Rapper Lil Durk has been arrested on federal charges alleging he orchestrated a murder plot against fellow rapper Quando Rondo in Los Angeles in 2022.
After Rondo's cousin Saviay'a Robinson was fatally shot outside an LA gas station on August 19, 2022, the Grammy winner was arrested late Thursday night near Miami International Airport as he attempted to flee the country and charged with conspiracy to use interstate facilities. commit murder for hire resulting in death.
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“Mr. Banks is accused of orchestrating a cold-blooded murder that resulted in the death of a rival's family member,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “Not only that, the shooting took place in the open, at a gas station at a busy intersection, endangering many others in the area. This type of violent gun crime is devastating to our community and we will have zero tolerance for those who commit such insensitive acts of violence.”
Believed to be working under Durk's direction, five members of his Chicago rap collective Only the Family (OTF) – Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey and Asa Houston – were also arrested.
Durk (born Durk Banks) reportedly started a feud with Rondo (born Tyquian Bowman) after an associate of Boman killed OTF's Dayvon Bennett. In response, Banks allegedly placed a bounty on Bowman's life with records showing that an OTF member and close associate of Banks had purchased five plane tickets from Chicago to California the day before the shooting.
The same day, Banks reportedly traveled to California on a private jet with Grant, who reportedly later purchased ski masks for the shooting and paid for the co-conspirators' hotel room with a card in Banks' name.
DA Estrada alleged that several OTF members used two vehicles to “track, stalk and attempt to murder [Bowman] for hours,” culminating in the shooting in which at least 18 bullets were fired.
Banks made his first appearance in a Florida court on Friday and is expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles federal court in the coming weeks.
Grant, Wilson, Jones, Lindsey and Houston made their first appearance in court in Illinois on Thursday and will soon be arraigned in LA. They each face one count of conspiracy, one count of using interstate facilities to commit murder for hire resulting in death, and one count of using, carrying and discharging firearms and a machine gun and possessing such firearms for the purpose of promotion of a crime of violence resulting in death. Jones faces an additional count of possession of a machine gun.
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