Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Durk arrested in murder-for-hire plot

Lil Durk won a Grammy for Best Melodic Rap Performance in February. Photo / Getty Images

The All My Life rapper was arrested on federal charges for allegedly orchestrating a plot to kill rival rapper Quando Rondo.

Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Durk has been arrested in Miami on charges that he orchestrated the attempted 2022 revenge killing of rival rapper Quando Rondo at a Los Angeles gas station, federal prosecutors said on Friday.

Lil Durk, whose legal name is Durk Banks, was arrested near Miami International Airport on Thursday night. He was charged with conspiracy to use interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in the shooting death of Saviay’a Robinson, 24, Rondo’s cousin.

In an FBI affidavit, federal prosecutors allege Banks, leader of the rap group Only the Family (or OTF), ordered his associates to kill Quando Rondo – whose legal name is Tyquian Bowman – in retaliation for the murder of Chicago rapper Dayvon Bennett, AKA “King Von”. Bennett was gunned down by Bowman’s associate on November 6, 2020, prosecutors allege, after Bennett and Bowman got into an altercation outside an Atlanta nightclub.

Banks placed a bounty on Bowman’s life following Bennett’s murder, according to the affidavit.

Prosecutors allege the group used money from Banks and OTF-related finances to carry out the hit. After learning of Bowman’s location, five OTF members – Keith Jones, David Lindsey, Deandre Wilson, Asa Houston and a fifth unnamed associate – travelled on a one-way flight from Chicago to San Diego on August 18, 2022: a day before the shooting. According to the affidavit, Durk texted the associate arranging the flights, “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me [sic].”

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Once in Los Angeles, Kavon London Grant – who had flown there by private jet – booked a hotel room for the five OTF members using a credit card in Banks’ name, according to the affidavit.

On the day of the murder, Grant and the OTF members tracked and stalked Bowman in two separate vehicles. According to the affidavit, Lindsey, Jones and the unnamed associate opened fire on Bowman’s black Cadillac Escalade at a gas station near the Beverly Center shopping mall. The gunmen fired at least 18 rounds at the vehicle, striking and killing Robinson, who was traveling with the rapper.

Jones, Lindsey, Wilson, Houston and the unnamed associate flew back to Chicago hours after the killing, the affidavit said. Grant, Wilson, Jones, Lindsey and Houston were indicted for their alleged roles in the murder-for-hire plot by a California grand jury on October 17.

Banks, a 32-year-old rapper from Chicago who won a Grammy Award this year for Best Melodic Rap Performance for his song All My Life, featuring J. Cole, was arrested in Miami while attempting to flee the country, according to the FBI affidavit. Banks had booked three international flights scheduled to leave the country on Thursday: a one-way flight from Miami to Dubai, another from Fort Lauderdale to Switzerland and another from Miami to Italy.

Banks made his initial appearance before a federal judge in the Southern District of Florida on Friday afternoon. He remains in federal custody and is expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles federal court in the coming weeks.

Banks’ representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.