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New details released on the arrest of Chicago rapper Lil Durk – NBC Chicago
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New details released on the arrest of Chicago rapper Lil Durk – NBC Chicago

New details were revealed Friday about the arrest of rapper Lil Durk, who was taken into federal custody in Florida this week on murder-for-hire charges.

The Chicago rapper’s arrest came just an hour before he was scheduled to leave the country on a flight to Italy, according to new documents obtained by NBC Chicago.

According to the FBI, officials were alerted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that the rapper, real name Devontay Durk Banks, was booked as a passenger on two international flights on Thursday. One flight was from Miami to Dubai and another from Fort Lauderdale to Switzerland. However, neither flight was boarded.

Agents said Banks later booked a third flight on a private plane leaving Miami for Italy, but was arrested “near the departing airport” an hour before takeoff.

The Chicago-based rapper had just performed at the city’s United Center for a Birthday Bash event this weekend.

Banks’ murder-for-hire indictment came as five members of the Chicago-based “Only the Family” crew, or OTF, with which Banks is associated, were charged as co-conspirators in a murder plot in Los Angeles, California. .

A grand jury indicted OTF members Kavon London Grant, known as “Cuz” or “Vonnie”, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, known as “DeDe”, Asa Houston, known as “Boogie”, and five unnamed conspirators, as well as Keith Jones, known as “Flacka,” and David Brian Lindsey, known as “Browneyez,” who are described as “members of other gangs in Chicago.”

The indictment alleged that the men released a hit song on rapper Quando Rondo, identified as TB, in retaliation for the shooting death of another Chicago rapper, King Von, who was part of OTF and collaborated with Lil Durk on music .

OTF is known as a rap collective, but according to the indictment released Friday, it also functions as an association of individuals who engage in violence, including murder and assault.

But according to a criminal complaint obtained by NBC Chicago, it was Banks who paid out “a sum of money” for his friend’s murder.

“Evidence shows that Banks ordered TB’s murder and that the assassins used Banks’ and OTF’s finances to carry out the murder,” the indictment said.

What happened?

According to the complaint, the incident first began on November 6, 2020, when an OTF member, described only as “DB,” had a “physical altercation involving tuberculosis at a nightclub in Atlanta, Georgia.”

During the fight, a TB employee pulled out a gun and shot DB multiple times, killing him.” Although authorities did not name DB in the indictment, rapper King Von, whose real name was Dayvon Bennett, was shot on the same date killed, NBC News reported at the time that another man, 34-year-old Mark Blakely, was also killed during the shootout and four others were injured, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

After DB’s murder, someone described as “co-conspirator 1” used coded language to make it clear that they would “pay a bounty or monetary reward, and/or make a payment to anyone who participated in the murder of TB for his role in DB’s murder. “

“iCloud records show that a phone number associated with Banks texted Co-Conspirator 3: ‘Do not book flights without a name associated with me.'”

Then, on August 18, 2022, when Wilson, Jones, Lindsey, Houston, Grant, and Co-conspirator 2 learned from Illinois that TB was staying at a hotel in Los Angeles, Wilson, Jones, Lindsey, Houston, Grant, and Co-conspirator 2 traveled from Illinois to California to “track, stalk and try to kill the people.” TB caused by gunfire, even with a fully automatic firearm.”

In addition, Banks also traveled to California with Grant on a private jet.

“Later that day, Grant purchased ski masks for the shooters to use to commit the murder and paid for the other co-conspirators’ hotel room with a credit card in Banks’ name,” the complaint said.

OTF Arrests
This image shows a BMW and an Infiniti driven by the conspirators following TB’s black Escalade. (Federal indictment)

The men followed TB’s black Escalade to a gas station on Beverly Boulevard and fired multiple rounds at the SUV — resulting in the death of SR, a passenger in TB’s vehicle, the documents say.

OTF Arrests
Images show defendants Jones and Lindsay, and co-conspirator 2, firing their guns at TB’s black Escalade at a Los Angeles gas station. (Federal indictment)

The indictment against the five men is based on charges of conspiracy and use of interstate facilities to commit murder for murder resulting in death, the use of carrying and discharging firearms and machine guns, the possession of such firearms in furtherance of a violent crime resulting in death, possession of a machine gun and forfeiture.

Banks is also now charged with conspiracy to use interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, the complaint said.

According to the documents, Wilson paid the bounty to the co-conspirators.

It was not immediately clear whether the men have retained attorneys.

Who is Lil Durk?

According to Billboard, Banks, born and raised in Chicago, got his start on YouTube and MySpace, with his debut studio album “Remember My Name,” released in 2015, which reached No. 14 on the Billboard 200.

He has collaborated with artists such as Drake and J. Cole and has received multiple Grammy nominations, including one for Best Rap Song and Best Melodic Rap Performance.

What else you need to know

Banks was previously charged in connection with a shooting in Atlanta, but those charges were dropped in 2022.

In September he celebrated his record on social media.

“My background has been cleared and everything is gone. I am no longer a criminal. Who would have thought? I want to thank everyone who helped move my vision forward. Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Banks wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Banks, 32, is also being sued by the mother of slain fellow Chicago rapper FBG Duck, who claims Banks and his record label profited from Duck’s 2020 shooting.

Banks also made financial contributions to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign.

When asked Friday what Johnson planned to do with those contributions following the allegations, the mayor said he would not make any decisions prior to sentencing.

“I do not know all the circumstances and details surrounding these allegations,” Johnson told reporters. “What I do know is that Lil Durk is trying to build financial literacy for kids across the city and make other critical investments for the kids of the city, where, you know, his heart has been. I mean, there’s no secret to the trauma he grew up in and the way he’s worked to turn that trauma into opportunity for other people.”