Prosecutors told jurors Tuesday that Chicago rap star Lil Durk “had his shooters on speed dial” when he allegedly set a murder-for-hire plot in motion that left rival rapper Quando Rondo’s cousin dead in Los Angeles. But Durk’s defense lawyers, Brian
Steel and Drew Findling, fired back, calling the government’s case “replete with reasonable doubt” and built on cooperators desperate to avoid life sentences.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello gave the first closing argument on the 13th day of the murder-for-hire trial in downtown Los Angeles, arguing Lil Durk “wanted revenge for a fallen gang member,” a reference to the rapper’s friend and musical protégé King Von.
“No one is saying he was the one on the ground with a gun, but [the shooting] doesn’t make sense without his leadership,” Yanniello said. “Defendant Banks used his money, his power, and his influence to try to kill his biggest opp: Quando Rondo,” he added, arguing that the case “is not about rap” but about the “code of getback.”
“This case is flooded. It is a tsunami of reasonable doubt,” Findling shot back when it was his turn after the lunch break. “This is the bounty case with no money, the stalking case with no stalking.”
Findling and Steel said Lil Durk, born Durk Banks, was being “targeted” by federal prosecutors as a “big fish” and a “carnival prize” in a case that would not have drawn federal attention otherwise, they argued.
Steel told jurors the government’s three star witnesses, all of whom pleaded guilty, “were looking at life” in “a box” when they agreed to testify. Without cooperating, he said, they stood to “die in custody.”
“They are snitches, cooperators, rats. They are getting a potential benefit, and the only way they benefit is if they include Durk,” Steel said.
Banks, 33, and two co-defendants are on trial for conspiracy, stalking resulting in death, and murder for hire. Prosecutors allege Banks placed a bounty on musician Quando Rondo, whose legal name is Tyquian Bowman, because he blamed him for the 2020 shooting death of King Von.
Prosecutors say members and associates of Banks’ Only The Family, or OTF, collective traveled from Chicago to California on Aug. 18, 2022, then followed Bowman through Los Angeles before opening fire on his vehicle at a gas station near the Beverly Center the next day. Bowman survived, but his cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, known as Lul Pab, was killed.
The government’s three cooperating witnesses — Kasey “OTF Jam” Hester, Kavon “OTF Vonnie” Grant, and Keith Jones — admitted to roles in the attack, pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire, and took the witness stand to describe the fatal shooting. They testified Banks was involved and that the shooters expected compensation.
With Banks sitting at the defense table Tuesday, Yanniello showed jurors surveillance photos, text messages, and video linked to the deadly ambush. He played a harrowing 911 call in which an unidentified woman described the broad-daylight shooting at the center of the case.
“They unleashed machine gun fire at rush hour on a Friday,” Yanniello said, referring to three shooters shown on courtroom screens wearing black ski masks. He said the men had been “hunting” Quando Rondo since arriving in Los Angeles but ultimately missed their “intended target,” killing Robinson instead.
Yanniello said Banks funded the alleged conspiracy, with the men’s plane tickets and their stay at a Sheraton hotel charged to his credit cards. He also displayed an Aug. 18, 2022, text message in which Banks wrote, “Don’t book no flights under no names involved wit me.” He claimed it was part of Banks’ effort to cover his tracks. (During the trial, Banks’ lawyers presented evidence that the text instead referred to a friend’s wedding in Mexico that weekend, which Banks decided at the last minute not to attend.)
When it was his turn, Steel argued that Grant, Banks’ former personal assistant, had been calling the shots on his own. Jurors heard evidence that Grant and King Von had been friends since birth, often referred to each other as first cousins, and that Grant was with King Von the night he was killed.
“He is the most manipulative person,” Steel said of Grant, arguing that he had access to Banks’ credit cards and led others to believe he was acting on Banks’ behalf. Findling called Grant a “fraudster” and “the master of deception” who planned the shooting without Banks’ knowledge.
“He has manipulated every single person,” Findling said, noting that Banks fired Grant in early 2023, several months after the killing. “Would you fire someone you assigned to lead a killing? That is preposterous.”
Steel also played audio of an interview in which an investigator told Grant, “This looks like you’re the boss. Are you going down for this one as the boss? Or is there [someone else]?”
Steel asked jurors to “think about what is missing here.” Without the cooperating witnesses’ testimony, he argued, prosecutors had no case.
“This is a decision that will last a lifetime,” Findling told the jury. “You can’t change your mind [after the verdict is read]. This is a lifetime decision. The only verdict is not guilty of all charges.”
During the two weeks of testimony, Hester told jurors that he was recruited for the trip during a phone call that he played on speakerphone in a car while traveling with his wife. He claimed he could hear Banks on a call in the background as the travel plans were made.
Grant, for his part, testified that Banks directed him to obtain a stolen vehicle for the attack and later asked, “Well, do you think that we got him?” Grant testified that Banks appeared “excited” and “joyful” when he later learned Robinson had been killed.
In his closing, Findling played a jail call on which Grant mocked investigators, claiming they “lacked” an understanding of what happened. “Certain things I did on my own,” he was heard saying. “They didn’t figure it out.”
Steel, meanwhile, called Hester a “serial killer” convicted of multiple murders. He referred to Jones as a “hired assassin” who barely knew Banks and “never mentioned” the rapper during his first recorded interview with authorities after his arrest.
Jones testified during the trial that he was told “Durk got a million for us,” which he understood to mean there was a $1 million bounty on Bowman. He also said Grant supplied the weapons, and he claimed he briefly saw Banks on a FaceTime call as the group drove toward Los Angeles.
Defense lawyer Marissa Goldberg argued in her opening statement that Grant was the closest of all the men to King Von and was consumed with a desire for revenge. The defense called witnesses who challenged the cooperators’ accounts, including Hester’s wife, who said the phone call he described ordering him to Los Angeles never happened. King Von’s former girlfriend, Shekema Springfield, took the stand and called Grant “a liar and a thief.”
Months before trial, prosecutors added a murder-in-aid-of-racketeering charge against Banks and his co-defendants. The judge severed that count, and jurors heard no evidence about it.
Jurors are expected to begin deliberating after closing arguments conclude Tuesday. If convicted as charged, Banks could face up to life in prison.
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