday afternoon. The jury on the high-profile trial spent three days in deliberations before handing down the verdicts, finding Karl Jordan Jr., 40, and Ronald Washington, 59, guilty on all counts. The decision brought to a close one of the longest-running unsolved murders in modern music history.
Jam Master Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell, was shot multiple times in his Queens recording facility, 24/7 Studio, on October 30, 2002. The prosecution argued Mizell had quietly turned to cocaine trafficking after Run-DMC’s career cooled in the 1990s, and had cut the defendants out of a major deal, leading them to seek revenge. The two men reportedly snuck into the studio with the help of another suspect, Jay Bryant, who will face trial at a later date. Bryant has pleaded not guilty.
While Mizell was best known for his work behind the turntables, he was also a multi-instrumentalist, playing bass, keyboards and drums on various Run-DMC tracks over the years. As a producer, he worked with The Real Roxanne, Serious-Lee-Fine, The Hard Corps, Shinehead, Slick Rick and others, in addition to producing numerous Run-DMC cuts. In the 1990s, Mizell also founded JMJ Records, which quickly hit it big with rap group Onyx, and he also signed and mentored a young 50 Cent, releasing the rapper’s debut single, “The Glow.”
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Mizell first rose to fame in the mid-1980s as a member of the legendary hip-hop group Run-DMC. The Hollis, Queens-based trio were arguably the first rap superstars, crossing over to mainstream music success with a trio of hit albums that featured namesakes Run (Joseph Simmons) and DMC (Darryl McDaniels) rapping over hard-hitting minimalist beats and tracks developed by Mizell. The group found fast success with its gold-selling self-titled debut in 1984, followed by the platinum-certified King of Rock the following year, and the multi-platinum Raising Hell in 1986. That album’s flagship track, a cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” recorded with the original group, hit number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and introduced the classic rock act to a new generation of fans. Run-DMC continued to release albums through 2001, each met with varying levels of success, though never reaching the heights of the group’s initial breakthrough years.
The murder trial defendants were close to the hip-hop star—Mizell and Washington had been friends since childhood, and Mizell was Jordan’s Godfather. Lawyers for Washington and Jordan have said they will appeal the decision; both men face being sentenced for 20 years to life.
