US rapper Lil Durk arrested in Florida on murder-for-hire charge

Grammy Award-winning US rapper Lil Durk has been arrested on a charge of murder-for-hire, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

Police records seen by US media show the star, real name Durk Devontay Banks, was arrested in Broward County, Florida, on Thursday night and is being held without bail.

The arrest comes a day after five people with ties to Banks’ hip-hop group, Only The Family (OTF), were reported to have been charged in Chicago in connection with a 2022 shooting that killed the cousin of rival rapper Quando Rondo.

Lil Durk has had six albums in the US Billboard chart’s top five since 2019, and has also collaborated with top stars like Drake and J Cole on hit singles.

The 33-year-old, from Chicago, has received four Grammy Award nominations, winning the prize for best melodic rap performance in February for All My Life, featuring J Cole.

Lil Durk founded OTF in 2010 and the group are at the centre of the city’s drill rap scene.

Officials allege the five men charged on Wednesday organised the 2022 shooting in Los Angeles as direct retaliation for the 2020 death of emerging rapper King Von, who was signed to OTF, US media report.

A friend of Quando Rondo was charged with King Von’s murder but the charges were later dropped. Quando Rondo was not arrested or charged.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the new indictment against the five men alleges that an unnamed co-conspirator offered “money and lucrative music opportunities with OTF” to anyone who took part in killing Quando Rondo.

In 2022, some of the accused men allegedly shot at a car travelling with Quando Rondo, his sister and his cousin Saviay’a Robinson.

Quando Rondo and his sister were unharmed but Robinson died.

Earlier this month, the mother of another Chicago rapper, FBG Duck, reportedly filed a lawsuit accusing Lil Durk, OTF and King Von of being involved in shooting him dead in 2020.

Meanwhile, two years ago, Lil Durk had charges including attempted murder dropped following a non-fatal shooting in Atlanta in 2019.

The BBC has contacted Lil Durk’s representatives for comment.