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Published on November 08, 2024
Chicago Rapper Lil Durk Indicted in L.A. Murder-for-Hire Scheme, FBI Thwarts Alleged Plot!Source: JD Sports, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk, originally named Durk Banks faces a slew of federal charges following a superseding indictment connected to a 2022 killing near L.A.'s Beverly Center. KTLA reports that the indictment alleges the Chicago artist conspired to murder rival rapper Quando Rondo, through a violent confrontation that has its origins in a longstanding feud.

At 32 years old Banks is also accused of providing a credit card to an accomplice for the purchase of hotel rooms, masks, and supplying weapons and vehicles to a five-person hit squad. The team, arrested in October and housed in federal custody in Illinois, as per KTLA, includes Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey, and Asa Houston,

The Justice Department, adding to the severity of the situation, states that Banks, upon learning about the 2020 shooting death of his friend and collaborator King Von, put a bounty on the head of Rondo— born Tyquian Terrel Bowman. "Don't book flights under no names involved wit me," Banks advised an associate regarding the travel plans for the hit squad, according to KTLA.

The Department of Justice further details that the plot culminated in shooting at a gas station near the Beverly Center, where at least 18 shots were fired at Rondo's vehicle, tragically resulting in the death of his family member, known as "S.R.," The operation spanned multiple states, underlining the compounded efforts of the FBI, and LAPD's Operation West Bureau Homicide detectives over hundreds of hours. "The apprehension of Mr. Banks as he attempted to leave the United States is once again proof that the FBI and our extraordinary partners at the Los Angeles Police Department have a long reach," remarked Akil Davis, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office, in a statement provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California. All six defendants are expected to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles soon, and if found guilty, they face a potential lifetime in federal prison.