Rapper Lil Durk Faces New Charges In Alleged Murder-For-Hire Plot
Rapper Lil Durk is facing two more felony charges related to his murder-for-hire arrest.
A federal grand jury in Los Angeles approved new charges this week against the 32-year-old rapper in connection with a 2022 murder-for-hire scheme that targeted fellow rapper Quando Rondo but ultimately killed Rondo’s cousin, Saviay’a Robinson.
Lil Durk, whose real name is Durk Banks, now faces additional charges of using, carrying, and discharging firearms, including a machine gun, in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death.
Lil Durk, 32, pictured in his booking photo and performing on day three of the Lollapalooza Music Festival on July 30, 2022.
AP Photo
This new federal grand jury indictment adds Lil Durk as the lead defendant to a previous indictment, which charged Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey, and Asa Houston in connection with the alleged plot.
The five men are allegedly associated with Lil Durk’s Only The Family (OTF) label. All six defendants are expected to be arraigned in the United States District Court in Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
Lil Durk is still in federal custody in Miami. Houston and Jones are in federal custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center Chicago.
As of November 4, Grant, Wilson, and Lindsey were all held at the Winnebago County Jail in Illinois awaiting extradition to Los Angeles.
Newsweek has contacted an attorney for Lil Durk for comment.
(Left, middle, right) David Lindsey, Deandre Wilson, and Kavon Grant
Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office
Co-Conspirators’ Alleged Roles
Prosecutors allege that the five defendants used two vehicles and worked in tandem to track, stalk, and attempt to murder Rondo at a gas station in Los Angeles.
They claim Lil Durk has a monetary bond on Rondo’s life. They say that the hitmen allegedly used credit cards linked to OTF and Lil Durk to book one-way flights from Chicago to San Diego on August 18, 2022, as well as a hotel room at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City, California.
Text messages between Lil Durk and one of the alleged hitmen read, “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit [sic] me,” according to the complaint.
Security footage showing the August 2022 shooting allegedly involving five men with ties to OTF.
US Central District Court of California
Lil Durk also flew to California with Grant on a private plane on August 18.
Later that day, Grant allegedly bought black ski masks for the hitmen to wear during the murder.
Surveillance video allegedly captured Rondo and Robinson riding around town on the day of Robinson’s murder in a black Escalade and being followed by a white Infiniti and white BMW allegedly carrying the hitmen.
Jones, Lindsey, and an unidentified third man allegedly opened fire on the Escalade at a gas station, ran back to the Infiniti, and drove away.
Jones, Lindsey, and another co-conspirator allegedly firing their guns at the black Escalade.
US Central District Court of California
About 50 minutes after the shooting, surveillance video from an In-N-Out Burger in Los Angeles captured the co-conspirators at the restaurant.
A few hours later, Jones, Lindsey, Wilson, Houston, and an unidentified co-conspirator boarded a flight from San Diego to Chicago booked with the same credit card linked to OTF and Lil Durk.
The men were arrested in Chicago on October 24. Upon the arrests, the FBI received a tip that Lil Durk had booked two international flights: a one-way flight from Miami to Dubai connecting through Doha, Qatar, scheduled to depart the evening of October 24, and another one-way flight from Fort Lauderdale to Switzerland, connecting through New Jersey, also scheduled to leave that night.
Lil Durk did not board either flight and the FBI learned he was on a private plane departing from Miami to Italy that night. He was arrested at the Miami airport.
The white sedans, allegedly transporting the hitmen, photographed behind the black Escalade carrying Rondo and Robinson.
US Central District Court of California
Lil Durk’s History of Legal Trouble
In a separate lawsuit filed earlier this month, Lil Durk is accused of being a part of the August 2020 gang-related shooting that killed rapper FBG Duck.
FBG Duck, whose real name was Carlton Weekly, was shot in the Gold Coast by a group of masked men as he waited to enter the Dolce & Gabbana store.
In May 2019, Lil Durk released the song “Turn Myself In” before surrendering to police for his alleged connection in a February 2019 shooting.
Lil Durk faced five felony charges: criminal attempt to commit murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and gang activity.
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