According to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, rapper Lil Durk was caught in South Florida in a plot to kill someone for money.
The U.S. Marshals Service has Lil Durk in custody. His real name is Durk Devontay Banks.
A federal criminal complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California says that Banks is the leader of a Chicago-based rap collective called Only the Family.
Only the Family is a group of people who do violent things, like murder and assault, on Banks’ orders.
He is accused of putting out a “monetary bounty for an individual with whom Banks was feuding,” as the complaint says.
Banks was in a fight with someone named T.B. in court documents. The fight started when “an associate of T.B. shot and killed an OTF rapper named Dayvon Bennett, a.k.a. ‘King Von,'” who was close with Banks, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
“In response to Bennett’s murder, Banks allegedly put a bounty on T.B.’s life,” the DOJ stated.
On August 19, 2022, almost two years later, several OTF members allegedly used two cars and worked together to “track, stalk, and attempt to murder T.B. at a gas station located in Los Angeles,” according to the complaint.
“The co-conspirators fired at least 18 rounds at T.B.’s vehicle, striking and killing S.R. — T.B.’s family member who was traveling with T.B.,” the case said.
The case is being handled by U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, who said that these kinds of violent gun crimes are “devastating” and “callous.”
In a statement, Estrada said, “Mr. Banks is charged with planning a cold-blooded murder that killed a family member of a rival.” “On top of that, the shooting happened outside, at a gas station near a busy intersection, putting many people in the area in danger.”
The complaint names Banks as one of five people who were involved in the crime. They are all charged with murder, murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death.
The hit men allegedly used funds from Banks and the OTF to pay for the crime, the DOJ said.
Authorities say that five people were paid to go from Chicago to Los Angeles the day before the shooting and kill the person.
“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 [sic] me,'” said the DOJ.
All five people have been arrested, and search warrants were carried out at places linked to the OTF members.
Banks went to court for the first time on Friday afternoon at the C. Clyde Atkins U.S. Courthouse in Miami. Alek Ubieta, Banks’ lawyer, asked for privacy when he got out of court and told WPLG, a Miami ABC affiliate, “We will not be commenting at this time.”
ABC News has also tried to get in touch with Ubieta.
The DOJ said that Banks and the other five defendants will be arraigned in Los Angeles federal court in the next few weeks.
Prosecutors said that if they were found guilty, they would all be sentenced to life in federal prison.
This year, the 32-year-old Chicago rapper won a Grammy for best melodic rap performance for “All My Life” with J. Cole. Both “The Voice,” which came out in 2020, and “7220,” which came out in 2022, were platinum albums. His most recent album was set to come out next month.
Durk is one of the most well-known drill rap artists. Drill rap is a controversial subgenre of hip-hop that began in Chicago and gained popularity thanks to rappers like Durk, Chief Keef, Fredo Santana, and G Herbo. It is linked to Chicago’s gang culture and has lyrics that are often violent.
