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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.
A native of Washington, D.C., Edmond III entered the drug game at an early age, first peddling marijuana before moving onto cocaine distribution during the early ’80s.
By the latter half of the decade, Edmond III had evolved from a mid-level dealer into the head of what was called the “largest cocaine distribution operation in the history of the nation’s capital.”
During his reign as D.C.’s crack kingpin, the capital became the murder capital of the United States, causing the likes of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush to declare the historic “war on drugs,” with Edmond’s organization a prime target.
Edmond III was arrested in 1989 and charged with running a continuing criminal enterprise, eventually being found guilty and receiving a federal prison sentence of life without parole.
His trial was the first to have anonymous jurors who were enclosed by bulletproof glass during the proceedings, a measure taken due to Edmond III’s seemingly murderous reputation. He was housed at a Marince Corps Base and flown to court via helicopter throughout the entirety of the trial, another unprecedented measure.
However, Edmond III would continue running his drug distribution network from federal prison after meeting Dixon Dario and Osvaldo “Chiqui” Trujillo-Blanco, son of iconic queenpin Griselda Blanco, resulting in him receiving an additional 30-year prison sentence.
Edmond III’s sentence would be reduced after becoming a federal informant following his second conviction on drug kingpin charges.
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