CHICAGO – One of Chicago’s most infamous gang leaders is among the people to receive commutations this week from President Donald Trump, a puzzling move that has raised questions about whether Larry Hoover will be freed.
The 74-year-old Hoover, who has received support from celebrities like rapper Ye and inspired popular rap lyrics, has been serving a life sentence at the nation’s most restrictive prison in Colorado. He was first imprisoned in Illinois for a 1973 murder and convicted decades later in federal court for running a criminal enterprise while behind bars.
Trump’s move commutes the federal sentence of the former kingpin and prison entrepreneur. However, Hoover must still serve his lengthy Illinois sentence.
Hoover’s supporters say they are working on ways to get Hoover paroled or pardoned in Illinois, but questions linger about his chances and even where he will be imprisoned.
Notorious gang leader works behind bars
Hoover was a founder of the Gangster Disciples more than 50 years ago, which remains one of Chicago’s most notorious street gangs.
At its height under Hoover’s leadership, the gang generated about $100 million each year in cocaine and heroin sales, according to federal prosecutors.
“He was the undisputed head of the organization. He ran it. Everybody reported to him,” said Ron Safer, a former U.S. assistant attorney who led the prosecution of Hoover. “The Gangster Disciples were monolithic, ruthlessly efficient.”
Hoover ordered the death of a gang member in 1973 and was convicted of murder. He was sentenced to 150 to 200 years in a state prison.
But prosecutors say that didn’t stop him from spreading the gang’s vast influence. For more than two decades, he ran the Gangster Disciples from behind bars, expanding it to chapters in more than two dozen states.
He was eventually charged with dozens of federal crimes, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. A federal jury found him guilty in 1997. He was sentenced to life the following year and sent to the “supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado, where he has spent years in solitary confinement.
Prison entrepreneur tries politics
Hoover has left a prominent mark on pop culture, launching a jail-inspired fashion line, starting a political action committee and inspiring rap lyrics.
In 1995, he began his “Ghetto Prisoner” fashion line in hopes of having a positive influence on young people.
“All kids in the ghetto can associate with the idea of prisoners and being treated like prisoners,″ he told The Associated Press in a 1995 phone interview from the Dixon Correctional Center in Illinois. “I’m hoping that it will wake them up and help them understand that we have to come together as a people and stop being sectarian.”
Supporters said his political action committee, 21st Century V.O.T.E., inspired thousands to protest outside Chicago City Hall in the 1990s.
His name was further memorialized in one of rapper Rick Ross’ most famous songs, the 2010 single “B.M.F.,” which was an ode to Hoover’s power and influence.
Rapper Ye, formerly Kanye West, and Drake were among the celebrities who championed Hoover’s early release. West pleaded Hoover’s case to Trump during a bizarre Oval Office meeting in 2018.
Three years later, Drake and Ye headlined a “Free Larry Hoover” benefit concert in Los Angeles to help call attention to prison reforms.
Hoover’s chances for freedom
Trump’s move confused many, including Safer, who said the commutation was “extremely disappointing” given the years of trauma, drug addiction and lives lost in gang wars.
“There are some crimes that are so heinous and so extraordinary that they do not qualify for mercy,” Safer said.
Hoover’s many previous attempts for a sentence reduction or parole have been swiftly rejected, including a federal judge denying Hoover’s request for a lower sentence in 2021. Last year, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board unanimously rejected his bid for parole and before that in 2022 with a 10-1 vote.
Attorneys have said Hoover became a symbol of gang culture, making it hard for courts to consider resentencing him, but that Hoover has since denounced gangs and is a changed man.
For instance, Hoover was illiterate when he entered prison and has since taught himself, earned his GED certificate and taken classes on robotics and art history.
Hoover remains eligible for parole in Illinois and has a hearing later this year.
“He’s not responsible for all gang violence that ever has occurred,” said attorney Jennifer Bonjean.
She and others say they will push Gov. JB Pritzker to pardon Hoover, arguing that Hoover received a disproportionate sentence. Hoover’s co-defendants have received reduced sentences, clemency or already been released.
“There is no purpose in returning a 74-year-old man in failing health to prison after 52 years of incarceration,” said a joint statement from attorneys Joshua Dubin and Justin Moore. “Justice demands that Mr. Hoover’s time be considered served.”
Pritzker declined comment Thursday.
Hoover’s family celebrated the commutation. “Almost home!” his son Larry Hoover Jr. wrote on Instagram and posted a picture toasting his father.
While Trump said Hoover should be “released immediately,” it was unclear if or when Hoover would be moved out of the federal facility.
Federal prison officials confirmed Thursday that Hoover remained imprisoned in Colorado and determining a new release date would involve “additional research and auditing.”
Illinois officials declined to discuss the case.
“The Illinois Department of Corrections does not comment on the timing or details of transfers from federal facilities to state facilities and has no additional information to share at this time,” agency spokeswoman Naomi Puzzello said in statement.
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Associated Press writer Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report.
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