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Lil Durk Arrested with Loaded .40-Caliber Handgun in Englewood

By  Mark Konkol and Emily Morris | June 5, 2013 1:45pm 

 Lil Durk, aka Durk D. Banks, 20.
Lil Durk, aka Durk D. Banks, 20.
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Chicago Police Department

CHICAGO — Chief Keef's rapper pal Lil Durk was busted with a loaded .40-caliber handgun in Englewood early Wednesday after he threw the gun into his car as police approached, a source said.

The 20-year-old rapper, whose real name is Durk D. Banks, was picked up about 3 a.m. in the 7200 block of South Green Street, police said.

Lil Durk was standing near a car when police pulled up to investigate a call of a man with a gun. As police arrived, Lil Durk was spotted tossing a gun into the car, the source said.

Police recovered the gun — a loaded .40-caliber weapon — and arrested the rapper without incident, the source said.

Lil Durk, who has a suburban Melrose Park address, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and is expected in bond court Thursday. It is his second offense, police said.

In October 2011, he was hit with gun charges, including possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number. He later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated unauthorized use of a weapon, according to court records.

He's a friend of Interscope Records rapper Chief Keef, whose real name is Keith Cozart. Chief Keef's record deal could be worth as much as $6 million.

Prosecutors have said that Chief Keef, 17, is a member of a faction of the Black Disciples street gang known as "Lamron" — the word Normal spelled backward. Authorities say it's a gang reference to a stretch of Normal Boulevard in Englewood, Chief Keef's old neighborhood.

A source said police believe Lil Durk is also a Black Disciple.

Lil Durk last summer was the target of a YouTube rap video made by rival Joseph "Lil JoJo" Coleman, an 18-year-old who also referenced the Black Disciples in his rap, saying he was "BDK," slang for a Black Disciples killer, the Sun-Times reported.

The South Side gang beef made national news after Lil JoJo was gunned down as he rode double on a bike in Englewood. His slaying has not been solved.

Chief Keef was criticized for tweeting, in the hours after JoJo's murder, that "Its Sad Cuz Dat N---- JoJo Wanted to Be Just Like Us #LMAO." The "laughing my a-- off" tagline drew the criticism, although Chief Keef quickly claimed his Twitter account had been hacked.

Chief Keef has had his own troubles with the law. He was released from juvenile jail earlier this year after serving a 60-day sentence for violating his probation on a gun charge. In that case, authorities said he pointed a gun at a police officer, who fired at him and missed.

He also recently was arrested in suburban Atlanta for disorderly conduct after a security guard smelled pot smoke and confronted him.

And, just last week, he was clocked doing 110 mph on the Edens Expy. in Northfield and arrested, police said.

"That's a fast car, that's why I bought it," Chief Keef could be heard saying on the officer's dashboard camera microphone.

Just this week, Chief Keef was named by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of 2013's "New Troublemakers."

Lil Durk's arrest comes a month after rapper Lil Reese, also a pal of Chief Keef and Lil Durk, was arrested on a warrant out of Champaign after cops found him sleeping in his car.

Soon after the rapper, whose real name is Tavares Taylor, was charged in connection with a YouTube video police said showed him beating a woman in Champaign apartment.

In Lil Durk's 2011 arrest, police spotted him while chasing someone else, according to court records.

Banks darted into a nearby gangway and ditched a loaded nickel semiautomatic handgun beneath a car, according to court records. He ran into a home in the 6400 block of South Eggleston, where police found him sitting on the couch, according to court records.

The gun was recovered, and Banks was charged. He eventually bailed out of jail pending his trial.

He pleaded not guilty but later accepted a plea deal, admitting only to one count of aggravated unauthorized use of a weapon, records show.

He was sentenced to one year in prison in April 2012.

Contributing: Erin Meyer