Rapper Lil Durk charged with revenge killing in 2022

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

Durk, 32, is accused of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire in the killing of Saviaia Robinson, 24, who was shot and killed 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, were also arrested, and at least two more arrests could be made, according to court documents filed. Durk was arrested Thursday night in South Florida while attempting to flee the country, according to the FBI.

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

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

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

According to Corcoran’s affidavit and other federal court records, the shooting stemmed from the November 2020 killing of 26-year-old OTF rapper King Vaughn at an Atlanta nightclub after Vaughn and Rondo got into a fight. Records say Rondo’s friend pulled out a gun and shot Vaughn multiple times, killing him. Von, whose real name is Davon Bennett, had two hit singles: “Crazy Story” and “Took Her to the O.”

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

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

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

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

Arriving in Los Angeles, OTF members met Kion Grant, who flew there on a private jet. Grant, a top OTF employee, obtained hotel rooms for the men, bought them four ski masks and purchased two luxury sedans, court records say. Grant allegedly gave Jones, Lindsey and a third unnamed suspect weapons, including one converted to a fully automatic machine gun.

The next day, the group allegedly followed Rondo and Robinson as they drove 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 Beverly Center.

There, Houston allegedly parked his car behind the station so Jones, Lindsay and an unnamed defendant could ambush Rondo. They got out and opened fire, killing Robinson, who was standing near the Escalade, but missing Rondo, the indictment and news reports about the shooting said.

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, the Corcoran and other documents said. Wilson allegedly later 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. No attorney information for these men was listed in court records.

After their arrest, 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 the flight.

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

In 2019 Durk and King Fon were charged in Atlanta, where a drive-by shooting occurred that left a man wounded in the leg. Prosecutors dropped the case against Durk in 2022, two years after Von was killed. Durk denied any involvement.

In 2014 Durk pleaded guilty to felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a firearm after being seen with a weapon on a Chicago street. He managed to avoid jail time.

Durk recently honored two villages in Chicago’s western suburbs by announcing their partnership with his charity, the Neighborhood Heroes Foundation.

“This partnership and collaboration will bring resources and mentoring opportunities to youth in our community,” Andre Harvey, the mayor of Bellwood, located 14 miles (23 kilometers) west of Chicago, said last week on the village’s Facebook page.

But on Friday, Katrina Thompson, the mayor of nearby Broadview, announced she had severed ties with Neighborhood Heroes and taken back the honorary key to the village given to Durke.

While recognizing that Durk and the other suspects are presumed innocent, the villagers are held to “an even higher moral and ethical standard of conduct. And our government partners must also be held to the same uncompromising standards,” Thompson wrote on the village’s Facebook page.

“As the mayor, protecting the interests of Broadview and upholding the values ​​of residents is job number one.”

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

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AP writer John O’Connor in Chicago contributed to this report.