Chicago rapper and Englewood native Lil Durk, born Durk Banks, was arrested in Florida Thursday in connection with an alleged murder-for-hire plot, according to records from the Broward County sheriff’s office.
Banks, 32, was held in the Broward County Jail as of early Friday, records show, but the exact nature of the charges remained unclear. A representative for Lil Durk could not be reached Friday morning.
Banks has ties to the Atlanta area. He moved here after facing several other criminal allegations, including charges related to a 2019 shooting near The Varsity.
Those charges — including criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated assault, participation in a criminal street gang and others — were later dropped by the Fulton County District Attorney in 2022. Banks denied involvement in the shooting, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
His co-defendant in that case, fellow rapper King Von, was killed in a shootout at an Atlanta hookah lounge in 2020. The next year, intruders shot at the residents in Lil Durk’s home at Chateau Elan Estates in Braselton, prompting a GBI investigation, the AJC reported at the time.
Banks’ Florida arrest came the same day that federal prosecutors in California announced charges against five other men, all with ties to Chicago gangs, in the attempted murder of Georgia rapper Quando Rondo, born Tyquian Terrel Bowman. That shooting, carried out at a Los Angeles gas station in August 2022 and captured on surveillance video, took the life of Quando Rondo’s cousin, Saviay’a Robinson.
Charged in that indictment are: Kavon London Grant; Deandre Dontrell Wilson; Keith Jones; David Brian Lindsey; and Asa Houston.
The charges include conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, committing murder-for-hire involving a death, and use of a machine gun in a violent crime resulting in death. The most serious charge carries up to the death penalty if convicted.
The indictment alleges that all five have ties to “Only the Family,” also known as OTF, a hip-hop collective founded by Lil Durk, a mentor of King Von. The flights and rental cars were paid for with credit cards linked to OTF, according to prosecutors.
OTF was founded by Lil Durk more than a decade ago as Chicago’s drill rap scene was gaining international attention. Federal prosecutors say the group primarily “produced and sold hip-hop music” from artists from Chicago.
FBG Duck, the Chicago drill rapper, was killed in a hail of gunfire on Oak Street in 2020, and his death led to the convictions of several men in a federal conspiracy trial last January. Earlier this month, FBG Duck’s mother filed a lawsuit alleging Lil Durk, OTF and King Von were involved in the shooting, as well. The lawsuit alleges that OTF operates as a criminal enterprise.
Lil Durk is among the most successful drill rappers to come out of Chicago since the genre first gained a foothold. Also popularized by Chief Keef, G Herbo and other artists, drill is hallmarked by hyper-violent lyrics that often revolve around — and sometimes worsen — feuds between gang factions.
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