Lawyers representing Chicago rapper Lil Durk in a murder-for-hire trial slammed federal prosecutors Thursday — claiming the evidence presented was "lacking."
Lil Durk, real name Durk Banks, was charged with a murder-for-hire conspiracy in a criminal complaint filed Oct. 24 — the same day an indictment was unsealed charging five others in the 2022 attack that killed the cousin of Quando Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Bowman.
In a statement released Thursday, Banks' lawyers claimed prosecutors' use of lyrics quoted as evidence was a "glaring indication that there is no real evidence" and called it "false and lacking in the most basic due diligence."
"The real truth is that Durk Banks is a Grammy Award winning artist, a dedicated father and a loving husband," Banks' lawyers added. "Mr. Banks has been intensely committed to giving back to the Chicago community he loves through his Neighborhood Heroes Foundation and has put on more than a dozen charitable events over the last few years."
Banks was also charged with additional conspiracy and gun charges in a superseding indictment filed last month in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He faces up to life in prison. Banks has been held without bail since his arrest on Oct. 24.
Banks pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last month in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. A detention hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 12 and a trial date was set for Jan. 7.
Lawyers Thursday said Banks was "looking forward to fighting against these false allegations in court."
The superseding indictment notes Banks released a song that “sought to commercialize” the shooting that targeted Bowman and killed his cousin, Saviay’a Robinson.
In the song, released months after the shooting, Banks referenced a news report in which Bowman was heard screaming after seeing Robinson’s dead body, the feds say. “No, no!” Bowman said in the clip.
“Told me they got an addy, go,” Banks rapped, referring to an address. “Told me they got location, go. Green light, go, go, go. Look on the news and you see your son. You’re screaming, ‘no, no.’”
The indictment alleges that Banks’ record label, Only the Family, doubled as a violent criminal organization whose members engaged in “murder and assault at the direction of defendant Banks and to maintain their status in OTF.”
“Banks would place bounties on individuals that he and other OTF members wanted to kill, including [Bowman],” prosecutors said. “As part of the bounty, co-conspirators known and unknown … would pay anyone who took part in the killing of [Bowman] and/or reward individuals with lucrative music opportunities with OTF.”
Also charged are: Kavon “Cuz” or “Vonnie” Grant; Deandre “DeDe” Wilson; Keith “Flacka” Jones; David “Browneyez” Lindsey; and Asa “Boogie” Houston. All five were arrested in Chicago.
The defendants learned Bowman was staying at a hotel in Los Angeles on Aug. 18, 2022, according to the feds. An unnamed accomplice used credit cards associated with OTF to book flights and a hotel room, despite Banks insisting he didn’t want a paper trail leading back to him.
“Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me,” Banks allegedly wrote in a text message to the accomplice that day.
Wilson, Jones, Lindsey, Houston and an unnamed co-conspirator flew from Chicago to Los Angeles, prosecutors said. Banks and Grant traveled there separately on a private jet “to help coordinate the murder.”
Banks later used “coded language” to make clear “that he would pay a bounty or monetary award” to those involved in the shooting, prosecutors said.
The plot was allegedly hatched in retaliation for the killing of King Von, a Chicago rapper who was Banks’ protege. King Von, real name Dayvon Bennett, was shot and killed outside an Atlanta hookah lounge during an altercation with Bowman and his crew on Nov. 6, 2020.
Lawyers representing Banks did not immediately respond to a request for details.
