Chicago drill rapper Lil Zay Osama is among six men facing robbery and kidnapping charges in a federal indictment for their role in a Winnetka home invasion last month in which the intruders allegedly demanded access to a safe, computer and online cryptocurrency accounts.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros’ office announced the charges Tuesday. A seventh man was arrested Tuesday morning with charges pending, the feds said.
The charges follow an investigation that involved the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Winnetka police.
Prosecutors initially filed charges against three of the men March 23, court records show. A superseding indictment on April 16 added three additional defendants. Osama, 28, who now lives in Los Angeles, was among those charged April 16. His real name is Isaiah Dukes.
Three Chicago men were also charged. They are Dashun Brown, 24, David Franklin, 24, and Anthony Ramsey, 22. Also facing charges are Khiell Dukes, 30, of Elgin; and Jalen Chambers, 24, of Bourbonnais.
Documents detailing the allegations against the men remained under seal through Tuesday afternoon. Boutros’ office said the information was sealed while investigators collected evidence to identify additional defendants. The superseding indictment was unsealed Tuesday evening.
Each defendant has pleaded not guilty. U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston held a hearing Tuesday regarding Osama in Rockford. He and the other five defendants have all been ordered detained.
The home invasion occurred on March 8. Brown, Ramsey and Franklin were taken into federal custody March 22, prosecutors said. Osama, Dukes and Chambers were taken into custody April 10.
Prosecutors say Brown posed as a food delivery driver, prompting someone inside the Winnetka home to open the front door. That’s when Brown, Franklin and Chambers allegedly forced their way inside, armed with loaded firearms.
The feds say two unidentified co-conspirators joined them.
The intruders allegedly held the victim captive for about an hour and “used firearms to physically restrain the victim,” prosecutors said. They also allegedly demanded access to the safe, computer and the online accounts.
Eventually, the intruders fled the residence, according to prosecutors. The feds say they then met up with Osama, Dukes, Ramsey and others — who conducted a search to make sure all of the robbery proceeds were collected.
Osama made headlines last December for helping provide Christmas gifts to children who’d been attacked, along with their mother, in South Deering one month earlier.
The rapper blamed the attack on kids having too much time on their hands and said “we need positive distractions from the streets.”
But Osama’s also been in trouble with the feds before. A federal judge in Brooklyn sentenced him in 2024 to 14 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to possession of a machine gun. He left the pistol — affixed with a switch that turned it into an automatic weapon — in the back of a rideshare vehicle that took him from a luxury Manhattan hotel to a recording studio in Queens, prosecutors said.