Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Durk started his grand trial in Los Angeles Monday on federal charges alleging he ordered a murder-for-hire plot targeting a rival rapper, Quando Rondo, that instead left the rapper’s cousin dead, according to multiple reports.
Jury selection was set to begin Thursday in the closely watched case against Durk, whose legal name is Durk Banks, nearly two years after his arrest. Prosecutors accuse him of putting a bounty on Atlanta rapper Tyquian Bowman, better known as Quando Rondo, and directing members of his Only the Family, or OTF, crew to carry out the killing, according to Billboard.
The alleged plot culminated in an August 2022 ambush at a gas station near the Beverly Center in Los Angeles. Bowman survived, but his cousin, known as Lul Pab, was shot and killed. Durk has pleaded not guilty.
The history of violence from both parties stems from the death of Banks’ close friend and fellow rapper Dayvon “King Von” Bennett outside an Atlanta nightclub in 2020. According to court papers, members of the alleged conspiracy learned Bowman was staying at a Los Angeles hotel in Aug. 2022. Five of Durk’s associates allegedly traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles the following day and used two vehicles to track Bowman before the shooting on Beverly Boulevard.
Durk was not in LA at the time of the shooting, nor had he been previously to the violent crime, which his attorney, Marissa Goldberg, is arguing, stating, “ Prosecutors have no evidence tying back to my client.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Weiner told the jury in his opening that Durk paid for flights taking numerous OTF associates from Chicago to Los Angeles, where the plan was for these individuals to “track, stalk, hunt and kill” Rondo.
“Mr. Banks used his wealth and used his purse strings to put pressure on his OTF members to get that revenge,” said Weiner.
The prosecution’s evidence includes surveillance video of the gas station shooting, text messages and even Durk’s rap lyrics. They also have three cooperating witnesses who’ve pled guilty and will testify against Durk: two of the shooters, Kacey “OTF Jam” and Keith “Flacka” Jones, as well as Kavon “Vonnie” Grant, who prosecutors say was Durk’s “right-hand man” and who procured stolen cars and guns for the crime.
Goldberg used her opening statement to deny Durk’s involvement and turned the blame to cooperating witness Vonnie, stating he is the real mastermind of the plot, and framed Banks due to him having access to Durk’s credit cards since he worked for OTF, giving him a convenient excuse to blame the rap star once he got caught by law enforcement.
“He thought, ‘Oh man, I’ve got an insurance policy,’” said Goldberg of Vonnie’s decision to point the finger at Durk. “I’ve got a big fish I can give them.”
The trial is expected to last several weeks. If convicted on all charges, Durk and his co-defendants face up to life in prison.
