New details were revealed Friday in the arrest of rapper Lil Durk, who was taken into federal custody in Florida this week on murder-for-hire charges.
The Chicago rapper's arrest came just one hour before he was slated to leave the country on a flight to Italy, new documents obtained by NBC Chicago showed.
According to the FBI, officials were alerted by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection that the rapper, who's real name is Devontay Durk Banks, had been booked as a passenger on two international flights Thursday. One flight was from Miami to Dubai and another from Fort Lauderdale to Switzerland. Neither flight was boarded, however.
Agents said Banks later booked a third flight on a private plane set to depart Miami for Italy, but he was arrested "in the vicinity of the departing airport" one hour before takeoff.
The Chicago-based rapper had just performed at the city's United Center over the weekend for a Birthday Bash event.
Banks' charges of murder for hire came as five members of the Chicago-based "Only the Family" crew or OTF, which Banks has associations with, were indicted as co-conspirators in a murder-for-hire plot in Los Angeles, California.
A grand jury charged OTF members Kavon London Grant, known as "Cuz" or "Vonnie," Deandre Dontrell Wilson, known as "DeDe," Asa Houston, known as "Boogie," and five unnamed conspirators, as well as Keith Jones, known as "Flacka," and David Brian Lindsey, known as "Browneyez," who are described as "members of other gangs in Chicago."
The indictment claimed the men put a hit out on rapper Quando Rondo, identified as T.B., in retaliation for the shooting death of another Chicago rapper, King Von, who was part of OTF and collaborated with Lil Durk on music.
OTF is known as a rap collective, but according to the criminal complaint released Friday it also "acts as an association-in-fact of individuals who engage in violence, including murder and assault."
But a criminal complaint obtained by NBC Chicago now said it was Banks who put "a monetary bounty out" for the hit following his friend's murder.
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"Evidence shows that Banks ordered T.B.'s murder and that the hitmen used Banks and OTF-related finances to carry out the murder," the complaint states.
What happened?
According to the indictment, the incident first began on Nov. 6, 2020, when an OTF member described only as "D.B." was in a "physical altercation with T.B. at a nightclub in Atlanta, Georgia.
During the fight, an associate of T.B. pulled out a gun and shot D.B. multiple times, killing him." While authorities did not name D.B. in the indictment, rapper King Von, whose real name was Dayvon Bennett, was killed on that same date, NBC News reported at the time. Another man, 34-year-old Mark Blakely, was also killed in the shootout and four others were injured, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.
After D.B.'s murder, someone described as "co-conspirator 1" used coded language to make clear that they would "pay a bounty or monetary reward, and/or make payment to anyone who took part in killing T.B. for his role in D.B.'s murder."
"iCloud records show that a phone number associated with Banks texted Co-Conspirator 3, 'Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit [sic] me.'"
Then, on Aug. 18, 2022, upon learning that T.B. was staying at a Los Angeles hotel, Wilson, Jones, Lindsey, Houston, Grant and co-conspirator 2 traveled to California from Illinois to "track, stalk, and attempt to kill T.B. by gunfire — including with a fully automatic firearm."
Separately, Banks also traveled to California with Grant on a private jet.
"Later that day, Grant purchased ski masks for the shooters to use to commit the murder, and paid for the other co-conspirators’ hotel room using a credit card in Banks’ name," the complaint states.
The men tracked T.B.'s black Escalade to a gas station on Beverly Boulevard and fired multiple rounds into the SUV — resulting in the death of S.R., a passenger in T.B.'s vehicle, the documents 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.
Banks is also now charged with conspiracy to use interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, according to the complaint.
The documents said Wilson paid the bounty reward to the co-conspirators.
It’s not immediately clear if the men have retained attorneys.
Who is Lil Durk?
According to Billboard, Banks, who was born and raised in Chicago, got his start on YouTube and MySpace, with his debut studio album "Remember My Name" released in 2015, making it to No. 14 on the Billboard 200.
He has done collaborations with artists like Drake and J. Cole and has received multiple Grammy nominations, including one for best rap song and best melodic rap performance.
What else to know
Banks had previously faced charges in connection with an Atlanta shooting, but those charges were dropped in 2022.
In September, he celebrated his cleared record on social media.
"My background wiped and clean of all cases. I ain’t a felon anymore. Who would have thought? I want to thank everyone who helped push my vision forward. Thank you from the bottom of my heart," Banks wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Banks, 32, is also being sued by the mother of slain fellow Chicago rapper FBG Duck, who claims Banks and his record label profited off the 2020 shooting death of Duck.
Banks also made financial contributions to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's campaign.
When asked Friday what Johnson planned to do with those contributions following the allegations, the mayor said he would not make any decisions prior to a conviction.
"I don't know all the circumstances and details around, you know, these accusations," Johnson told reporters. "What I do know, though, is that Lil Durk's trying to build financial literacy for children across the city and making other critical investments for the for the for the children of the city, where his heart, you know, has been. And, I mean, there's no secret to the trauma that he grew up in and how he has worked to turn that trauma into opportunities for other for other people."
