CHICAGO — Chicago rapper Lil Durk pleaded not guilty to murder-for-hire charges at his Los Angeles arraignment Thursday, three weeks after his dramatic arrest in Miami as he allegedly tried to flee the country.

Lil Durk, 32, whose real name is Durk Davontay Banks, was accused of paying five associates of his South Side rap consortium “Only the Family” to kill a rival artist. The men he allegedly hired traveled to Los Angeles in August 2022 and opened fire on the rival’s vehicle, fatally striking the man’s cousin, according to the federal charges.

Banks has been held without bond at the federal lockup in Florida since Oct. 24, when he was arrested by law enforcement as he headed to a Miami-area airport. The charges allege Banks had booked three separate international flights and was planning to board a private jet to Italy when he was taken into custody.

Banks was scheduled for a detention hearing in December in the case. Banks was taken by the marshals to California Wednesday and is currently being held in the federal lockup there.

Prosecutors asked that Banks remain behind bars pending trial, saying he is a flight risk and a danger to the community.

The charges are the latest to come from an ongoing violent feud between rival groups of rappers that spans from Chicago’s South Side to both coasts.

Banks and five associates were originally charged last month in separate cases that alleged a cross-country conspiracy to avenge the 2020 slaying of King Von, born Dayvon Bennett, another Chicago rapper and close friend of Banks who was gunned down in Atlanta in 2020.

Banks is accused of offering money and “lucrative music opportunities” to anyone who would kill Quando Rondo, a Georgia-based rapper whose real name is Tyquian Terrel Bowman.

Bowman, his sister and his cousin, Saviay’a Robinson, 24, were riding in Bowman’s black Cadillac Escalade near a gas station in West Hollywood in August 2022 when gunmen opened fire, according to the charges. Bowman and his sister were not injured, but Robinson was struck multiple times and killed.

A superseding indictment made public last week also alleged Lil Durk “sought to commercialize” Robinson’s death.

After the shooting, Banks released a song that included news footage that featured Bowman’s reaction to his cousin’s death. The song, the indictment stated, “explicitly references audio from a news clip taken shortly after (Robinson’s) murder where (Bowman) screamed ‘no, no!’ after seeing (Robinson’s) dead body.”

Banks was charged in the indictment with conspiracy and one count of use of interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire resulting in death. The indictment also charged him with one count of using, carrying and discharging firearms and a machine gun, as well as possession of such firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death.

The five associates named in the indictment were: Kavon London Grant; Deandre Dontrell Wilson; Keith Jones; David Brian Lindsey; and Asa Houston. They were arrested in the Chicago area hours before Banks was picked up, and are all being held without bond.

The most serious charges carry mandatory life in prison if convicted, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

OTF was founded by Lil Durk more than a decade ago as Chicago’s drill rap scene was gaining international attention. Federal prosecutors say the group primarily “produced and sold hip hop music” from artists from Chicago.

FBG Duck, the Chicago drill rapper, was killed in a hail of gunfire on Oak Street in 2020, and his slaying led to the convictions of six men in a federal conspiracy trial in January. Last month, FBG Duck’s mother filed a lawsuit alleging Lil Durk, OTF and King Von were involved in the shooting, as well. The lawsuit alleges that OTF operates as a criminal enterprise.

According to the initial indictment, after tracking Bowman to the Los Angeles area, Grant rented a hotel room for the co-conspirators on Aug. 18, 2022, and later met them there. He brought several firearms, including one that had been modified to operate as a fully automatic machine gun.

Grant also provided two rented vehicles to “use to find, track and kill” Bowman, the indictment stated, a white BMW sedan and a white Infiniti. The group followed and tracked Bowman’s black Escalade from his hotel to a marijuana dispensary and then a clothing store in downtown Los Angeles, the indictment stated.

A surveillance image included in the indictment allegedly shows the BMW and Infiniti following the Escalade as it traveled between stores.

When Bowman stopped at a gas station, Houston drove around to the alley and let Jones and Lindsey and another unidentified co-conspirator out to carry out the shooting, according to the indictment.

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