One of the two suspects accused of murdering Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell had been on the cops’ radar for years as a suspect in the murder according to documents obtained by AllHipHop.
Karl “Little D” Jordan and Ronald “Tinard” Washington were the first set of suspects to be charged with the October 30th, 2002 murder of JMJ, who was a founding member of the legendary group Run-DMC.
Both Jordan and Washington could face the death penalty for the killing, which took place with multiple witnesses present.
“The ATF New York Field Division never believed this case was unsolvable. Working tirelessly alongside the NYPD Cold Case Squad, we were determined to bring justice for the Mizell family and see these killers held accountable. For nearly eighteen years, one of these alleged perpetrators walked freely, thinking he’d gotten away with murder. ” – ATF Acting Special Agent-in-Charge McCormick.
The police didn’t move on Washington right away, but he had been on their radar for years, due to his infamy around Hollis, Queens, where he was born and raised. Washington was associated with the “Hollis Crew,” whom the Feds labeled a group of gangsters who participated in drug trafficking, burglaries, and robberies.
Washington was also linked to the “Hollis Juniors Crew.” The younger offshoot of the crew was involved in a feud with another gang known as the “Young Guns.” Investigators hypothesize Washington’s brother was killed by a person connected to the Young Guns gang.
In the 1990s, Washington bounced between Baltimore and Hollis. In 1992, a source explained how dangerous Washington was. He allegedly shot a relative named “Unique” in the back of the head because Unique supposedly stole 250 grams of heroin that disappeared.
Unique survived the shooting, but Washington’s next alleged victim would not be so lucky.
On November 30th, 1995, Washington and two accomplices allegedly were in a car chase in pursuit of Randy “Stretch” Walker, who was ultimately gunned down in a case of mistaken identity. According to sources, Washington was sitting in the back seat of a vehicle when he fired his gun through the window, striking and killing Walker.
Washington believed that he was firing at Young Guns member Christopher Walker, Randy’s brother.
Washington was never charged, and Stretch’s death is officially unsolved. But a cooperating witness from a previous case maintains he confessed to his participation in a variety of crimes, including the murders of Stretch Walker and Jam Master Jay.
Washington’s crime spree continued uninterrupted, until 1996 when he was busted for distributing narcotics and perpetrating various robberies and burglaries in Maryland.
He robbed a jewelry store at Reistertown Plaza, in Maryland and took jewelry and other valuables from a man named “Yakim,” who was also loosely connected to the Hollis Crew.
In the Spring of 2002, Washington was discharged from prison in Maryland. According to the Feds, he stayed around the DMV to buy multiple kilos of cocaine, but the deal never materialized. That summer, Washington made his way back to Hollis by spending over $1,000 high quality counterfeit $20 bills he gathered in Baltimore.
In the Fall, Washington went on a robbery spree.
On October 22nd, 2002, Washington robbed the Hollis Wine & Liquor, in Queens. On October 30th, 2002, the Feds accuse Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. of being the killers who entered Jay’s studio and took his life.
Prosecutors believe Washington pointed his gun at everyone in the studio while providing cover for Jordan, the teenaged triggerman, who is accused of shooting and killing Jam Master Jay.
From there, Washington went on to commit a string of robberies that culminated in his arrest by Long Island police after he robbed the Floral Park Motel in December 2002.
The Feds say Washington fled Queens with a cooperating witness. They went to Long Island to avoid being questioned by law enforcement officers in connection with a murder.
In 2006, Ronald “Tinard” Washington claimed the police were out to get him. Washington thought he has been targeted for retaliation over a February 1987 incident in New York, when he was arrested for trying to kill a member of the New York Police Department.
Washington was eventually sentenced to a 5 to 10-year prison sentence for that offense, but he claimed cops with 103 Precinct harbored an “extremely hostile attitude” towards him way before Jay’s murder, and unfairly targeted him for abuse.
In one incident in 1993, Washington said detectives threw him in the back of a squad car, drove a few blocks, and then punched and assaulted him with their walkie-talkies while threatening to kill him.
In another incident in that same year, five officers in a police van rolled up on Washington in broad-daylight. They forced him to strip in the middle of the street, took his clothes, and left him in his underwear.
Washington says a cop from the 103rd Precinct ramped up his threats against him in October of 2002, shortly after his name started to surface in the murder of Jam Master Jay.
Washington says a cop told him, his family and friends, if he ever caught him on the street, he would kill him. The cop never received an opportunity. In 2007, Washington was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison over the robbery spree.
He was scheduled to be released in April 2021, but he is being held without bail after a grand jury indicted him and Karl Jordan each with one count of murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking.
Both men face a statutory mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a maximum of life, or the death penalty, although a determination has not been determined if the death penalty will be sought.
Both Karl “Little D” Jordan and Ronald “Tinard” Washington have pleaded not guilty to killing Jam Master Jay are innocent until proven guilty.
Sources with direct knowledge of the investigation told AllHipHop that the Feds are offering certain witnesses immunity in exchange for their testimony, and another claimed more arrests in Jay’s murder were imminent.
