Category - Music
Chart-Topping Rapper Arrested in Murder-for-Hire Plot
Chart-topping rapper Lil Durk was arrested Thursday in Florida on murder-for-hire charges, according to USE Today. The 32-year-old Chicago musician, born Durk Banks, is currently being held at Broward County Jail awaiting extradition by U.S. Marshalls.
Further details about Banks’ arrest have not been divulged. However, the announcement comes shortly after five other people—Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey, and Asa Houston—were arrested and slapped with federal murder-for-hire charges which allegedly stemmed from the targeting of Georgia rapper Quando Rondo. That, in turn, was allegedly retaliation for the murder of Chicago rapper King Von, according to the indictment. Prosecutors claim the other five defendants all have ties to Banks’ hip-hop collective Only the Family.
King Von, born Dayvon Bennett, was part of Only the Family and a close friend to Banks. Bennett was killed on Nov. 6, 2020, after an argument outside of an Atlanta nightclub “escalated to gunfire,” according to the city’s police department. The following month, Banks released “The Voice,” a track paying tribute to Bennett.
Officials say Banks and the other defendants bought plane tickets to Los Angeles in Aug. 2022 for the express purpose of searching for Quando Rondo. They made the purchases using an Only the Family credit card. Though Rondo was uninjured in the subsequent shooting, his 24-year-old cousin was killed.
Banks is best known for hits like "All My Life" with J. Cole, "Laugh Now, Cry Later" with Drake, "Back in Blood" with incarcerated rapper Pooh Sheisty, and "Broadway Girls" with Morgan Wallen.
Banks’ representative did not immediately return a request for comment.