Rapper Lil Durk has been arrested on federal charges, alleging that he orchestrated a 2022 murder-for-hire plot against fellow rapper Quando Rondo in Los Angeles.
After Rondo’s cousin Saviay’a Robinson was fatally shot outside an L.A. gas station on Aug. 19, 2022, the Grammy winner was arrested late Thursday night near Miami International Airport as he attempted to flee the country, and charged with conspiracy to use interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death.
“Mr. Banks is charged with orchestrating a cold-blooded murder that resulted in the death of a rival’s family member,” said U.S. District Attorney Martin Estrada in a statement. “Not only that, the shooting occurred in the open, at a gas station at a busy intersection, endangering many others in the area. 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.”
Believing they worked under Durk’s direction, five members of his Chicago rap collective Only the Family (OTF) — Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey and Asa Houston — were also arrested.
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Durk (born Durk Banks) reportedly began feuding with Rondo (born Tyquian Bowman) after an associate of Boman killed OTF’s Dayvon Bennett. In response, Banks allegedly put a bounty on Bowman’s life with records indicating that an OTF member and close associate of Banks purchased five plane tickets from Chicago to California for the day before the shooting.
On the same day, Banks reportedly traveled to California on a private jet with Grant, who allegedly later purchased ski masks for the shooting and paid for the co-conspirators’ hotel room with a card in Banks’ name.
DA Estrada alleged that several OTF members used two vehicles to “track, stalk and attempt to murder [Bowman] for hours,” culminating in the shooting in which at least 18 rounds were fired.
Banks made his initial appearance in a Florida court on Friday, and he’s expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles federal court in coming weeks.
Grant, Wilson, Jones, Lindsey and Houston made their initial court appearances Thursday in Illinois and are also set to be arraigned in LA soon. They each face one count of conspiracy, one count of use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death and one count of using, carrying and discharging firearms and a machine gun and possession of such firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death. Jones faces an additional count of possession of a machine gun.
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