Suspect pleads guilty over murder of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay - 25 years after killing

A man has pleaded guilty to playing a part in the murder of hip-hop star Jam Master Jay nearly a quarter of a century after the star's death.

Jam Master Jay, who was part of the group Run-DMC and whose real name was Jason Mizell, was fatally shot in the head in his New York recording studio in 2002.

It was one of hip hop's most infamous killings, along with those of rap icons Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.

On Monday, Jay Bryant, 52, pleaded guilty to a federal murder charge, telling a judge that he helped other people get into a recording studio to ambush the DJ.

"I knew a gun was going to be used to shoot Jason Mizell," Bryant told a federal magistrate. "I knew that what I was doing was wrong and a crime."

His murder was motivated by a dispute over a drug deal, according to federal prosecutors.

Bryant, who is being tried in Brooklyn, could face up to 20 years in prison.

In 2024, two men - Mizell's godson Karl Jordan and his childhood friend Ronald Washington - were convicted of killing the DJ, with Jordan said to have fired the fatal shot, according to the prosecution.

During the earlier trial, prosecutors claimed Jordan and Washington carried out an "execution" that was "motivated by greed and by revenge".

But last year, a US federal judge overturned Jordan's conviction, ruling that prosecutors had ‌failed to satisfactorily prove their case.

Washington has also challenged his conviction.

Run-DMC - made up of Mizell, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels and Joseph Simmons, known as DJ Run and Rev Run - helped take hip-hop into the pop mainstream in the 1980s with hits including It's Tricky, My Adidas and a cover of Aerosmith's Walk This Way.

They were the first rap group with gold and platinum-selling albums, a Rolling Stone cover, and a video on MTV. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.

Despite the band's anti-drug message, Mizell turned to dealing cocaine to help fund his music career as his showbiz success waned in the 1990s, the court heard.

Prosecutors say it was a 2002 cocaine deal worth $200,000 that caused the disagreement, which led to Mizell's death.

Bryant is accused of opening a locked fire-escape door, allowing Jordan and Washington to enter Mizell's New York ⁠City recording studio.

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Evidence against Bryant includes his DNA on a hat at the crime scene and witness testimony that Bryant once claimed he fired the gun himself, the court heard.

Bryant, who had little, if any, connection to Mizell, was added to the murder indictment nearly three years after the arrests of Jordan and Washington and was already jailed on a separate drug and gun case.

A sentencing date has yet to be set.

(c) Sky News 2026: Suspect pleads guilty over murder of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay - 25 years after killing