By Rich Bockmann
Police were looking for one or two masked gunmen who killed a southeast Queens hip-hop artist with ties to rapper 50 Cent in Springfield Gardens last week.
Jamal Green, who also went by the stage name Mazaradi Fox, was killed early in the evening of Jan. 3 when one or two unknown gunmen opened fire on the SUV he and three others were sitting in at the corner of 134th Avenue and Farmers Boulevard in Springfield Gardens, police said.
Green, 42, was shot in the torso and pronounced dead at the scene, while the other three victims were taken to area hospitals, police said.
A 21-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his neck and shoulder was taken to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition, police said.
A 22-year-old man who was shot in the leg and a 32-year-old woman who was grazed on the neck were taken to different hospitals in stable condition, police said.
Authorities said they were looking for one or two gunmen in masks who drove away in a black vehicle.
Green had served several years in prison, first on a four-year term on weapons charges beginning in 2001 and most recently a 2 1/2-year stint for attempted assault.
He had been released from the Queensboro correctional facility in Long Island City on parole just two weeks before he was killed and was staying in an apartment with his girlfriend just down the street from where he was shot, according to the woman’s 20-year-old son, who said he did not know much about the rapper.
“All he did was talk about his music,” Karon Woods said.
Green was best known in the music world for his ties to 50 Cent, aka Curtis Jackson, who grew up in South Jamaica.
The megastar signed Green to his G-Unit record label in 2007 and the two worked together on a number of mix tapes.
Green never put out his own album, however, and in 2008 his deal with the record label dissolved, according to mtv.com.
Hours after Green was killed, 50 Cent took to Twitter to mourn his friend’s death.
“Saddened by the news of Mazaradi’s tragic passing my thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends #smsaudio,” the rapper tweeted.
According to several news reports, Green helped raise D’aja Robinson, the 14-year-old girl who was shot dead while riding a city bus in South Jamaica earlier this year.
The rapper paid for the horse and carriage that carried the slain teen’s casket to her memorial services at the Allen A.M.E. Cathedral.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
