Popular Chicago rapper Lil Durk is behind bars at Broward County jail on federal murder-for-hire charges.
The 32-year-old, whose legal name is Durk Banks, is facing two counts of conspiracy to commit murder for hire resulting in death. He appeared in federal court in Miami on Friday, where his family declined to comment to NBC6.
Jail records show the rapper was arrested by U.S. Marshals between late Thursday and early Friday as he was trying to flee the country.
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The U.S. Marshals and reps for Lil Durk did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment.
According to Billboard, the rapper's collaborations with Drake on "Laugh Now Cry Later" and J. Cole on "All My Life" peaked at No. 2 on their chart. He won a Grammy for the former song for Best Melodic Rap Performance in 2024.
Though details of the alleged murder-for-hire plot have not yet been released, the arrest comes as five people with ties to his hip hop collective, “Only the Family,” were arrested on a federal indictment in California, on accusations of committing a murder-for-hire resulting in death. According to the indictment, the men allegedly put a hit out on rapper Quando Rondo in retaliation for the shooting death of another Chicago rapper, King Von, who was part of OTF and collaborated with Lil Durk on music.
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The grand jury charges 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."
Banks is the founder of the OTF, which produces hip hop music from Chicago-area artists.
According to the indictment, on Nov. 6, 2020, an OTF member described only as "D.B." was in a "physical altercation with T.B. at a nightclub in Atlanta, Georgia. During the fight, an associate of T.B. pulled out a gun and shot D.B. multiple times, killing him." While authorities did not name D.B. in the indictment, rapper King Von, whose real name was Dayvon Bennett, was killed on that same date, NBC News reported at the time. Another man, 34-year-old Mark Blakely, was also killed in the shootout and four others were injured, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.
After D.B.'s murder, someone described as "co-conspirator 1" used coded language to make clear that they would "pay a bounty or monetary reward, and/or make payment to anyone who took part in killing T.B. for his role in D.B.'s murder."
Then, on Aug. 18, 2022, upon learning that T.B. was staying at a Los Angeles hotel, Wilson, Jones, Lindsey, Houston, Grant and co-conspirator 2 traveled to California from Illinois to "track, stalk, and attempt to kill T.B. by gunfire — including with a fully automatic firearm."
The men tracked T.B.'s black Escalade to a gas station on Beverly Boulevard and fired multiple rounds into the SUV — resulting in the death of S.R., a passenger in T.B.'s vehicle, the documents said.
The indictment for the five men is on charges of conspiracy and the use of interstate facilities to commit murder for hire resulting in death, use carry and discharge of firearms and machine-gun, possession of such firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death, possession of a machine gun and criminal forfeiture.
The documents said Wilson paid the bounty reward to the co-conspirators.
It’s not immediately clear if the men have retained attorneys.
