More than 20 years after hip-hop DJ Jam Master Jay was shot to death in his Queens recording studio, two men charged with his murder faced a federal jury in Brooklyn on Monday.
Jam Master Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell of the pioneering group Run-DMC, was 37 when he died in a crime that went unsolved for nearly two decades.
The two defendants, Karl Jordan Jr., 40, and Ronald Washington, 59, were indicted in 2020 when federal prosecutors accused them of plotting to kill Mr. Mizell after he kept Mr. Washington out of a drug deal. A third man, Jay Bryant, who was also charged in connection with last year's murder, will be tried separately.
“It was an ambush – an execution – and you will learn that it was motivated by greed and revenge,” Miranda Gonzalez, a prosecutor, told jurors in her opening statements.
Prosecutors said the defendants stormed into the studio with guns on the evening of Oct. 30, 2002. Mr. Jordan then approached Mr. Mizell and fired two shots at him at close range. One of the bullets hit Mr. Mizell in the head; another man was injured in the leg. There were several other people in the studio at the time, but none identified the killers immediately after the shooting.
“It was a brazen crime,” Ms. Gonzalez said. “They had killed a world-famous musician in front of people they knew.”
The jurors in the trial of Mr. Washington and Mr. Jordan are anonymous, their names not known to the defendants or their lawyers. In court papers filed this month, prosecutors said the defendants and “those acting on their behalf” have already attempted to intimidate witnesses.
Mr. Washington, also known as Tinard, has already served prison time for crimes including heroin distribution and armed robbery. Mr. Jordan, known as Little D, who was 18 when Mr. Mizell was killed, had no adult criminal record when he was arrested in 2020, although prosecutors said in a filing that he had been involved in the drug trade for years. The 2020 indictment included several additional narcotics distribution charges against Mr. Jordan.
The defendants and Mr. Mizell were from Hollis, Queens — a neighborhood that produced some of the biggest names in early hip-hop. Ms. Gonzalez said that Mr. Jordan was Mr. Mizell's godson and that Mr. Washington was a childhood friend of the famous DJ
She noted that Mr. Mizell was a popular figure who was generous to neighborhood friends when he rose to fame with Run-DMC in the '80s. That generosity continued even as the group's time in the spotlight came to an end in the following decade and the flow of money stopped coming in as it once did, she said.
Ms. Gonzalez said that Mr. Mizell then turned to the drug trade for cash and made a deal to sell cocaine with a childhood friend, an established drug dealer in Baltimore. Mr. Washington worked with Mr. Mizell to sell the drugs, and Mr. Jordan wanted in on the deal, she said. But the Baltimore connection refused to work with Mr. Washington, and so Mr. Mizell denied him a deal worth nearly $200,000, she said.
The defendants, represented by separate legal teams, immediately sought to question the credibility of the federal witnesses. They said the government had no forensic evidence linking the men to the murder and would rely solely on witness statements about events that occurred 21 years ago.
Ezra Spilke, a lawyer for Mr. Washington, said memory can become clouded under stress and over time, making witness testimony unreliable. He added that his client was an alcoholic at the time of the murder and was dependent on Mr. Mizell's financial support, arguing that he had no motive to kill him.
“Convicting the wrong person for Mr. Mizell’s death does not resolve the tragedy,” he said.
John Diaz, a lawyer for Mr. Jordan, said flatly that his client did not kill Mr. Mizell.
The charge carries a minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland directed prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York, where the trial is taking place, not to seek the death penalty.
The sudden death of a figure known for upbeat hip-hop music – a far cry from the gangster rap that dominated the genre in later years – sent shockwaves through the rap world that continue to this day. The case has been documented in documentaries, articles and books.
Run-DMC, whose members included Mr. Mizell as well as Joseph Simmons, known as Run, and Darryl McDaniels, known as DMC, brought hip-hop into the mainstream in the mid-1980s. They were among the first rappers to be featured prominently on MTV, selling millions of records and signing an early deal with Adidas, whose Mr. Mizell sneakers were part of the group's look.
“You could say he was like the Ringo Starr of hip-hop DJs, because Run-DMC were like the Beatles of hip-hop,” said Bill Adler, former public relations director for Def Jam, the record company founded by became Mr. Simmons' brother Russell.
Mr. Adler added that Mr. Mizell was a strong influence on the group's signature street style, which included brimmed Stetson hats, laceless Adidas shoes and leather jackets.
Dan Charnas, a hip-hop journalist and professor at New York University, said hip-hop had its heart cut out when Mr. Mizell died.
“This is the guy who enabled this new musical archetype to emerge,” he said. “A guy who was basically kind to everyone and represented a more innocent time where there weren't guys who got violent like Tupac and Big.”
A mural of Mr. Mizell is painted on a wall near the corner of 205th Street and Hollis Avenue in Queens, where many residents said they still felt the impact of his music and legacy. Musician Akil Wright, who performs under the name Get Wright DOLO, walked by on Wednesday wearing Adidas sneakers that Run-DMC inspired him to wear.
“Artists like him created artists like me,” said Mr. Wright, 31, a lifelong Hollis resident.
Debra McKnight, 64, remembered all three members of Run-DMC hanging out in her kitchen in the 1970s; They were friends with their son. She said she appreciated Mr. Mizell staying in Hollis.
“He didn’t forget where he came from,” she said.
Jam Master Jay and his Run DMC colleagues were the first celebrities Jubar Jones, 50, ever met, he said. It was the early '80s, and Mr. Jones accompanied his older brother to a basement party near the Baisley Park Houses in Queens, where he was introduced to the group. Mr. Jones, who works in a UPS warehouse, said the connection between Run-DMC and Hollis made him and his colleagues feel special.
“It feels like a part of history,” he said.
Mr. Jones cataloged the ways Run-DMC changed music, fashion and culture. Jam Master Jay called Mr. Jones a “trendsetter,” a “forefather of hip-hop,” and a “pioneer of beats.”
“He’s a legend here,” Mr. Jones said. “He’s like a father figure, a guardian.”