A third suspect admitted to his role in the murder plot of Run DMC’s Jam Master Jay at a federal court hearing Monday — almost a quarter century after the hip-hop legend was gunned down in a Queens recording studio.
Wearing green prison scrubs, Jay Bryant, 52, acknowledged that he helped the gunmen gain access to the locked studio, knowing they intended to kill 37-year-old Jason Mizell, the DJ for the New York rap icons, on Oct. 30, 2002.
“I knew there was going to be a gun used to kill Jason Mizell. I knew what I was doing was wrong and a crime,” Bryant — tall, heavy-set and with a graying beard — said in Brooklyn federal court.
“In 2002, in Queens, New York, I agreed with others who were known drug dealers and involved in a drug deal with Jason Mizell, to possess and distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine,” Bryant said, reading from a prepared statement.
“On October 30th, 2002, in Queens, New York, I helped them kill Jason Mizell by helping them gain entry into the recording studio,” he said.
He did not identify the killers.
Magistrate Judge Peggy Cross-Goldenberg, who presided over the guilty plea hearing, said she would recommend Bryant serve the agreed-upon 15-20-year prison sentence, with three-year credit for time served.
“I find that Mr Bryant acted knowingly and fully understands the charges against him,” Cross-Goldenberg said in court. “I find that there is a factual basis for guilty.”
Bryant’s admission marked the first time anyone has publicly acknowledged responsibility for organizing the killing of Mizell, who pioneered Run-DMC’s sounds of the late 1980s and early 90s.
In 2020, Mizell’s godson, Karl Jordan Jr., and childhood friend, Ronald Washington, were charged with killing him in a drug deal gone wrong.
They allegedly broke into Mizell’s recording studio on Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, at around 7:30 p.m. on the night of the murder, according to prosecutors.
Jordan was accused of shooting Mizell while Washington blocked the door, according to prosecutors.
Bryant’s DNA was found on a hat left behind at the crime scene, and was subsequently added to the murder indictment in 2023.
He was already in jail at the time on federal drug and gun charges, to which he has since pleaded guilty.
He’ll be sentenced at a later date by US District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall, who has been overseeing the case.
Bryant’s statement did not name his co-conspirators, who were both convicted by a jury in February 2024.
Jordan was subsequently cleared of involvement in the murder in December, while Washington is also challenging his conviction.
Jordan, now 42, was ordered to be released earlier in April, months after he was reportedly wounded in a jail assault at Brooklyn’s infamous Metropolitan Detention Center.
Despite being famous for their positive, anti-drug message in contrast to gangster rap’s image at the time, Mizell was apparently moonlighting in the cocaine trade in his later years after Run-DMC’s fortunes faded in the late 90s, according to prosecutors.
Mizell’s killing, coming just a few years after the murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious BIG, was one of the three biggest unsolved murders in the hip-hop community.
Best known for their 80s hits including “It’s Tricky,” “My Adidas,” and their version of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” Run-DMC was the first rap group to have gold- and platinum-selling albums, a Rolling Stone cover, and a video on MTV.
The trio was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, seven years after Mizell’s murder.
Before his death, Mizell helped mentor several rising stars in rap, including 50 Cent, whose first record deal he had been celebrating one day before his murder.
With Post wires.
