Odee Perry’s murder accelerated a yearslong Chicago gang war stoked by some of the city’s hottest rappers and sensationalized by bloggers and YouTubers who track the city’s street violence.
Perry, 20, was shot to death in August 2011 near the Parkway Gardens housing complex in a violent stretch of South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on the South Side that grew to be widely known as O Block in his memory. His Black Disciples gang faction took on the same name — just before Chicago’s drill rap scene exploded in popularity.
Chief Keef, Lil Durk and King Von — rap stars who have aligned with the O Block faction — have referred to Perry in their music while disrespecting the Tookaville Gangster Disciples, the faction allegedly responsible for his killing.
Rapper FBG Duck, Tookaville’s most prominent member, responded in July 2020 with a scathing song called “Dead B------” that targeted Perry and other fallen O Block members.
“Said I wasn’t gonna diss the dead and OK, I did it,” FBG Duck, real name Carlton Weekly, rapped in a video that has more than 41 million views on YouTube.
Less than a month later, on Aug. 4, 2020, he was killed in a hail of bullets during a daytime attack outside the Dolce & Gabbana store at 68 E. Oak St. on the Gold Coast that also left his girlfriend and someone else waiting in line with him wounded.
On Tuesday at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago, six reputed O Block “members and associates” — most of them little-known rappers — are set to go on trial in a racketeering and murder case: Charles “C Murda” Liggins; Kenneth “Kenny” or “Kenny Mac” Roberson; Tacarlos “Los” Offerd; Christopher “C Thang” Thomas; Marcus “Muwop” Smart; and Ralph “Tall” or “Teezy” Turpin. Another suspect died by suicide.
The case is expected to not only further pull back the curtain on O Block’s workings but also to spotlight connections between Chicago’s gang and rap cultures — an intersection that for years has been painstakingly documented in fringe rap blogs, YouTube videos and online forums.
‘Duck had a price on his head’
Interest in the case has grown amid allegations that King Von, a purported O Block leader whose real name is Dayvon Bennett, called for FBG Duck’s killing. Roberson told a witness cooperating with investigators that he took part in the shooting because King Von had “placed a hit” on FBG Duck, prosecutors wrote in an Aug. 4 court filing.
Two informants backed up that claim, one telling investigators, “Duck had a price on his head,” Chicago police records show.
The name of the person said to have placed the bounty was redacted, but the informant offered some crucial identifying information: That person had bought custom necklaces for O Block members.
Prosecutors noted that King Von had paid $128,000 to buy diamond-encrusted O Block pendants from a jewelry store in Atlanta, keeping the biggest one for himself and giving the others to members of his gang. A video showing King Von designing and trying on several pendants remains on YouTube.
King Von ordered most of the pendants before FBG Duck was killed and bought some afterward, according to prosecutors.
A witness also identified King Von as the gunman who killed Gakirah Barnes, a female gang assassin suspected of killing Perry, his close friend.
King Von was shot to death outside an Atlanta hookah lounge in November 2020, a week after he released his debut album, “Welcome to O’Block,” which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart. Another rapper was charged with his killing, but the case was dismissed in June.
King Von was a protege of Lil Durk, real name Durk Banks, a stalwart of Chicago’s drill rap scene who has scored three Grammy nominations and two chart-topping albums in recent years; performed at halftime of Wednesday’s Chicago Fire FC-Inter Miami FC game at Soldier Field; and has become a big enough figure that then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot attended a charity event he hosted in February.
Lil Durk and King Von were charged with attempted murder over a shooting outside an Atlanta restaurant in February 2019. Lil Durk’s charges were dropped in October 2022 by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis, who has filed a racketeering case against Atlanta rapper Young Thug and his YSL crew that has similarities to the O Block prosecution.
Lil Durk and his brother, rapper D Thang, are both cited in the recent court filing in the FBG Duck case, though Lil Durk isn’t identified by name.
