Rapper Lil Durk charged with murder-for-hire conspiracy: NPR

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk has been arrested in Florida on federal charges relating to the 2022 attempted revenge on rapper Quando Rondo at a Los Angeles gas station and the shooting that left Rondo’s cousin dead.

Durk, 32, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire in the death of 24-year-old Saviay Robinson, who was shot and killed on Aug. 19, 2022, according to an FBI statement released Friday.

Five other members of Durk’s Chicago-based rap collective, “Only the Family,” or “OTF,” were also arrested, and at least two more arrests may follow, according to filed court documents. Durk was arrested Thursday evening and the FBI says he was trying to flee the country in South Florida.

Durk, whose real name is Durk Banks, won a Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance earlier this year for his song “All My Life” featuring J. Cole. He was also nominated three times and guest starred in Drake’s “Laugh Now Cry Later.”

Martin Estrada, an American lawyer in Los Angeles, called the shooting a “cold-blooded murder.”

“The shooting occurred in an open area at a gas station at a busy intersection, endangering many other people in the area,” Estrada said in a statement. “These types of violent gun crimes are devastating to our community and we will maintain a zero-tolerance policy for those who commit such callous acts of violence.”

FBI agent Sarah Corcoran said in her statement that OTF members “commit violence, including murder and assault, at Banks’ direction to maintain their status in the OTF.”

Representatives for Durk did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.

According to Corcoran’s affidavit and other federal court records, the shooting occurred in November 2020, when 26-year-old OTF rapper King Von was murdered at an Atlanta nightclub after Von and Rondo got into a fight. Records show that Rondo’s friend pulled out 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.”

Authorities say Durk indicated he would “pay a bounty” to anyone who killed Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Bowman.

Nearly two years later, a murder plot quickly emerged, Corcoran wrote.

On August 18, 2022, Durk’s associates learned that Rondo was staying at a hotel in Los Angeles. Corcoran said that on that day, Deandre Wilson, Keith Jones, David Lindsey, Asa Houston and a fifth anonymous suspect flew from Chicago to San Diego and then drove to Los Angeles using funds provided by Durk.

That day, Durk allegedly texted a flight arranging associate: “Do not book any flights under a name that is not associated with me.” Corcoran said there was video evidence that Durk was at a home in the San Fernando Valley that day.

Upon arrival in Los Angeles, OTF members met Kayon Grant, who had flown there by private jet. Court records show Grant, a top OTF associate, arranged hotel rooms for the men and bought four ski masks and two luxury sedans. Grant allegedly gave Jones, Lindsey and a third unnamed suspect weapons, including one converted to a machine gun.

The next day, the group allegedly followed Rondo and Robinson as they drove in a Cadillac Escalade to a marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles, a clothing store in West Hollywood, and then to a gas station across the street from the Beverly Center.

There, Houston allegedly parked his car behind the station so that Jones, Lindsey and the unnamed defendant could attack Rondo. They got out and opened fire, killing Robinson, who was standing in front of the Escalade, but missing Rondo, according to the indictment and news reports of the 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, according to the Corcoran and other documents. Wilson later allegedly paid Jones and Lindsey an undisclosed amount.

Grant, Jones, Lindsey, Wilson and Houston were arrested Thursday in Chicago in connection with conspiracy to commit murder for hire. No attorney information for the men was immediately available in court records.

Corcoran wrote that after their arrests, Durk booked two flights from airports in South Florida – one to Dubai and one to Switzerland. He then booked a private flight to Italy, but before he could board, he was arrested in Miami.

Durk and the other defendants are being held pending transfer to Los Angeles.

In 2019, Durk and King Von were charged in Atlanta in a drive-by shooting that left a man wounded in the leg. Prosecutors dropped the case against Durk in 2022, two years after Von’s murder. Durk denied his involvement.

In 2014, Durk pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal use of a weapon and possession of a firearm after he was seen carrying a gun on a Chicago street. He was spared a prison sentence.

Two villages in Chicago’s western suburbs, Bellwood and Broadview, last week honored Durk and announced a partnership with his charity, the Neighborhood Heroes Foundation, to provide young mentors.

However, on Friday, Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson announced that she had severed ties with Neighborhood Heroes and revoked the honorary key to the village awarded to Durk.

By acknowledging that Durk and the other suspects are presumed innocent, villagers are held to “even higher standards of moral and ethical behavior,” Thompson wrote on the village’s Facebook page.

A telephone message was left at his office seeking comment from Bellwood Mayor Andre Harvey.