CHICAGO (CBS) — Grammy-winning Chicago rapper Lil Durk has been charged in a murder-for-hire plot and is now in custody.
The FBI said the Englewood neighborhood native was arrested Thursday night in South Florida as he attempted to flee the country.
Lil Durk — the stage name of Durk Devontay Banks of Chicago — was arrested in Broward County, Florida. Investigators believe he targeted rapper Quando Rondo.
Rondo was the intended target of a 2022 shooting in which gunfire missed him, but killed his cousin, 24-year-old Saviay’a Robinson.
The arrest came hours after five people associated with Lil Durk’s music business were also accused in the case. Those other members of Durk’s Chicago-based rap collective, “Only the Family” or “OTF,” have also been arrested and at least two more arrests may be forthcoming, according to court documents that have been filed.
Investigators believe it was retaliation for the earlier murder of Chicago OTF rapper King Von, who was killed during an early morning exchange of gunfire outside the Monaco Hookah Lounge in Atlanta, authorities said.
FBI Agent Sarah Corcoran said in her affidavit that OTF members engage “in violence, including murder and assault, at the direction of Banks and to maintain their status in OTF.”
According to Corcoran’s affidavit and other federal court records, the shooting stems from the Nov. 6, 2020, slaying of Von, 26, outside the Atlanta hookah lounge after Von and Rondo got into a fight. Records say a friend of Rondo’s pulled a gun and shot Von several times, killing him. Von, whose real name was Dayvon Bennett, had two hit singles, ″Crazy Story″ and “Took Her to the O.”
Charges against Rondo’s friend in the King Von case were later dropped due to the stand-your-ground law in Georgia.
Authorities say Durk made it known that he would “pay a bounty” to anyone who killed Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Bowman.
Almost two years later, a murder plot quickly came together, Corcoran wrote.
Durk received the 2024 Grammy Award for best melodic rap performance for his single “All My Life” featuring J. Cole, which triumphed over such musical celebrities as Drake, SZA and Doja Cat. Durk has also been nominated for a Grammy three other times.
Durk had recently been honored by two villages in Chicago’s western suburbs as they announced their collaboration with his charity, Neighborhood Heroes Foundation.
“This partnership and collaboration will bring resources and mentoring opportunities to the youth in our community,” Andre Harvey, mayor of Bellwood, 14 miles west of Chicago, said on the village’s Facebook page last week.
But on Friday, Katrina Thompson, the mayor of nearby Broadview, announced she had severed ties to Neighborhood Heroes and had withdrawn the honorary key to the village given Durk.
While acknowledging that Durk and other suspects are presumed innocent, village residents have “even higher moral and ethical standards of behavior. And our public partners must also reflect the same uncompromising standards,” Thompson wrote on the village’s Facebook page. “As mayor, protecting Broadview’s interests and upholding the values of residents is job number one.”
Bellwood Mayor Andre Harvey said he was surprised to hear of Lil Durk’s arrest, but is not ready to take away the key. He said, “We live in the United States of America where the accused is innocent until proven guilty.”
Durk’s representatives did not immediately respond to emails Friday seeking comment.
Josh Brasted/FilmMagic
Charges lay out investigators’ case against Lil Durk
Prosecutors said multiple members of OTF and their associates used two cars to “track, stalk, and attempt to murder” Quando Rando at a gas station in Los Angeles.
On Aug. 18, 2022, Durk’s associates learned that Rondo was staying at a Los Angeles hotel. That day, Deandre Wilson, Keith Jones, David Lindsey, Asa Houston and a fifth unnamed suspect flew from Chicago to San Diego and then drove to Los Angeles using funds provided by Durk, Corcoran said.
That day, Durk allegedly texted an associate arranging the flights, “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me.” Corcoran said there is video evidence that Durk was staying at a house in the San Fernando Valley that day.
Once arriving in Los Angeles, the OTF members met Kayon Grant, who had flown there on a private jet. Grant, a top OTF associate, got the men hotel rooms, purchased them four ski masks and obtained two luxury sedans, court records say. Grant allegedly gave Jones, Lindsey and a third unnamed suspect guns, including one that had been converted into a fully automatic machine gun.
