Trump commutes sentence of former Chicago gang leader Larry Hoover
It's one of several actions announced by Trump announced Thursday, May 28 that also includes the pardon a former U.S. Army officer who was found guilty by a special court martial during the Biden administration for refusing to follow COVID-19 safety measures, a pair of reality television personalities and former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who resigned after being convicted of tax fraud.
Hoover led the Gangster Disciples and was convicted in a 1973 murder in Illinois, court documents say. While serving up to 200 years for the crime, he was convicted of several federal crimes associated with continuing to run the gang from prison, tacking on a life sentence in 1997.
Trump's action wipes out his federal charges, but the original state charges remain in effect, keeping the 74-year-old behind bars.
The former gang leader attracted celebrity support over the last several years. Chicago-born rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and Drake hosted a "Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert" at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum December 2021. Ye posted to X May 28 thanking the president for commuting the sentence. Hoover's son, Larry Hoover Jr., who has publicly advocated for his father’s release and for prison reform and sentencing fairness, thanked Ye after the commutation was announced.
Beginning in the early 1970s, the Gangster Disciples sold cocaine, heroin and other drugs in Chicago. At its height, the criminal enterprise had approximately 6,000 members and raked in $100 million annually, according to court documents. Hoover, also known as "King Hoover," led the gang internally referred to as "the Family," court filings say.
Hoover, alongside fellow gang member Andrew Howard, was convicted of murdering 19-year-old drug dealer William "Pooky" Young in 1973 and was sentenced to a term of 150 to 200 years imprisonment. While serving the sentence, the government in 1993 obtained recordings of the convicted gang leader by hiding transmitters in badges worn by Hoover’s visitors, leading to federal charges associated with Hoover continuing to lead the Gangster Disciples from behind bars.
Hoover has spent nearly three decades serving the sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorado.
The president, on a pardon spree, shortened the infamous former gang leader’s sentence after years of advocates pressing for his release.
President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of Larry Hoover, the infamous former gang leader from Chicago, according to a White House official.
Hoover, the co-founder of Chicago gang Gangster Disciples, has been serving multiple life sentences since the 1970s. He has multiple state and federal convictions, including for murder and founding a criminal enterprise. He has made repeated requests to shorten his sentence, including under the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform bill passed during Trump’s first term.
The son of Larry Hoover has thanked Kanye West after his father’s prison sentence was commuted by Donald Trump, but what does the rapper have to do with it?
News emerged on Wednesday (28 May) that Larry Hoover Sr, who co-founded the Chicago street gang the Gangster Disciples, was to have his prison sentence commuted by US president Trump.
Following the announcement, Hoover’s son Hoover Jr thanked West, also known as Ye, crediting the rapper and his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, for putting him in touch with Alice Marie Johnson who he referred to as the “pardon czar”.
President Trump on Wednesday commuted the sentence of notorious former Chicago street gang leader Larry Hoover, who was serving multiple life sentences in federal prison.
Hoover, 74, the co-founder of the Chicago gang Gangster Disciples, was already serving a 200-year sentence on state charges in Illinois for the 1973 murder of 19-year-old neighborhood drug dealer William "Pooky" Young, when he was convicted of federal charges in 1997, and sentenced to six life terms.
Hoover was among 39 Gangster Disciples leaders indicted in August 1995 in Operation Headache, a six-year effort by the feds to infiltrate Gangster Disciples. Federal prosecutors had accused him of leading a criminal enterprise to continue overseeing the gang while in prison in Illinois
Hoover is currently serving six life sentences in a maximum security prison in Colorado, according to federal prison records.
It's unclear how soon he will be released from federal custody, but he still faces the remainder of his 200-year sentence in Illinois, dating back to 1973 for Young's murder.
Hoover's attorneys said he has spent nearly 30 years in solitary confinement at ADX Florence, a maximum security prison in Colorado that they described as "the most restrictive, draconian supermax prison in the United States.
In a statement, Hoover's attorneys, Jennifer Bonjean and Justin Moore, said they are "thrilled" to see he will be released from federal custody.
"The Courts have demonstrated a complete unwillingness to consider Mr. Hoover's considerable growth and complete rehabilitation. Despite the Court's unwillingness to do the right thing, Mr. Hoover has been able to keep his voice alive through the incredible work of many advocates and supporters. Thankfully, Mr. Hoover's pleas were heard by President Trump who took action to deliver justice for Mr. Hoover."
"Just thrilled for him, thrilled for his family, thrilled for his supporters — who have been chanting, 'Free Larry Hoover!' for a long time," Bonjean added in a follow-up interview.
Bonjean also represented Hoover when he was up for parole on his state sentence in 2022 and was denied.
"He is eligible for resentencing, but the courts have been unwilling to give him that opportunity — notwithstanding the fact that he has literally done every single thing a human being could do to show that they have been rehabilitated," said Bonjean.
In 1993, Hoover spoke to former CBS News Chicago reporter John Davis. At the time, Hoover was 42 years old and had already served 20 years in prison.
"I've done my time," Hoover said in the 1993 interview. "I paid my debt to society."
