DC crack kingpin Rayful Edmond dies months after transfer from prison

Ciara Wells | ciara.wells@wtop.com
December 17, 2024, 9:15 PM

Rayful Edmond III, one of D.C.’s most notorious drug dealers during its crack cocaine crisis in the 1980s, has died in federal custody, the Bureau of Prisons confirmed with the Associated Press on Tuesday. He was 60 years old.

Edmond 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.

During the 1980s, law enforcement said Edmond was making up to $2 million each week and moving up to 1,700 pounds of cocaine per month.

Edmond was arrested in April of 1989 and had been serving a life sentence in prison without parole for drug distribution, and was sent to a maximum-security prison in Pennsylvania. He continued to run a drug distribution network from inside the prison, and when he was caught, Edmond received an additional 30-year sentence.

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Ciara Wells
Ciara Wells is the Evening Digital Editor at WTOP. She is a graduate of American University where she studied journalism and Spanish. Before joining WTOP, she was the opinion team editor at a student publication and a content specialist at an HBCU in Detroit.
ciara.wells@wtop.com