Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk charged with orchestrating 2022 Los Angeles killing

[October 26, 2024]  By TERRY SPENCER

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

Durk, 32, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire in the slaying of Saviay'a Robinson, 24, who was gunned down on Aug. 19, 2022, according to an FBI affidavit released Friday.

Five other members of Durk's Chicago-based rap collective, “Only the Family" or “OTF,” have also been arrested and at least two more arrests may be forthcoming, according to court documents that have been filed. Durk was arrested Thursday night in South Florida as he attempted to flee the country, the FBI says.

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 has also been nominated three times and was a featured performer 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 occurred in the open, at a gas station at a busy intersection, endangering many others in the area," Estrada said in a statement. “Violent gun crime of this sort is devastating to our community and we will have zero-tolerance for those who perpetrate such callous 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 Banks and to maintain their status in OTF.”

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

According to Corcoran's affidavit and other federal court records, the shooting stems from the November 2020 slaying of OTF rapper King Von, 26, at an Atlanta nightclub after Von and Rondo got into a fight. Records say a friend of Rondo's 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 made it known that he would “pay a bounty” to anyone who killed Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Bowman.

Almost two years later, a murder plot quickly came together, Corcoran wrote.

On Aug. 18, 2022, Durk's associates learned that Rondo was staying at a Los Angeles hotel. 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 using funds provided by Durk, Corcoran said.

That day, Durk allegedly texted an associate arranging the flights, “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me.” Corcoran said there is video evidence that Durk was staying at a house in the San Fernando Valley that day.

Once arriving in Los Angeles, the OTF members met Kayon Grant, who had flown there on a private jet. Grant, a top OTF associate, got the men hotel rooms, purchased four ski masks and obtained two luxury sedans, court records say. Grant allegedly gave Jones, Lindsey and a third unnamed suspect guns, including one that had been converted into a machine gun.

Lil Durk poses in the press room with the award for best melodic rap performance for "All My Life" by Lil Durk featuring J. Cole during the 66th annual Grammy Awards, Feb. 4, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

The next day, the group allegedly followed Rondo and Robinson as they drove a Cadillac Escalade to a Los Angeles marijuana dispensary, a West Hollywood clothing store and then 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 stories about the shooting say.

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, Corcoran and other documents say. Wilson allegedly later paid Jones and Lindsey an undisclosed amount.

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

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 it.

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

In 2019, Durk and King Von were charged in Atlanta with 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 slaying. Durk had denied his involvement.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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