The next day, the group allegedly followed Rondo and Robinson as they drove a Cadillac Escalade to a Los Angeles marijuana dispensary, a West Hollywood clothing store and then a gas station across the street from the Beverly Center.
There, Houston allegedly parked his car behind the station so Jones, Lindsey and the unnamed defendant could ambush Rondo. They got out and opened fire, killing Robinson, who was standing outside the Escalade, but missing Rondo, the indictment and news stories about the shooting say.
The indictment said 18 shots were fired during the gas station shooting.
The suspects then went to an In-N-Out hamburger stand where they discussed payment with Grant and then flew home to Chicago from San Diego, Corcoran and other documents say. Wilson allegedly later paid Jones and Lindsey an undisclosed amount.
Grant, Jones, Lindsey, Wilson and Houston were arrested Thursday in Chicago on conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire charges. No attorney information was immediately available for those men in court records.
After their arrests, Corcoran wrote, Durk booked two flights from South Florida airports — one to Dubai and one to Switzerland. He then booked a private flight to Italy, but was arrested in Miami before he could board that flight.
Durk is officially charged with conspiracy to use interstate facilities to commit murder for hire resulting in death. His pre-detention hearing will be held in California—but no date has been set.
Durk and the other defendants are being held pending their transfer to Los Angeles. At a hearing in federal court in Miami Friday, a federal prosecutor asked that Banks be held in pre-trial detention because he is a flight risk.
Durk and his attorney, Alex Ubieta, agreed to have his next hearing on his pre-trial detention to be held in the Central District of California because the original crime happened in Los Angeles.
No date was set for that hearing.
Banks’ father and other supporters were at the hearing. Outside the federal courthouse, they declined to say anything about the charges or the upcoming hearing.
Ubieta said they wanted privacy.
Chicago reacts to Lil Durk’s arrest
Chicago radio personality Seandale, of Raw TV Radio on Power 92.3 FM, called the charges against Lil Durk “devastating.” Seandale knew Lil Durk well before stardom, and was the first to play Durk on Chicago airwaves more than a decade ago.
“He was very cool down-to-earth, humble, appreciative of the opportunity to just be on radio,” Seandale said.
Seandale added that it’s tough to see Durk go from selling out the United Center this past Sunday to getting booked on a murder-for-hire plot.
“It’s definitely a leap off the Willis Tower,” Seandale said. “It’s a real fall. It’s a real blow.”
Chicago embraced Durk for his community service and charitable donations. He even contributed $150,000 to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2023 campaign.
The mayor withheld judgment when asked if he would return the money.
“Right now, we have allegations,” Mayor Johnson said Friday. “He has not been tried.”
Yet Durk is named in a civil lawsuit on behalf of the estate of rapper FBG Duck, who was murdered on Oak Street in the Gold Coast while shopping on Aug. 4, 2020. The lawsuit accuses the same OTF crew Durk led as being the mastermind of the FBG Duck murder.
In January of this year, a jury found six label mates and friends of Durk’s guilty of multiple counts in the slaying of FBG Duck, including murder in furtherance of a racketeering scheme – including Charles Liggins, 32; Kenneth Roberson, 30; Christopher Thomas, 24; Marcus Smart, 25; Tacarlos Offerd, 32; and Ralph Turpin, 34.
Lil Durk has been making headlines for involvement in the criminal justice system for more than a decade. He was convicted and sent to prison on weapons charges in 2012, and was arrested for a gun violation in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood the following year.
Lil Durk performed at the United Center in Chicago just this past Sunday. Three teens on their way to the concert were shot during a violent robbery a couple of blocks from the stadium, and one of them—18-year-old Jesse Kendall—was killed.
Lil Durk also performed at Lollapalooza in 2022. He was injured during his set when a pair of pyrotechnic effects exploded in his face.
Quando Rondo posted a tribute music video to his cousin on social media and YouTube hours after the arrest broke. It is called, “Life Goes On.”
Eric Henderson
contributed to this report.
