Rapper Lil Durk arrested in Florida on murder for hire charge
Rapper Lil Durk was arrested Thursday in Florida by U.S. Marshals on a charge of murder for hire, according to booking records.
The 32-year-old artist from Chicago, whose legal name is Durk Devontay Banks, was booked into the Broward County jail, and is being held without bail.
NBC News is out to the U.S. Marshals and reps for Lil Durk for comment.
It comes as five people associated with his hip-hop collective, “Only the Family,” were arrested on a federal indictment in California, accused of committing a murder for hire that resulted in death and was allegedly done in revenge for the death of a fellow group member.
Three alleged OTF members — Kavon London Grant, known as “Cuz” or “Vonnie”; Deandre Dontrell Wilson, known as “DeDe”; Asa Houston, known as “Boogie” — were charged by a grand jury for their alleged part in the murder, according to court documents filed Oct. 17 and unsealed Thursday.
Keith Jones aka “Flacka,” and David Brian Lindsey aka “Browneyez,” both said to be members of other gangs in Chicago, according to the documents, were also indicted.
The five men could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.
OTF produces and sells hip-hop music from artists primarily from Chicago. Lil Durk is the founder of the collective, according to The Chicago Tribune, and has a 2018 album under the same title.
The charging document said that on Nov. 6, 2020, a high-ranking OTF member, described by the initials “D.B.,” got into a physical altercation with someone referred to only as “T.B.” at a nightclub in Atlanta, Georgia. During that fight, prosecutors say, an associate of T.B. pulled out a gun and shot D.B. multiple times, killing him.
Though the victim was not named in the charge sheet, on that same date in 2020 NBC News covered the death of Dayvon Daquan Bennett, a rapper who went by “King Von,” in Atlanta who was part of OTF and collaborated with Lil Durk on music.
After D.B.’s death a person, described as a “Co-Conspirator 1,” “made clear, in coded language” that they would “pay a bounty or monetary reward” to “anyone who took part in killing T.B. for his role in D.B.’s murder,” the indictment said.
Then on August 18, 2022, “the conspirators learned that T.B. was staying at a hotel in Los Angeles,” the filing said.
After learning of T.B.’s location, Wilson, Jones, Lindsey and Houston and a person described as “co-conspirator 2” traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles “for the purpose of murdering T.B.” That day Grant also traveled by private jet from Florida to Los Angeles, according to the indictment.
On Aug. 19, 2022, Grant, Wilson, Jones, Lindsey and Houston and Co-Conspirator 2 used two vehicles to “track, stalk and attempt to kill T.B. by gunfire — including with a fully automatic firearm — resulting in the death of S.R.” who was a passenger in T.B.’s vehicle.
The indictment said on that day, Grant, Wilson Jones Lindsey and Houston and Co-Conspirator 2 tracked. T.B.’s black Escalade to a gas station on Beverly Boulevard and Houston rove their vehicle to an alley behind the gas station and parked so that “Jones and Lindsey and Co-Conspirator2 could attempt to murder T.B.”
Jones, Lindsey and Co-Conspirator 2 allegedly fired multiple shots at T.B. but ended up killing S.R., and Wilson paid the bounty/monetary reward on behalf of co-conspirators, the document said.
The charging documents said the five and co-conspirators used “facilities of interstate and foreign commerce” such as planes, cars, cell phones and the internet, “with intent that the murder of T.B. be committed.”
Grant allegedly procured cars, ski masks and firearms that were used to find, track and kill T.B., the indictment 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.
It’s not immediately clear if the men have retained attorneys.
This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.
