Third man is charged with the murder of Jam Master Jay

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn on Tuesday charged a Queens man with murder in the 2002 murder of pioneering hip-hop DJ Jam Master Jay, bringing the number of people charged with participating in the murder to three.

The man charged Tuesday, Jay Bryant, 49, was already in custody awaiting trial on a separate drug-use charge, prosecutors said in a lawsuit. The charges against him for the murder of Jam Master Jay, whose first name was Jason Mizell, include murder while involved in narcotics trafficking and other counts of drug trafficking.

César de Castro, a lawyer for Mr Bryant, said his client, whose arraignment was not scheduled, would plead not guilty.

“Securing an indictment in a secret grand jury, with an extremely low burden of proof, is one thing,” said Mr. De Castro. “Evidence at trial is another matter. ”

Mr. Mizell gained worldwide fame and respect as Run-DMC’s DJ, laying the musical foundation for rappers whose lyrics focused on girls, sneakers and basketball. His murder baffled hip-hop fans, who struggled to fathom how someone whose music rarely touched on violent subjects could die so violently.

In announcing murder charges against two other men in the murder, Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington, in August 2020, blamed New York City and federal authorities on a botched cocaine deal for the fatal shooting.

Mr Jordan and Mr Washington, prosecutors said in court documents, had “executed” Mr Mizell, 37, after trying to exclude them from “a multi-pound multi-state drug transaction”. In July 2002, just months before he was killed, according to court documents, Mr. Mizell received about 10 kilograms of cocaine “on consignment” from a supplier in Maryland.

Mr Washington and Mr Jordan would have been his partners in the deal, the papers said, but after a dispute, which was not described, Mr Mizell threatened to pull them out.

Mr. Jordan, 39, and Mr. Washington, 59, have pleaded not guilty. They are scheduled for trial in January 2024.

As for Mr. Bryant, who has lived in Jamaica and Far Rockaway, prosecutors say in a lawsuit that on October 20, 2002, he entered Mr. Mizell’s recording studio on Merrick Boulevard in Queens with Mr. Washington and Mr. Jordan.

Mr. Washington pointed a gun at another person in the studio and ordered the person to lie on the floor, the filing says. Mr Jordan approached Mr Mizell and fired two shots at him at close range, including one to the head which killed him, the filing says.

“They walked in and killed him in cold blood,” said Seth D. DuCharme, the acting U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, when Mr. Washington and Mr. Jordan were charged in 2020.

Mr. Bryant was seen entering the building just before the shooting, and clothing containing his DNA was found at the scene, the indictment says. He later admitted to taking part in the murder and even told one person he was the shooter, the indictment said. However, prosecutors do not believe that and say that Mr. Jordan fired the fatal shot.