Authorities released images of gunmen shooting at the victim’s vehicle at a gas station at La Cienega and Beverly boulevards. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office)

Federal authorities have announced additional charges against a Chicago rap artist accused of plotting a contract killing against a rival that led to the fatal shooting at a gas station at Beverly and La Cienega boulevards in August 2022.

A superseding federal grand jury indictment accuses 32-year-old Durk Banks of conspiring with others to commit the murder. Banks is charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death, and one count of using, carrying and discharging firearms and a machine gun in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death. The indictment adds two felony charges against Banks, who was previously charged in a criminal complaint in the case on Oct. 17.

The four-count supplemental indictment names Banks as the lead defendant in the case. Also charged are Kavon London Grant, 28, of Atlanta; Deandre Dontrell Wilson, 33, of Chicago; Keith Jones, 33, of Gary, Indiana; David Brian Lindsey, 33, of Addison, Ill.; and Asa Houston, 36, of Chicago. Banks was arrested Oct. 17 near Miami International Airport after law enforcement learned he had booked an international flight. A federal judge in Miami has ordered him held without bail until he is transferred to Los Angeles for arraignment. All six defendants are expected to be arraigned in the coming weeks in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

Banks allegedly staged a contract killing against a rival rapper, identified in court documents as TB. The feud stemmed from a 2020 murder in which a TB employee shot and killed a person who was a close friend of Banks. In response to the murder, Banks allegedly put a bounty on TB’s life, prosecutors said.

On August 19, 2022, several of Banks’ associates used two vehicles and worked together to detect tuberculosis, culminating in a shooting at a gas station on the northeast corner of Beverly and La Cienega boulevards, across from the Beverly Center shopping center. The co-conspirators used multiple weapons, including a machine gun, and fired at least 18 shots into TB’s vehicle, striking and killing one victim, identified in court documents as SR. The deceased victim was a family member of TB who had traveled with him. Prosecutors said Banks ordered TB’s murder and that the hit men used Banks’ money to carry out the crimes.

If convicted, all defendants face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison. The FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department are investigating the case.