CHICAGO (CBS) — Grammy Award-winning Chicago rapper Lil Durk is facing new charges in an alleged murder-for-hire plot.
Lil Durk, 32—whose real name is Durk Devontay Banks—is facing two additional charges, including conspiracy, in a superseding indictment by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles.
Lil Durk was arrested in Broward County, Florida last month. 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 Chicago-based rap collective, “Only the Family” or “OTF,” were also accused in the case.
The new indictment names Durk as the lead defendant along with those five others—Kavon London Grant, 28, of Atlanta; Deandre Dontrell Wilson, 33, of Chicago; Keith Jones, 33, of Gary, Indiana; David Brian Lindsey, 33, of Addison; and Asa Houston, 36, of Chicago.
Investigators believe the plot against Quando Rondo 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.
Authorities say Durk made it known that he would “pay a bounty” to anyone who killed Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Bowman.
On Aug. 18, 2022, Durk’s associates learned that Rondo was staying at a Los Angeles hotel. That day, Wilson, Jones, Lindsey, Houston, and a fifth suspect flew from Chicago to San Diego and then drove to Los Angeles using funds provided by Durk, authorities said.
Once arriving in Los Angeles, the OTF members met 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.
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 is now charged with one count each of conspiracy, use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, and using, carrying, and discharging firearms and a machine gun and possession of such firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death.
He was ordered held without bond in Miami until being transferred to Los Angeles for arraignment. The other five defendants are in federal custody in Illinois after court appearances in Chicago.
Durk and his codefendants could face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on all counts.
