New indictment adds stalking count against Chicago rapper Lil Durk, drops allegation linking lyrics to slaying
A federal grand jury in California has returned a new indictment against Chicago rapper Lil Durk that removes allegations that his lyrics referenced the August 2022 murder of a rival in Los Angeles but adds a new stalking count.
The second superseding indictment comes as lawyers for Lil Durk, whose real name is Durk Davontay Banks, are attempting again to win his release on bond pending trial based on part on what they say were demonstrably false accusations about his lyrics, which were released months before the slaying of rapper Quando Rondo at the heart of the case.
The new indictment was returned Thursday, according to a prosecution filing in the case, but had yet to be posted on the online docket as of Friday afternoon. In addition to removing the language about the rap lyrics, prosecutors said in the filing, the latest indictment charges Durk and his four co-defendants with stalking resulting in death — which can carry up to life in prison under certain circumstances.
Banks, who remains in custody at the federal lockup in Los Angeles, is expected to be arraigned on the new indictment on Thursday, when his attorneys are also planning to argue again for his pretrial release.
'Defendant Banks has presented a false narrative that he is being prosecuted and detained because of his violent lyrics,' prosecutors wrote in a filing Friday explaining the latest indictment and why he should be considered a danger to the community and flight risk. 'This claim is, and has always been, baseless…He should remain detained pending trial.'
Banks' lawyer, Jonathan Brayman, told the Tribune in a statement Friday the government's decision to remove the reference to his client's lyrics from the indictment 'represents a significant vindication of our position on this critical issue.'
'Our team is currently reviewing the new indictment and will respond accordingly in the ongoing fight to secure Mr. Banks' release and ultimate exoneration,' Brayman said.
Banks, 32, was charged in October with paying five associates of his South Side rap consortium, Only the Family, to kill Quando Rondo — born Tyquian Terrel Bowman — in retaliation for the November 2020 shooting death of King Von, another Chicago drill rap artist and Banks' close friend. Prosecutors allege Banks also offered 'lucrative music opportunities' to those who were accused of taking part in the shooting. He pleaded not guilty in November.
Bowman, his sister and his cousin, Saviay'a Robinson, 24, were riding in Bowman's black Cadillac Escalade near a gas station in West Hollywood in August 2022 when gunmen opened fire, according to the federal charges. Bowman and his sister were not injured, but Robinson was struck multiple times and killed.
Banks was arrested near a Florida airport in late October hours after the indictment against his co-defendants was unsealed. Prosecutors allege Banks had purchased seats on three different international flights shortly before his arrest.
In advance of Banks' first detention hearing in December, prosecutors unsealed court records linking the embattled rapper to another alleged murder-for-hire plot involving the Jan. 27, 2022, killing of Stephon Mack, 24, who was shot to death shortly after he exited the Youth Peace Center of Roseland on West 111th Street.
At the time of his death, according to an FBI search warrant affidavit, Mack was the leader of the Smashville faction of the Gangster Disciples. Banks' brother, Dontay Banks, was shot to death outside a nightclub in south suburban Harvey in 2021. According to the warrant application, another Gangster Disciples faction with ties to Smashville carried out the murder.
'Lil Durk was and still is offering money for people to kill those responsible for his brother's murder, and more specifically, offering to pay money for any Gangster Disciple that is killed,' a federal agent wrote in April 2023.
Banks has not been charged in connection with Mack's death.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
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