Chicago rapper Lil Durk pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges that he allegedly paid for the attempted revenge killing of rapper Quando Rondo.
Lil Durk, real name Durk Banks, entered the plea at his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Thursday afternoon, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office. A detention hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 12 and a trial date was set for Jan. 7.
Prosecutors have requested Banks be held in custody pending trial because he is a flight risk and poses a danger to the community, according to court documents.
Banks was initially 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 Los Angeles.
Banks was also charged with additional conspiracy and gun charges in a superseding indictment filed last week 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.
The superseding indictment notes Banks released a song that “sought to commercialize” the shooting that targeted Bowman and killed his cousin, Saviay’a Robinson.
The indictment notes 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 wants 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 plot to kill Bowman was 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.
Bennett died while he and Banks were facing charges in connection to another shooting in Atlanta in 2019. The charges against Banks were later dismissed.
Bennett’s death came just months after his bitter rival FBG Duck was gunned down in a daytime shooting in the Gold Coast. Bennett had allegedly placed a bounty on FBG Duck, real name Carlton Weekly, federal prosecutors said.
Six reputed gang members were convicted in the killing in January.
Contributing: Tom Schuba