Rayful Edmond III, Infamous D.C. Crack Kingpin, Dead Months After Release From Federal Prison

Rayful Edmond III, the notorious drug kingpin believed to have fueled the mid-’80s crack epidemic in Washington, D.C., has passed away at age 60.

Released from federal prison earlier this year, Edmond III was pronounced dead on Tuesday (Dec. 17), according to the Federal Burea of Prisons.

Edmond III was living at a halfway house he had been transferred to by federal authorities prior to his passing. His official cause of death is unknown at this time.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/rayful-edmond-iii-infamous-d-161110503.html

Dude was a major player back in the days. RIP

and a snitch...

For some reason I never read about this before, but apparently he did pull off the snitch to end all snitches lol.

Profile: Washington D.C. drug boss Rayful Edmond https://gangstersinc.org/2015/01/22/profile-washington-d-c-drug-boss-rayful-edmond/

December 20, 2024 — Only getting to enjoy four months of freedom, legendary Washington D.C. crack kingpin Rayful Edmond died of natural causes this week at age 60, just recently sprung from the feds following three and a half decades as a guest of the government for cocaine-trafficking, murder and money laundering.

Leaving lock-up in August, he relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where he was living in a halfway house and working a normal 9-to-5 job. Initially sentenced to natural life, Edmond cut a cooperation deal in the 1990s after he was busted pushing powder from the inside with members of a Colombian narcos cartel in a staggeringly lucrative $200,000,000 enterprise.

During his run atop the D.C. crack game, headed an organization known as the “Top of The Line” crew. A sub-unit of the crew called “Murder, Inc.” handled enforcement duties and according to authorities was responsible for more than 50 homicides between 1985 and 1991, the most high-profile of which was the June 23, 1988 killing of his former lieutenant-turned-rival Brandon (B-Money) Terrell in the parking lot of the Chapter III nightclub.

Historians trace the D.C-Virginia-Baltimore crack epidemic of the 1980s directly to Edmond personally and his innovative open-air markets and logistical politicking in the region’s traditionally disparate, heavily-layered underworld landscape. Because of his eventual cooperation, the feds solved three gangland slayings, credited as a main reason he earned himself a sentence reduction four years ago.

Edmond was arrested and locked up in April 1989 on the heels of making headlines for his close ties to the then-No. 1 in the country Georgetown University Hoyas men’s basketball team. The DEA estimated he pocketed 50 million bucks in net profits and at one-point was cleared 30-mill a year in cash. Best-selling rappers Jay-Z, Meek Mill and Rick Ross have all name-checked Edmond in their lyrics, cementing his mythical status beyond the borders of the Beltway. The Washington Post printed more than 300 articles on Edmond’s indictment and subsequent trial.