RUN-DMC star Jam Master Jay was killed more than 20 years ago over a drug deal, jurors heard this week.

On a Wednesday, on October 30, 2002, at 7:30 pm, The 37-year-old, was fatally shot in New York City in his recording studio on Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens. Another person in the room, 25-year-old Urieco Rincon, was shot in the ankle and survived.

Both Washington and his alleged accomplice Karl Jordan Jr. are believed to have entered the recording studio while armed. Karl Jordan Jr. who was 18 years old by that time is believed to have been the one who fired the fatal shot into Jam ­Master Jay’s head that killed him.

Federal prosecutors representing the Eastern District of New York charged a third suspect, Jay Bryant, for Mizell’s murder on May 30, 2023.

Bryant was already in custody for drug-related charges. It was ruled that Bryant would get a separate trial from Mizell’s other two accused murderers Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr In October 2023.

Jay Bryant, who is accused of letting the pair through a locked backfire exit to commit the murder, faces a separate trial in 2026.

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His godson Karl Jordan Jr, 40, is on trial in New York accused of killing Mizell with pal Ronald Washington, 59.

Prosecutors said on Monday the pair, who deny murder, carried out the “execution” as revenge after they were cut out of a drug deal worth nearly $200,000.

Jordan, who was 18 at the time, is said to have shot Jay in the head with a handgun.

John Diaz, defending Jordan, said “The narrative has changed over time” and some prosecution witnesses cooperated with federal investigators in exchange for leniency in their criminal cases.

Ezra Spilke, defending Washington, said there is no forensic evidence linking him to the murder.

Mr Spilke told the jury: “Mizell was a beloved artist, but convicting the wrong person… does not solve the tragedy. It just adds another one to it.”

The trial will last four weeks.