Former DC druglord Rayful Edmond died of suspected heart attack: reports

WASHINGTON - Infamous D.C. cocaine druglord Rayful Edmond died at the age of 60 Tuesday. His death came just months after his release from prison.  

Edmond's drug operation profited hundreds of millions of dollars at the height of the crack epidemic in the 1980s.

There are no confirmed details about his death but numerous reports indicate Edmond died of a sudden heart attack at the halfway house where he was living in Miami. 

"I'm back better than ever," Edmond was seen saying in the only video of him we've seen since his release from a federal prison last summer. He was captured on camera at an airport just after his release and the video was shared on social media.

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"My first thought was man, I hope he wasn’t assassinated. But as it turns out, apparently he died of natural death and anybody who’s been in prison long enough eating prison food doesn’t take much to imagine how that can happen," said Billy Murphy, one of the attorneys who represented Edmond over the years.  

FOX 5 had Murphy on camera outside D.C.'s federal courthouse back in September 1990, on the day Edmond was sentenced to life in prison.

"This kid was a genius. There’s no question about it. I sat with him every day during a very long trial. What would’ve happened to him had he instead of having two parents who trained him to be a drug dealer from the earliest of ages?"  Murphy said. "If he had had two parents who were successful business people or business executives who trained him in the right direction."

Edmond spent 35 years in prison. He was arrested at age 24 and convicted of running a multi-million dollar criminal conspiracy dealing crack cocaine on the streets of D.C., leading to multiple murders as well. 

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"I think Rayful Edmond has been held accountable for the human destruction and tragedy that he has brought to the city and to the lives of thousands of young people who live in this community," then-U.S. Attorney Jay Stephens said back in 1990.

But Edmond would continue running his enterprise from inside a Pennsylvania prison, leading to more jail time. He later turned and became an informant, leading to the arrests of nearly a dozen of his former cohorts.

"I don't think I'm gonna spend the rest of my life in prison. I think I'm gonna go home one day soon," Edmond said in his younger years. 

While it didn’t happen quickly, his hopes became a reality in July 2024. Despite being sentenced to life in prison, Edmond was released into the community last summer. His sudden death coming just five months later.

There’s no word on any services for Edmond as of yet. FOX 5 is told that Edmond is survived by his mother, who also went to prison as part of that conspiracy, and at least one sister.