Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Durk has been arrested in Florida on federal prices that he paid for the tried 2022 revenge killing of rapper Quando Rondo at a Los Angeles fuel station, a taking pictures that resulted within the dying of Rondo’s cousin.
Durk, 32, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire within the slaying of Saviay’a Robinson, 24, who was gunned down on Aug. 19, 2022, in response to an FBI affidavit launched Friday.
5 different members of Durk’s Chicago-based rap collective, “Solely the Household” or “OTF,” have additionally been arrested and a minimum of two extra arrests could also be forthcoming, in response to courtroom paperwork which were filed. Durk was arrested Thursday night time in South Florida as he tried to flee the nation, the FBI says.
Durk, whose actual title is Durk Banks, gained a Grammy earlier this 12 months for finest melodic rap efficiency for his track “All My Life,” which featured J. Cole. He has additionally been nominated thrice and was a featured performer on Drake’s “Snigger Now Cry Later.”
FBI Agent Sarah Corcoran mentioned in her affidavit that OTF members interact “in violence, together with homicide and assault, on the route of Banks and to keep up their standing in OTF.”
Durk’s representatives didn’t instantly reply to emails Friday in search of remark.
Based on Corcoran’s affidavit and different federal courtroom information, the taking pictures stems from the November 2020 slaying of OTF rapper King Von, 26, at an Atlanta nightclub after Von and Rondo obtained right into a combat. Data say a good friend of Rondo’s pulled a gun and shot Von a number of occasions, killing him. Von, whose actual title was Dayvon Bennett, had two hit singles, “Loopy Story” and “Took Her to the O.”
Authorities say Durk made it identified that he would “pay a bounty” to anybody who killed Rondo, whose actual title is Tyquian Bowman.
Nearly two years later, a homicide plot shortly got here collectively, Corcoran wrote.
On Aug. 18, 2022, Durk’s associates realized that Rondo was staying at a Los Angeles resort. That day, Deandre Wilson, Keith Jones, David Lindsey, Asa Houston and a fifth unnamed suspect flew from Chicago to San Diego after which drove to Los Angeles utilizing funds offered by Durk, Corcoran mentioned.
That day, Durk allegedly texted an affiliate arranging the flights, “Don’t e-book no flights underneath no names concerned wit me.” Corcoran mentioned there’s video proof that Durk was staying at a home within the San Fernando Valley that day.
As soon as arriving in Los Angeles, the OTF members met Kayon Grant, who had flown there on a non-public jet. Grant, a high OTF affiliate, obtained the lads resort rooms, bought them 4 ski masks and obtained two luxurious sedans, courtroom information say. Grant allegedly gave Jones, Lindsey and a 3rd unnamed suspect weapons, together with one which had been transformed into a completely computerized machine gun.
The following day, the group allegedly adopted Rondo and Robinson as they drove a Cadillac Escalade to a Los Angeles marijuana dispensary, a West Hollywood clothes retailer after which a fuel station throughout the road from the Beverly Middle.
There, Houston allegedly parked his automobile behind the station so Jones, Lindsey and the unnamed defendant may ambush Rondo. They obtained out and opened hearth, killing Robinson, who was standing outdoors the Escalade, however lacking Rondo, the indictment and information tales concerning the taking pictures say.
The suspects then went to an In-N-Out hamburger stand the place they mentioned cost with Grant after which flew house to Chicago from San Diego, Corcoran and different paperwork say. Wilson allegedly later paid Jones and Lindsey an undisclosed quantity.
Grant, Jones, Lindsey, Wilson and Houston had been arrested Thursday in Chicago on conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire prices. No legal professional data was instantly accessible for these males in courtroom information.
After their arrests, Corcoran wrote, Durk booked two flights from South Florida airports — one to Dubai and one to Switzerland. He then booked a non-public flight to Italy however was arrested in Miami earlier than he may board that flight.
Durk and the opposite defendants are being held pending their switch to Los Angeles.
In 2019, Durk and King Von had been charged in Atlanta with a drive-by taking pictures that left a person wounded within the leg. Prosecutors dropped the case in opposition to Durk in 2022, two years after Von’s slaying. Durk had denied his involvement.
In 2014, Durk pleaded responsible to felony aggravated illegal use of a weapon and felony possession of a firearm after he was seen carrying a gun on a Chicago avenue. He was spared jail time.
Durk had not too long ago been honored by two villages in Chicago’s western suburbs as they introduced their collaboration along with his charity, Neighborhood Heroes Basis.
“This partnership and collaboration will deliver assets and mentoring alternatives to the youth in our neighborhood,” Andre Harvey, mayor of Bellwood, 14 miles west of Chicago, mentioned on the village’s Fb web page final week.
However on Friday, Katrina Thompson, the mayor of close by Broadview, introduced she had severed ties to Neighborhood Heroes and had withdrawn the honorary key to the village given Durk.
Whereas acknowledging that Durk and different suspects are presumed harmless, village residents have “even larger ethical and moral requirements of conduct. And our public companions should additionally replicate the identical uncompromising requirements,” Thompson wrote on the village’s Fb web page.
“As mayor, defending Broadview’s pursuits and upholding the values of residents is job primary.”
A phone message in search of remark from Harvey, Bellwood’s mayor, was left at his workplace.
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AP author John O’Connor in Chicago contributed to this report.
