Former DC drug kingpin Rayful Edmond dead at 60
WASHINGTON - Officials have confirmed that notorious drug kingpin Rayful Edmond, the man accused of bringing the crack epidemic to D.C., has died at the age of 60.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that Edmond died Tuesday. He had been transferred from prison to a halfway house in Nashville at the end of July. His cause of death has not been released at this time.
Who was Rayful Edmond?
Rayful Edmond was an infamous cocaine kingpin who once reigned over Washington, D.C.'s drug trade.
He was arrested at age 24 and sentenced in federal court in 1990 to life in prison for introducing crack cocaine to D.C., which contributed to the city earning the title of "Murder Capital of the U.S." in the 1980s.
PREVIOUS STORY: Rayful Edmond III's life sentence for cocaine-related charges in DC reduced by federal judge
Edmond was convicted of running a criminal enterprise involving 150 people, raking in $300 million a year, and being responsible for at least 30 murders.
He later received another 30-year sentence for dealing massive amounts of drugs from his Pennsylvania prison cell.
After petitioning the court, he was released from federal prison at the end of July after serving more than three decades of a life sentence, and was remanded to community confinement in Tennessee.
What people are saying
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Notorious DC drug kingpin Rayful Edmond moved from prison for halfway house
Notorious D.C. drug kingpin Rayful Edmond III has been transferred to community confinement in Nashville. According to officials, Edmond was transferred on Wednesday, July 31, to community confinement overseen by the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Nashville Residential Reentry Management Office.
FOX 5 spoke with Tyrone Parker, a founding member of the D.C.-based organization Alliance of Concerned Men who knew Edmond for years following Edmond's release.
"He’s doing well. He’s happy as you can almost imagine. It’s a miracle that he’s home," Parker said.
PREVIOUS STORY: Rayful Edmond's lawyer defends release of notorious DC drug kingpin: 'Give him a chance'
"Let’s give the man a chance," he said. "Yes, he did some terrible things, but we’re talking about 33 years ago. Let’s give him an opportunity, especially if we think he could help us turn this ocean liner of violence around. And if he’s willing... who am I to say no? Not me."
Jason Downs, who was Edmond's attorney for the past seven years told FOX 5 back in August that, "He feels that he has served, and we believe that Mr. Edmond has served and paid his debt to society."