Lil Durk Arrested On Murder-For-Hire Charges (Details)

Lil Durk Arrested On Murder-For-Hire Charges (What We Learned)

Grammy award-winning Chicago rapper Lil Durk got arrested by the FBI in Miami on October 24th on murder-for-hire charges in connection with a fatal shooting ambush in Los Angeles allegedly targeting rapper Quando Rondo. Two years ago, Rondo’s car was ambushed at a gas station in the Beverly Center, allegedly by Durk’s associates, in an attempt to kill Rondo; however, his cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, was fatally shot instead during the violent shooting, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors claim in an affidavit they believe Lil Durk allegedly ordered the orchestrated hit on Quando Rondo due to their ongoing yearslong feud. Lil Durk — real name Durk Devontay Banks — was apprehended near Miami and is being held without bail, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Lil Durk arrested in murder-for-hire plot. Mugshot from Broward Sheriff’s Office U.S. Marshals Service.

United States Department of Justice Speaks

In a press release from the United States Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada called the attack “a cold-blooded murder that resulted in the death of a rival’s family member.”

“The shooting occurred in the open, at a gas station at a busy intersection, endangering many others in the area,” Estrada said. “Violent gun crime of this sort is devastating to our community and we will have zero-tolerance for those who perpetrate such callous acts of violence.”

KTLA reports, according to an affidavit issued by FBI agents, they accused Durk of placing a bounty on Rondo after a 2020 altercation with Rondo and his associates led to the shooting death of Durk’s friend and artist, rapper King Von.

Evidence Presented By Prosecutors

Prosecutors allege in documents before the 2022 shooting, Durk reportedly supplied a credit card to a friend who then bought a hotel room, and masks for the five-man hit squad, as well as providing weapons, and vehicles. Prosecutors also claim they allegedly obtained seemingly incriminating text messages sent from Durk’s cell phone iCloud account to the person who booked flights to L.A. “don’t book flights under no names involved wit me,” KTLA reports. Five of Lil Durk’s alleged associates were also arrested in Chicago as well for their alleged involvement in the slaying.

FBI also accused the rapper of attempting to flee the country before his arrest. “[Durk] had booked one-way flights to Dubai and Switzerland scheduled to leave that night,” the Times reports. “He was also listed as a passenger on a private plane bound for Italy.”

Assistant director in charge of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office, Akil Davis, said in the DOJ release that Durk’s capture “as he attempted to leave the United States is once again proof that the FBI and our extraordinary partners at the Los Angeles Police Department have a long reach.”

“No excuse can justify this violent act and let me be clear: While you’re going about your life, thinking you ‘got away with it,’ the FBI is piecing together the facts that will serve as your undoing,” Davis said.