Turpin allegedly alerted O Block members that FBG Duck was shopping on Oak Street, and he made a call inside a store that was caught on video. During the call, Turpin made clear that he was trying to get in touch with D Thang, whose real name is Dontay Banks Jr.
D Thang was killed outside a Harvey strip club in June 2021 in a shooting that also left a police officer wounded.
The court filing notes that he was “the older brother of Individual E,” described as a high-ranking Black Disciples member aligned with the Lamron faction that’s “cliqued up” with O Block. That description fits Lil Durk, who tweeted that he wanted to buy the sprawling Parkway Gardens housing complex after the Chicago Sun-Times reported in 2021 that it was for sale before the sale plans were dropped.
Lil Durk has had close ties to Smart and has repeatedly taken verbal shots at Shondale “Tooka” Gregory, 15, who was killed months before Perry and for whom the Tookaville faction is named.
‘Let off 20 shots, walk him down’
Offerd wanted U.S. District Judge Martha Pacold to keep the violent lyrics and music video for a song he released after FBG Duck’s killing from being mentioned during the coming trial. But Pacold ruled against him Tuesday on that point.
Offerd, whose stage name is Losa Dosa, is wearing an O Block pendant in the video for “Neva Change” as he stands in Parkway Gardens and raps, “Let off 20 shots, walk him down, let the rest out.”
Richard Kling, an IIT Chicago Kent College of Law professor who is representing Offerd, argued that allowing the video as evidence would be prejudicial. Prosecutors responded that they plan to use a 39-second clip of the video and a handful of still images to show Offerd’s membership in O Block, the existence of a criminal enterprise, the gang’s racketeering activities and his association with Smart, who appears alongside Offerd.
In the portion of the song prosecutors want to highlight, Offerd refers to O Block as “my f------ gang” and to using a gun equipped with a device known as a switch that converts handguns into illegal machine guns.
Other lyrics that mention acts of violence and weapons won’t be allowed to be presented as evidence, though prosecutors say drill rap is central to O Block’s identity.
“In their songs and accompanying music videos, O-Block members assert their association with O-Block, brag about criminal activities or publicly claim responsibility for acts of violence committed by O-Block, taunt rival gang members, and mock and disparage opposing gang members,” prosecutors wrote in a Sept. 28 court filing.
As the trial nears, prosecutors successfully argued that jurors’ names should be kept secret, citing the “significant publicity surrounding this case,” the potential life sentences the defendants could face if convicted, and their connection to a gang faction they have said has the capacity to harm jurors and interfere with the proceedings.
Prosecutors said in the Sept. 8 filing that speculation about FBG Duck’s killing has continued in online outlets and communities that “exist to discuss and dissect the Chicago drill music scene, including who dissed who, who went to jail for what and who, allegedly, is ‘snitching’ in this and many other criminal cases.
“These forums also provide a place for users to erroneously analyze, in detail, filings from the docket in this matter, records purporting to be related to this matter from other sources and other materials related to this case,” prosecutors wrote, singling out a Reddit forum called Chiraqology.
The online scrutiny and media attention “enhances the possibility that the jurors’ names would become public and expose them to intimidation and harassment and potentially harm,” prosecutors said.
Steve Greenberg, the lawyer representing Roberson, argued that keeping the identities of jurors secret would be an unnecessary and “extreme measure,” that there haven’t been any threats and that coverage of the case has “waned significantly,” pointing to the results of a Google search for Turpin, the defendant most recently indicted.
In convincing Pacold to seat an anonymous jury, prosecutors responded that there weren’t any jurors yet to threaten. They also detailed recent news coverage, including a documentary episode produced by the “global superstar” 50 Cent.
Meanwhile the rap blogosphere keeps churning out material on the coming trial in Chicago.
In an interview posted to YouTube on Sept. 12, Chicago rapper Tay Capone said prosecutors’ handling of the case has been “eye-opening,” describing their approach as being like something out of TV’s “Law and Order” and the YSL case in Atlanta.
“Growing up, you hear stories about s--- like this happening,” he said.
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