Published: Tuesday - April 17, 2007
Words by Allen Starbury
Run DMC (Photo: Def Jam)
A career criminal that is currently behind bars in Brooklyn was accused of being connected to the shooting death of Run DMC's Jam Master Jay on Monday (April 16).
An unnamed witness has told police that 43-year-old Ronald (Tenad) Washington was accessory in the slaying of Jam Master Jay (real name: Jason Mizell), according to the Boston Herald, as well as the murder of Randy "Stretch" Walker, and associate of the late Tupac Shakur.
Washington told the paper he expects to be charged with both murders. "They want to blame me for all the blood in rap," Washington told the Herald. "They are trying to pen me up for these murders."
The new witness information came out during Washington's federal robbery trial, where he was convicted on April 5 of six armed robberies for holdups he committed in November 2002, six weeks before Jay's murder.
Washington adamantly denies involvement in both unsolved slayings. "It's all lies," he said. "She's [the unnamed witness] telling them that I was mad at Jay because he [was] doing better than I am, that I killed Stretch because he owed me something and I wanted it. She is making up lies because they threatened to deport her."
Anonymous law-enforcement sources told the Herald that the suspect is expected to be named in the Walker and Jay cases when the federal government unveils a massive indictment soon, charging several rap artists in a number of violent acts as part of an ongoing federal investigation in New York into the link between hip-hop and violent crime.
The unsolved 1997 drive-by murder of the Notorious B.I.G. in Los Angeles is also being investigated as part of that probe, says the paper, with Washington as "a key player in this rap industry case."
MTV News says that Notorious C.O.P.: The Inside Story of the Tupac, Biggie and Jam Master Jay Investigations From NYPD's First 'Hip-Hop Cop' author Derrick Parker is not surprised by the news, because he already knew who Jay's killer was.
"This is not news to me," Parker told MTV on Monday (April 16) regarding the Herald story. "In my book I said Washington was involved in Jay's case. I'm not surprised it's coming out now, I'm just surprised it took so long."
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