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Karl “Little D” Jordan Jr., 36, executed Jason Mizell with a gunshot to the head “in cold blood” in the band’s studio in Jamaica, Queens, Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme of the Eastern District of New York said Monday.
With Jordan, DuCharme said, was Ronald “Tinard” Washington, a 56-year-old ex-con who’s currently serving a 17-year prison sentence string of armed robberies in New York City and on Long Island.
The pair from Hollis, Queens went there to purposely kill Mizell, 37, in a dispute over drugs, a federal complaint on file in the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn alleges.
“In addition to his music career, in or about and between 1996 and 2002, Mizell was involved in transporting kilogram-quantities of cocaine for retail sale in [New York City] and elsewhere,’’ the complaint says.
“[In] July 2002, Mizell acquired approximately ten kilograms of cocaine on consignment from a supplier in the Midwest,” it says. “The cocaine was intended to be distributed in Maryland by Washington, Jordan and other co-conspirators.
“A dispute between Washington and one of the co-conspirators resulted in Mizell telling Washington that he would be cut out of the Maryland transaction.
“Following Washington’s dispute with Mizell, Washington and Jordan conspired to murder Mizell.”
Washington and Jordan were both armed when they entered the studio on Oct. 30, 2002, federal authorities charged.
“Washington pointed his firearm at one of the individuals located inside the studio and demanded that person lay on the floor,” the complaint says.
“Jordan approached Mizell, pointed his firearm at him, and fired two shots at close range,” it says. “One of those shots struck Mizell in the head, killing him. The second shot struck another individual in the leg.’’
Jordan pleaded not guilty Monday at a teleconferenced arraignment in federal court in Brooklyn. Washington’s first appearance was set for later this week.
The “brazen act,” DuCharme said, “has finally caught up with them thanks to the dedicated detectives, agents and prosecutors who never gave up on this case.
"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," the U.S. attorney said.
The charges also “make clear that the rule of law will be upheld, whether that takes days, months or decades,”DuCharme added.
Disc-spinner Mizell -- a former Atlantic City resident -- united with Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels in the early 1980s to create Run-DMC, one of the greatest hip-hop groups of all time and pioneers of a sound that has not only endured but expanded.
Hip-hop’s first mainstream group, Run-DMC also had a rap-rock rock hit with Aerosmith on a new version of “Walk This Way” in 1986.
The crossover tune’s success got the group inducted in 2009 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which applauded how Run-DMC “broke down barriers for future rap acts, crossed boundaries between rap and rock and dispelled old notions of what rap could be.”
The group had released the album “Crown Royal” in 2001 before Mizell was killed.
The 10-count indictment unsealed today Monday charges Jordan and Washington with murder “while engaged in narcotics trafficking,” as well as firearm-related murder.
Jordan also is charged with several drug dealing counts.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Artie McConnell and Mark E. Misorek are handling the case, assembled in a joint effort of local and federal law enforcement agencies.
DuCharme announced the arrests along with New York City Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea, ATF Acting Special Agent in Charge Daryl McCormick and FBI New York Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr.
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