Lil Durk Arrested In Florida In Murder-For-Hire Plot

Famed Chicago rapper Lil Durk was arrested Thursday by U.S. marshals in Florida, spokespeople with the Broward County sheriff’s office said.

Initial media reports said the 32-year-old rapper, whose real name is Durk Devontay Banks, was arrested on murder-for-hire charges but details of the case haven’t been revealed. He’s due in court Friday.

Earlier this month, the mother of slain Chicago rapper Carlton Weekly — known as FBG Duck — sued Banks and his OTF record label alleging Lil Durk “was the puppet master of the events leading up to” FBG Duck being gunned down Aug. 4, 2020, while shopping in the Gold Coast.

In January, a federal jury found six men guilty of racketeering and conspiring to kill FBG Duck. Prosecutors alleged the men were gang members within the O Block faction of the Black Disciples, acting in retaliation to the rapper’s alliance with the Tookaville faction of the Gangster Disciples, according to the Sun-Times. 

Years of diss tracks fueled by FBG Duck and the late rapper King Von, an alleged leader of the O Block gang, came to a head in July 2020 when FBG Duck released the song “Dead B—-,” a track that referenced deceased O Block gang members, according to the Sun-Times.

King Von, a close friend and collaborator of Lil Durk, was killed in Atlanta in November 2020, one week after he released his debut album, “Welcome to O’Block.”

The lawsuit also alleges Lil Durk’s record label OTF, or Only The Family, which included Von as a signee, is a criminal enterprise.

The same day Lil Durk was arrested in Florida, five men from Chicago with ties to OTF were arrested for an alleged murder-for-hire conspiracy to kill rapper Quando Rondo in California over his alleged involvement in the shooting death of King Von.

Long a star of the Chicago drill scene, Lil Durk’s celebrity has grown in recent years. He was recently invited to join the Chicago Bears on the field for their game in London, posing for photos with local politicians who also made the trip.

Last week, the mayors of suburban Broadview and Bellwood presented the rapper with keys to the both their villages in partnership with his Neighborhood Heroes Foundation, which supports Chicago youth by promoting education and violence prevention.

An 18-year-old was killed Sunday night in a shooting near a United Center parking lot just minutes before the start of a Lil Durk concert he was planning to attend.