Lil Durk case: Chicago rapper charged in superseding indictment alleging murder-for-hire plot

LOS ANGELES -- Grammy Award-winning Chicago rapper Lil Durk has been charged in a superseding federal grand jury indictment, alleging he conspired with others to murder a rival rapper, the Justice Department announced Friday.

Durk Banks, 32, aka Lil Durk, has been charged with conspiracy; use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death; using, carrying and discharging firearms and a machine gun; and possession of such firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death.

The indictment adds two felony charges against Banks.

The four-count superseding indictment, returned late Thursday, adds Banks as the lead defendant to a previous indictment returned Oct. 17, and charges other defendants in connection with the August 2022 murder of a rival rapper's relative near the Beverly Center shopping mall in Los Angeles.

Kavon London Grant, 28, aka "Cuz" and "Vonnie," of Atlanta; Deandre Dontrell Wilson, 33, aka "DeDe," of Chicago; Keith Jones, 33, aka "Flacka," of Gary, Indiana; David Brian Lindsey, 33, aka "Browneyez," of Addison, Illinois; and Asa Houston, 36, a.k.a. "Boogie," of Chicago have also been charged.

Banks was arrested on Oct. 17 near Miami International Airport after law enforcement learned that he had been booked on multiple international flights, the DOJ said. A federal magistrate judge in Miami has ordered him jailed without bond until he is transferred to Los Angeles for arraignment.

All six defendants, none of whom have yet entered a plea, are expected to be arraigned in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

According to the superseding indictment, in 2010, Banks formed an organization called Only the Family (OTF), which, among other things, produced and sold hip-hop music from artists primarily from the Chicago area. OTF also acted as an association-in-fact of individuals who engaged in violence, including murder and assault, at Banks' direction and to maintain their status in OTF, the DOJ said.

Banks feuded with a victim, identified in court documents as "T.B." The feud stemmed from a Nov. 6, 2020, murder in which an associate of T.B. shot and killed an OTF rapper named Dayvon Bennett, aka "King Von." Bennett and Banks were close friends, the DOJ said.

In response to Bennett's murder, Banks allegedly put a bounty on T.B.'s life.

On Aug. 19, 2022, several OTF members and associates used two vehicles and worked in tandem to track, stalk and attempt to murder T.B. for hours, culminating in a shooting at a gas station near the Beverly Center shopping mall, the DOJ said. The co-conspirators used multiple guns, including a machine gun, and fired at least 18 rounds at T.B.'s vehicle, striking and killing a victim identified in court documents as "S.R.," who was T.B.'s family member, officials said.

Banks allegedly ordered T.B.'s murder, and the hitmen used money from Banks and OTF-related finances to carry out the hit, the DOJ said. Bank and flight records show that an OTF member and close associate of Banks coordinated and paid for five co-conspirators to travel from Chicago to California on the day before the murder, the DOJ said.

Around the time the one-way flights were purchased, Banks told the OTF associate booking the flights, "Don't book no flights under no names involved wit me."

The same day the hitmen traveled from Chicago to California, Banks also traveled to California in a private jet with Grant. Later that day, Grant allegedly purchased ski masks for the shooters to use to commit the murder and paid, using a credit card in Banks' name, for the other co-conspirators' hotel room.

The other five defendants are in federal custody in Illinois, after their initial court appearances in Chicago. They remain charged with 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.

If convicted, all the defendants would face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison, the DOJ said.

The FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department are investigating.

Banks is also accused in a lawsuit in the gang-related shooting that killed Chicago rapper FBG Duck.

The video in the player above is from an earlier report.