Federal prosecutors revealed Thursday that Chicago rapper Lil Durk has been suspected of paying gunmen to kill a gang rival on the Far South Side, as they pushed a federal judge to order him held in custody pending trial in a separate murder for-hire plot against a fellow rapper in California.
Lil Durk, real name Durk Banks, was expected to appear later Thursday at a detention hearing before Judge Patricia Donahue in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles, where he faces charges stemming from an August 2022 shooting that killed the cousin of rapper Quando Rondo — the target of the attack.
Lil Durk had allegedly placed a bounty on the head of Quando Rondo, real name Tyquian Bowman, in retaliation for the killing of King Von, another Chicago rapper who was Lil Durk’s protege. Lil Durk has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors on Wednesday unsealed FBI search warrant affidavits alleging that Lil Durk had hatched another murder-for-hire plot months earlier to avenge the death of his brother, Dontay “D Thang” Banks, who was killed outside of a Harvey strip club in June 2021.
The earlier shooting unfolded on the afternoon of Jan. 27, 2022 and targeted Stephon Mack as he was leaving an anti-violence program in Roseland.
Mack was the leader of a faction of the Gangster Disciples and was close to a member of the gang set responsible for Dontay Banks’ killing, according to an FBI agent. Lil Durk is associated with the Lamron faction of the Black Disciples, although the feds have also indicated that his record label Only The Family doubles as a criminal enterprise.
“Lil Durk was and still is offering money for people to kill those responsible for his brother’s murder, and more specifically, offering to pay money for any Gangster Disciple that is killed,” the FBI agent wrote in April 2023.
Lil Durk appeared to have paid at least one of the men charged in the shooting, who was seen flashing a stack of money in an Instagram post soundtracked by a Lil Durk song that allegedly referenced Mack’s killing.
Prosecutors have similarly alleged that Lil Durk released another song bragging about the slaying of Quando Rondo’s cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, saying the track “sought to commercialize the shooting.”
Last week, Lil Durk’s attorneys said that claim showed the feds have built a weak case.
“When you see an artist’s rap lyrics quoted as ‘evidence’ against them,” the lawyers wrote, “it is a glaring indication that there is no real evidence against that person.”
However, prosecutors have already detailed evidence showing that credit cards associated with Lil Durk’s record label were used to book flights and a hotel room ahead of the attack — despite the rapper insisting he didn’t want a paper trail leading back to him.
Lil Durk was arrested in Florida on Oct. 24, the same day an indictment was unsealed charging five associates linked to the slaying. He was attempting to take a private jet to Italy — one of three international flights he’d booked.
Ahead of Thursday’s hearing, Lil Durk’s high-powered legal team filed a motion seeking his release on a series of conditions.
Under their proposal, he would post bond secured by $2.3 million in two homes in Georgia and $1 million in cash from Sony Music, his record label. He would also wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, have “around-the-clock security services” and report to pretrial court services.
But prosecutors insisted that “no condition or combination of conditions can ensure defendant Banks’ appearance or protect the community," noting the violent allegations and apparent attempt to flee the country.
In citing the newly unsealed records, the feds said Lil Durk’s “modus operandi is clear: he will use his power, his money, his influence, and any pretrial release to endanger anyone who he perceives as a threat, including witnesses in this case.”
Lil Durk remains held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.
The target of the alleged murder-for-hire scheme, Quando Rondo, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison in an unrelated drug case.
