LOS ANGELES – The Justice Department announced today that a Grammy Award-winning Chicago rapper has been arrested on a federal criminal complaint that he conspired with others to kill a rival rapper, leading to a shooting and murder that occurred at a petrol station close to the Beverly Centre shopping mall in Los Angeles in August 2022.
The attack resulted in the shooting and death of the rival’s family member. Durk Banks, 32, also known as… On a charge accusing him of conspiring to exploit interstate facilities to carry out murder-for-hire that results in death, “Lil Durk” was taken into custody late Thursday at Miami International Airport.
He is still in federal detention after making his first appearance in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida this afternoon.
Residents in danger
“Mr. Banks is accused of planning a heartless killing that killed a member of a rival’s family,” stated US Attorney Martin Estrada. In addition, a petrol station at a key junction was the site of an open shooting, putting numerous nearby residents in danger. Our community suffers greatly from violent gun crimes of this kind, and those who commit such heartless acts of violence will not be tolerated.
Detectives from the LAPD’s Operation West Bureau Homicide, the FBI, and the Attorney’s Office found that Durk D, also known as Lil Durk, was responsible for this horrible murder. The investigation took hundreds of hours, including monitoring, draughting multiple search warrants, employing forensic technologies, travelling nonstop for investigative purposes, and working with our federal counterparts.
Banks allegedly placed a bounty on T.B.’s life in retaliation for Bennett’s death. Using two automobiles, a number of OTF members and associates tracked, stalked and attempted to kill T.B. for hours on August 19, 2022, which ended with a shooting at a petrol station close to the Beverly Centre mall.
The co-conspirators killed a victim named in court documents as “S.R.”, a member of T.B.’s family who had been travelling with T.B., after firing at least 18 shots at T.B.’s car.The FBI discovered that Banks was booked on three overseas flights that were set to depart the United States on Thursday, following the arrests and search warrants carried out by law authorities in Chicago.
A grand jury delivered the separate indictment on October 17 and indicted the following people in addition to Grant:
Asa Houston, 36, also known as “Boogie,” of Chicago;
Deandre Dontrell Wilson, 33, also known as “DeDe,” of Chicago;
Keith Jones, 33, also known as “Flacka,” of Gary, Indiana;
and David Brian Lindsey, 33, also known as “Browneyez,” of Addison, Illinois.
Together with Grant, these four defendants face one count of conspiracy, one count of using interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire that results in death, and one count of possessing, using, and discharging firearms and a machine gun in the commission of a violent crime that results in death. Jones is also charged with possessing a machine gun.
In the upcoming weeks, these individuals are anticipated to be charged in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles after making their first appearances on Thursday in the Northern District of Illinois. A defendant is accused of committing a crime in both a complaint and an indictment.
Until and unless they are found guilty in court, all defendants are deemed innocent. Each of the five defendants included in the separate indictment, including Banks, would be subject to a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison if found guilty. This is being looked into by the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI.