Lil Durk’s 2nd Racketeering Trial Set for 2027 After Murder-for-Hire Acquittal
Billboard ·
In the meantime, the rapper's lawyers will likely argue that last month’s bombshell verdict undermines the second case.
Lil Durk is still facing a racketeering charge after being acquitted of ordering Quando Rondo ’s murder, but a follow-up trial isn’t on the calendar until next summer.
A Wednesday (Sept. 30) court order, obtained by Billboard , delayed Durk’s second trial from a placeholder date of Oct. 5, 2026, until Aug. 30, 2027. In the meantime, the rap star’s lawyers are likely preparing to argue that last month’s bombshell verdict undermines the second case.
The “All My Life” hitmaker (Durk Banks) was found not guilty of murder-for-hire following a two-week trial, in which prosecutors accused him of putting a bounty on Rondo in retaliation for the 2020 killing of his close friend and collaborator King Von . Rondo was shot at a Los Angeles gas station in 2022 and survived, but his cousin Saviay’a Robinson, also known as Lul Pab, was killed in the crossfire.
Durk remains subject to one more criminal count under the federal Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering Activity (VICAR) statute, which broadly criminalizes gang violence. Prosecutors recently added this charge to Durk’s case — a last-minute move criticized by Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald, who excluded it from the original trial.
The VICAR charge alleges that a subset of Only the Family (OTF), Durk’s Chicago-based record label, functioned as a violent gang. Prosecutors claim this racketeering enterprise led to the Rondo shooting in Los Angeles, as well as the alleged 2022 killing of a rival gang member in Chicago and an attempted 2019 murder in Atlanta. Durk was previously arrested over the Atlanta incident but had the charges dropped .
Durk’s legal team panned the VICAR charge when it came out in June, calling it “lipstick on a pig” and a “pathetic pivot.”
“[They are] recycling old accusations into a scrambling prosecutor’s back-up plan: allege racketeering and as many unrelated false claims as possible,” said defense lawyers Brian Steel , Drew Findling , Marissa Goldberg and Christy O’Connor at the time. “This is not a sign of strength. It’s an acknowledgment of weakness. The fact remains: Durk Banks is innocent, no matter how many indictments they want to throw at him.”
Now, it’s likely that Durk’s lawyers will attempt to get the VICAR count either dismissed or trimmed down significantly. They may attack the case under double jeopardy rules, arguing it heavily overlaps with the earlier case over the Rondo shooting in which Durk was acquitted by a jury of his peers.
Durk’s team declined to comment on the remaining charge on Thursday (Oct. 1). A rep for the prosecution did not immediately return a request for comment.
The rapper’s first trial captivated the hip-hop world and drew all-star supporters like Ye (formerly Kanye West ) and mgk to the courthouse. The prosecution’s case rested largely on testimony from three cooperating witnesses : Kacey “OTF Jam” Hester, Keith “Flacka” Jones and Kavon “Vonnie” Grant. The trio told jurors that Durk planned for a group of shooters to travel from Chicago to Los Angeles in 2022 and offered cash rewards for the attack, though no payments were ever completed.
The jury also heard some of Durk’s music during the trial, including his top 40 hits “Who Want Smoke??”, “Ahhh Ha” and “Pissed Me Off.” Prosecutors argued that Durk telegraphed the Rondo murder plot in these tracks, such as in the “Ahhh Ha” lyrics, “Don’t respond to s–t with Von/ I’m like, ‘f–k it, you trippin’, go get your gun’/ They droppin’ locations, I’m gettin’ it done/ F–k tweetin’, we slidin’, the feds are comin’.”
Durk has consistently maintained that he had nothing to do with the shooting. His lawyers argued throughout the trial that the government cooperators were lying and that Vonnie, who had access to Durk’s credit cards as his personal assistant, was the real mastermind of the plot. They leaned hard into attacking Vonnie’s credibility, playing recordings of jailhouse phone calls where he said the trial would be his “time to shine” and “perform.”
The defense also strongly urged jurors not to give any weight to Durk’s lyrics, saying his music is artistic expression tailored towards commercial appeal and does not reflect any literal plans or admissions. The use of rap lyrics in criminal trials is a controversial practice that’s been banned by many states but remains legal in federal prosecutions.
Durk was ultimately acquitted of all the counts on the table in that first trial: murder-for-hire, stalking and conspiracy. Two alleged co-conspirators, David “Browneyez” Lindsey and Deandre “OTF Dede” Wilson, were convicted of stalking and conspiracy but acquitted of murder-for-hire too. They’ll be sentenced at a later date.