A third suspect admitted to his role in the murd£r plot of Run DMC’s Jam Master Jay at a federal court hearing on Monday, 25-years after the hip-hop legend was gunned down in a Queens recording studio.
Jay Bryant, 52, acknowledged that he helped the gunmen gain access to the locked studio, knowing they intended to k!ll 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 k!ll Jason Mizell. I knew what I was doing was wrong and a crime,” Bryant 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 k!ll Jason Mizell by helping them gain entry into the recording studio,” he said.
He did not identify the k!llers.
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 k!lling 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 k!lling 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 sho0ting 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 murd£r 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.
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