Lil Durk Put a Bounty on Quando Rondo for ‘Revenge,’ Jury Told as Murder-for-Hire Trial Opens
A federal prosecutor told jurors on the first day of Lil Durk ’s murder-for-hire trial that the Chicago rapper put out a hit on rival Quando Rondo after becoming “consumed with revenge” for the murder of fellow rapper King Von .
Opening statements were held at the Downtown Los Angeles federal courthouse on Monday (Aug.
24) for charges that the rapper (Durk Banks) ordered his Only the Family (OTF) label crew to kill Rondo in retaliation for Von’s 2020 killing.
Rondo was shot at a Los Angeles gas station in 2022 and survived, but another man known as Lul Pab was killed in the crossfire.
Durk and several others are charged with counts including conspiracy, stalking and murder-for-hire.
Related Rap On Trial: The Long Battle to Keep Hip-Hop Lyrics Out of Court Dale Morris, Nashville Manager Who Guided Careers of Alabama & Kenny Chesney, Dies at 89 HYBE Pledges Over $300k for Colombia Earthquake Recovery 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.
Durk has consistently maintained his innocence since being arrested in 2024 .
One of his defense lawyers, Marissa Goldberg, argued in her own opening on Monday that Durk had “nothing to do with” the shooting, and there isn’t any evidence to show he paid for a hit.
Goldberg said the real mastermind of the plot was Vonnie, who had been best friends with Von since birth and had been the one to drive the rapper to the hospital in 2020 while he bled out in his backseat.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.billboard.com — the content belongs to Billboard.