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A grand jury has added new counts to Lil Durk<\/a>\u2019s murder-for-hire case<\/a>, transforming the federal prosecution into a broader racketeering case that now accuses the Grammy-winning rapper and his co-defendants of murder in aid of racketeering and conspiracy to commit stalking.<\/p>\n The third superseding indictment, filed Thursday, introduces a new allegation involving the Jan. 27, 2022, killing of a \u201crival gang member\u201d in Chicago. It accuses the \u201cAll My Life\u201d rapper, born Durk Banks, of acting as the leader of a menacing Chicago street gang and offering a reward that led to the killing.<\/p>\n According to the filing, obtained by Rolling Stone<\/em>, Banks allegedly brought $1 million in cash to a music studio after the purported hit, and an alleged co-conspirator later posted a photo on social media showing off \u201chis monetary reward.\u201d The post quoted Banks\u2019 song \u201cAHHH HA,\u201d with the lyrics, \u201cWe be sliding through they blocks and they don\u2019t know we have,\u201d according to the indictment.<\/p>\n While the previous indictment alleged criminal activity dating to 2020, the new indictment reaches back further, accusing Banks of taking part in an attempted murder in Atlanta on Feb. 5, 2019, that prosecutors say was \u201cmotivated by a dispute over the purchase of a stolen car.\u201d After the alleged victim refused to provide a refund, Banks and others purportedly opened fire, \u201cstriking and wounding\u201d the unidentified seller, the indictment says.<\/p>\n The new count of murder in aid of racketeering, now listed as Count 1, incorporates the allegations involving the alleged Atlanta shooting in 2019 and the 2022 Chicago killing, citing Georgia and Illinois state laws for murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit murder. The count also incorporates the alleged Los Angeles murder-for-hire plot from 2022 previously charged in Banks\u2019 earlier indictments.<\/p>\n Banks, 33, has pleaded not guilty to his prior indictments. He denies claims that he used \u201ccoded language\u201d to hire a group of alleged hitmen to travel to Los Angeles and carry out an execution-style killing in broad daylight on Aug. 19, 2022. Federal prosecutors say the intended target was Tyquian Terrel Bowman, the rapper known as Quando Rondo, whom Banks allegedly blamed for the 2020 shooting death of his friend and prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Dayvon \u201cKing Von\u201d Bennett.<\/p>\n \u201cThis [new] indictment is lipstick on a pig,\u201d Banks\u2019 lawyers, Drew Findling, Marissa Goldberg, Brian Steel, and Christy O\u2019Connor, said in a statement shared with Rolling Stone<\/em> late Thursday. \u201cFor nearly two years now, federal prosecutors have desperately tried to fend off challenges to a very weak case. Now, just two months before trial \u2013 a trial that Durk Banks has demanded at every turn \u2013 they pull this pathetic pivot, recycling old accusations into a scrambling prosecutor\u2019s back-up plan: allege racketeering and as many unrelated false claims as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian\/New Zealand music and globally. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The defense team described the new allegations as a last-ditch effort. \u201cThis is not a sign of strength. It\u2019s an acknowledgment of weakness. The fact remains: Durk Banks is innocent, no matter how many indictments they want to throw at him,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n According to prosecutors, a group of gunmen tracked Bowman to Los Angeles in 2022, then stalked and ambushed him at a gas station near the Beverly Center, firing at least 18 rounds from multiple weapons, including a machine gun. Bowman\u2019s cousin, Saviay\u2019a Robinson, was struck and killed while standing outside a black Escalade, authorities said. Durk was arrested in October 2024<\/a> and has been held without bail<\/a> since.<\/p>\n Banks\u2019 lawyers previously argued that the former indictments were \u201cunconstitutionally vague\u201d and risked a \u201csurprise at trial\u201d because key facts were \u201ccontinually shifting as government cooperators change their stories.\u201d They said prosecutors had failed to provide reasonable detail about the timing, location, and circumstances of the alleged bounty offer or the claim that the killing was carried out \u201cat the direction of\u201d Banks.<\/p>\n In a court filing, Banks\u2019 defense argued that a man identified as \u201cProsecution Witness-1\u201d initially asserted there was no bounty at all and that he did not agree to murder Bowman for money. The defense claimed the man later rose \u201cto meet the occasion\u201d and told investigators that a co-defendant in the case, Deandre Dontrell Wilson, allegedly stayed behind in Los Angeles after the shooting to collect the \u201cbounty\u201d for distribution. The defense argued prosecutors must have determined the man \u201clied\u201d because their first superseding indictment alleged that Wilson agreed to distribute the alleged bounty, while their second superseding indictment deleted that claim.<\/p>\n In a related filing also filed Thursday, prosecutors said they informed Banks\u2019 defense last month that they intended to bring the new charges. \u201cThe government remains prepared to proceed to trial onLove Music?<\/h2>\n
August 20, 2026,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n