By Daniel Trotta
(Reuters) - Grammy-winning rapper Lil Durk has been arrested on suspicion of ordering the murder of a rival in 2022 from his position as leader of the Chicago-based rap collective Only the Family, federal prosecutors said.
The arrest took place on Thursday near an airport where Lil Durk, whose real name is Durk Devontay Banks, was booked on a flight leaving the United States, according to a criminal complaint.
A defense attorney representing the artist did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for a statement in his defense.
Lil Durk made his initial appearance in federal court in the Southern District of Florida on Friday and was expected to be arraigned in federal court in Los Angeles in the coming weeks, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office for the Central District of California, where the charges have been filed.
Lil Durk, 32, was revealed to be the suspect previously identified as Co-Conspirator 1 in an Oct. 17 indictment of five other suspects charged in connection with a 2022 murder, according to the indictment.
The intended target was a man identified as T.B. who Lil Durk wanted dead, prosecutors allege. The five other defendants learned T.B. was staying in Los Angeles, tracked him there and opened fire, including with a fully automatic weapon, but instead killed an associate identified as S.R., the indictment said.
The dispute stemmed from a November 2020 confrontation in an Atlanta nightclub where an associate of T.B. shot and killed another man and Lil Durk put out a hit on T.B. for revenge, according to the complaint. It was one of multiple bounties Lil Durk placed on people he wanted dead, the indictment said.
Lil Durk won the 2024 Grammy for Best Melodic Rap Performance for "All My Life." He released his ninth studio album on Oct. 18, according to his social media.
(This story has been corrected to say an 'associate of T.B.', not 'T.B.', in paragraph 7)