A newly unsealed court document alleges that rapper Lil Durk is connected to a 2022 fatal shooting in Chicago.
A warrant application unsealed on Wednesday accuses Lil Durk, whose real name is Durk Devontay Banks, of orchestrating the shooting of alleged gang leader Stephon Mack.
"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 a warrant application filed in April 2023.
Durk's brother, Dontay Banks, was fatally shot outside of a nightclub in 2021. The warrant application said that the Smashville faction of the Gangster Disciples was behind the shooting. Mack was allegedly leading another faction with ties to Smashville.
Durk has not been charged in the shooting.
Who Was Stephon Mack?
Mack, 24, was fatally shot in January 2022 as he exited the Youth Peace Center of Roseland. Two gunmen emerged from a vehicle and fired the fatal shots, police said. Anthony Montgomery-Wilson and Preston Powell were indicted on murder-for-hire charges in 2023.
What Do Court Records Show?
Federal investigators reviewed phone records, social media posts, firearms purchases and lyrics from Lil Durk's song "Ahhh Ha," which was released about a month after Mack's shooting.
Investigators said that a message found on Montgomery-Wilson's phone read, "Did durk gave (sic) u that money."
What Was Lil Durk Charged With?
Durk was indicted on a conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire charge and additional counts last month, accused of conspiring with five others to kill rapper Quando Rondo, whose real name is Tyquian Terrel Bowman.
Rondo was not killed in the shooting, but his 24-year-old cousin, Saviay'a Robinson, did not survive.
"Mr. Banks is charged with orchestrating a cold-blooded murder that resulted in the death of a rival's family member," U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. "Not only that, the shooting occurred in the open, at a gas station at a busy intersection, endangering many others in the area."
What Happened to Lil Durk's Brother, DThang?
Dontay, who performed as DThang, was killed after multiple shots were fired outside Club O in Chicago in June 2021. He was 32 and suffered a gunshot wound to the head.
The gunfire broke out during an altercation. Multiple weapons were recovered from the scene and a police officer was also injured in the shooting.
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