Rapper Lil Durk arrested in connection with 2022 murder-for-hire plot

Rapper Lil Durk was arrested in Florida Thursday in connection with a murder-for-hire plot dating back to August 2022.

U.S. Marshals arrested the Chicago artist, real name Durk Banks, Thursday night and booked him into Broward County Jail, pending murder-for-hire charges, WGN-TV and TMZ report. Banks is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday.

Banks was taken into custody the same day that five members of his Only the Family hip-hop group were arrested in Los Angeles in connection with the death of rapper Quando Rondo’s cousin. Though Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, Keith Jones, David Brian Lindsey and Asa Houston allegedly plotted to kill Rondo, he survived the shooting and his cousin died instead.

Rondo, real name Tyquian Terrel Bowman, is believed to have been involved in the November 2020 Atlanta shooting that killed three, including up-and-coming Chicago-born rapper King Von.

Rondo associate Timothy “Lul Tim” Leeks was charged with the murder, though the case was ultimately dismissed.

Banks’ arrest comes just weeks after he was sued in connection with the fatal shooting of rapper FBG Duck in 2020. The suit — which also names Banks’ label, Only Family Entertainment — alleges that he and King Von were among those who conspired to murder FBG Duck, real name Carlton Weekly, as part of a long-running war between two Chicago gangs.

In August 2023, a Lil Durk concert turned violent with the eruption of a crowd rush, following false reports of a shooting. One woman was stabbed in the chaos, which also left three others hospitalized.

In late July 2022, just before the shooting for which he’s now in custody, the rapper announced he would be taking a break from music to “focus on my health.” He decided to step back after his set at Lollapalooza went awry and a pyrotechnic hit him in the eye.