Rapper Lil Durk Arrested on Murder-for-Hire Charges

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Rapper Lil Durk Arrested on Murder-for-Hire Charges

Lil Durk is facing legal troubles. 

The “All My Life” rapper—whose real name is Durk Devontay Banks—was arrested Oct. 24 in Broward County, Fla., by U.S. Marshals on pending charges of murder for hire, according to police records.

Banks’ arrest comes one week after the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California unsealed an indictment that charged five people with ties to the hip-hop group Only The Family (OTF)—which he founded in 2010—as co-conspirators in the 2022 killing of an individual only named as S.R. in Los Angeles, according to documents obtained by NBC News. However, it’s unclear if Banks’ recent arrest is connected with this case. 

Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey and Asa Houston were indicted on charges including conspiracy and use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death; use, carry and discharge of firearms and machinegun, as well as possession of such firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death.

The filing alleged that the target of the attack was intended to be someone named “T.B.” due to his involvement in the 2020 killing of someone named D.B. On the same day of the incident, multiple outlets reported that OTF rapper King Von (real name Dayvon Bennett) was killed outside of an Atlanta nightclub after an altercation with rapper Quando Rondo (real name Tyquian Terrel Bowman) and his associates. At the time, police told NBC News in a statement, “Our investigators believe Mr. Bennett was shot during the initial shootout between the two groups of males, prior to police responding and attempting to stop the shooting.”

E! News has reached out to reps of Banks and has not yet heard back, as well as Broward Country Officials and has not yet heard back. The defendants named in the indictment have not retained counsel.

Lester Cohen/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Tension between the two groups has risen since the 2020 death, which prosecutors allege was the catalyst for the 2022 killing. The suspect in Bennett’s death, who was an associate of Bowman’s according to the indictment, had all charges dropped from the incident last year. 

As the newly unsealed indictment in the S.R. murder case alleges, an unnamed co-conspirator part of OTF stated they “would pay a bounty or monetary reward to anyone who took part in the killing” of T.B. following D.B.’s death. In August 2022, gunmen opened fire on T.B.’s car with him, his sister and S.R. inside, at a gas station in West Hollywood. While he and his sister were uninjured, his cousin was struck multiple times and died from his injuries, according to the documents. Although only initials are used throughout the document, on the same day at the 2022 incident, Bowman was the victim of a shooting where his cousin Lul Pab(Saviay'a Robinson) was killed, the Chicago Tribune reported. 

Prince Williams/Wireimage

Prosecutors accused the defendants of using “coded language” to tell their alleged co-conspirators that they would be rewarded for the murder. They also accused the defendants of using OTF resources to facilitate the incident. 

“On August 18, 2022, defendant Wilson recruited defendants Jones and Lindsey to travel to California for the purpose of murdering T.B.,” the indictment reads, “and helped facilitate such travel by, among other things, texting Co-Conspirator 3 biographical information about defendants Jones and Lindsey so that Co-Conspirator 3 could book flights to Southern California."

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Just a month before Banks’ arrest, the rapper expressed gratitude for a new chapter in his life and shared that his legal trouble was behind him. Banks was previously charged with attempted murder in connection with a 2019 shooting in Atlanta. Among the charges were aggravated assault, participation in criminal street gang activity, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, as well as possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to an official filing from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office per Rolling Stone. The charges were dropped in 2022.

“Everybody should get second chances at life,” Banks wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, Sept. 22. “It’s about what you do with it. My background wiped and clean of all cases. I ain’t a felon anymore. Who would have thought? I want to thank everyone who helped push my vision forward. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

(E! News and NBC News are part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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