WASHINGTON — One of D.C.'s notorious drug kingpins passed away just four months after being transferred to a halfway house.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Rayful Edmond III died suddenly Tuesday evening at a halfway house in Florida. Officials have not released the cause of death at this time.
Edmond ruled the drug scene throughout the 80s, controlling nearly one third of the drug market in the District.
Edmond, 60, was known at the height of his criminal empire as the “king of cocaine” in Washington, D.C. He oversaw a sprawling drug network that fueled the city’s devastating crack epidemic, contributing to a dramatic rise in homicides and the destruction of countless lives. Armed enforcers, wielding Uzi submachine guns, protected Edmond’s territory as he ran an operation linked to at least 30 murders, although none were directly attributed to him.
In 1989, at the age of 24, Edmond was arrested and later sentenced to life in prison for his role in running a vast drug distribution network. His operation was estimated to be moving up to 1,700 pounds of cocaine per month, generating millions of dollars each week. At the time, Edmond was a household name in D.C., living a lavish lifestyle that included sponsoring local basketball tournaments and frequent trips to Las Vegas for high-profile boxing matches.
Edmond was transferred to "community confinement" back in August.
"We can confirm that Rayful Edmond III was transferred (not released) on July 31, 2024, to community confinement overseen by the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Nashville Residential Reentry Management Office," said Scott Taylor, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Edmond was originally sentenced out of the Middle District of Pennsylvania to 30 years consecutive to his D.C. sentence of life in prison – which was reduced to 20 years in prison. At the time, officials said Edmond's assistance as an informant to bring justice to murder cases and putting dozens of other drug dealers in jail made him valuable and helped lower his sentence.
Edmond's information and testimony over the years put away a killer responsible for 30 murders and helped unspool the Cali and Medellin cartel operations in the U.S.
Investigators revealed Edmond was a cellmate of Pablo Escobar’s future brother-in-law. Retired prosecutor Richard Watkins said that after Edmond was caught in 1994 directing Colombian cocaine into D.C. using prison phones, he decided to cooperate with investigators despite the threat of death.
He served more than 35 years in federal custody.