Who’s River Edmond? A notorious drug kingpin in Washington, D.C., has died of a heart attack just months after being released from prison in connection with Washington’s cocaine epidemic

WASHINGTON (7News) — Rayful Edmond III, a notorious drug trafficker known for flooding Washington, D.C. with cocaine, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 60, as confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Edmond, identified in court documents as orchestrating the “largest cocaine distribution operation in the history of the nation’s capital,” was instrumental in importing thousands of pounds of Colombian cocaine into a Northeast Washington neighborhood.

Originally, a D.C. judge sentenced Edmond to life in prison, but this was later reduced to a 20-year term, to be served consecutively with a 30-year sentence from Pennsylvania.

Edmond is often credited with sparking the crack epidemic, which played a significant role in Washington, D.C. being labeled the murder capital of America.
“So, if you can imagine, the number skyrocketed from 150 to 500, which was a direct result of the crime and crack epidemic in the city. During Rayful Edmond’s trial, a lot of this information came to light,” explained Sam Ford, the recently retired 7News DC Bureau Chief, who extensively covered Edmond’s 1989 trial.

“Edmond was a young man who gained notoriety as a drug dealer, largely due to his flamboyant lifestyle,” Ford continued. “He was a significant drug dealer, but his operations expanded even further after he was incarcerated in federal prison. He established connections with Colombian drug dealers, and, from my understanding, they were smuggling drugs directly into DC from Colombia.”

Edmond received an additional 30-year sentence for orchestrating drug deals from a federal prison in Pennsylvania, on top of his life sentence. However, his sentences were later reduced after he became an informant.

Exit mobile version