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

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Durk has been arrested in Florida on federal charges he paid for the attempted 2022 revenge killing of rapper Quando Rondo at a Los Angeles gas station, a shooting that resulted in Rondo’s death cousin.

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

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

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

Martin Estrada, the U.S. attorney for Los Angeles, called the shooting “a cold-blooded murder.”

“The shooting took place in the open, at a gas station at a busy intersection, endangering many others in the area,” Estrada said in a statement. “This type of violent gun crime is devastating to our community and we will have zero tolerance. for those who commit such heartless acts of violence.”

FBI agent Sarah Corcoran said in her affidavit that OTF members engage in “violence, including murder and assault, at the direction of the banks and to maintain their status within the OTF.”

Durk’s representatives did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Friday.

According to Corcoran’s affidavit and other federal court documents, the shooting stems from the November 2020 killing of OTF rapper King Von, 26, at an Atlanta nightclub after Von and Rondo got into an argument. Records show that a friend of Rondo 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.”

Authorities say Durk announced 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. 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 with money from Durk, Corcoran said.

That day, Durk reportedly texted an employee who arranged the flights: “Do not book flights without a name involved with me.” Corcoran said there is video evidence that Durk was staying at a home in the San Fernando Valley that day.

Once they arrived in Los Angeles, the OTF members met Kayon Grant, who had flown there on a private jet. Grant, a top OTF employee, got hotel rooms for the men, bought four ski masks and bought two luxury sedans, court records show. Grant allegedly gave Jones, Lindsey and a third unnamed suspect weapons, including one that had been converted into 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 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 reports of the shooting say.

The suspects then went to an In-N-Out hamburger stand where they discussed payment with Grant and then flew from San Diego to Chicago, Corcoran and other documents say. Wilson later allegedly paid Jones and Lindsey an undisclosed amount.

Grant, Jones, Lindsey, Wilson and Houston were arrested Thursday in Chicago on charges of conspiracy to commit murder for hire. Information about the attorney was not immediately available for these men in the lawsuits.

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.

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

In 2019, Durk and King Von were accused in Atlanta of 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 had denied his involvement.

In 2014, Durk pleaded guilty to misdemeanor aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and misdemeanor possession of a firearm after he was seen on a Chicago street with a gun. He was spared prison time.

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

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

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

A telephone message seeking comment from Andre Harvey, the mayor of Bellwood, was left at his office.