President Donald Trump on Wednesday commuted the federal sentence for Larry Hoover, a former Chicago gang leader who is serving a life sentence in a supermax prison in Colorado — most of which has been in solitary confinement, according to his lawyer.
Hoover is not a free man, however. He still has a state sentence to serve, but his attorneys and supporters are pushing Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois to follow President Trump’s lead, claiming the infamous former street gang kingpin is a changed man.
The 74-year-old co-founded the Gangster Disciples in the 1960s by merging two street gangs with David Barksdale.
He was convicted of murder in 1973 after he ordered a hit on a man named William "Pooky" Young, whom he suspected of stealing from him, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Young was shot in the head six times and his body was dumped in an alley.
Hoover was sentenced to 150 to 200 years in state prison for his involvement.
But the federal crimes came in the early 1990s.
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Hoover was reportedly still running the gang from behind bars. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, prosecutors said the Gangster Disciples brought in about $100 million a year from drug sales under Hoover’s leadership during the height of their rule.
Investigators were able to monitor his conversations with gang leaders who visited him in prison by placing transmitters into the visitor badges, since Hoover was careful not to talk about the business over the phone.
A jury found him guilty of a list of crimes in 1997 related to his continued involvement with the gang. A judge gave Hoover another life sentence, and he was moved to ADX Florence — a high-security prison reserved for the most high-profile or dangerous criminals in the U.S.
The Chicago Sun-Times said Hoover denounced the Gangster Disciples in 2022 and has been petitioning for release under the First Step Act. It was a prison reform law that President Trump signed during his first term that is meant to address harsh sentencing and expand compassion release, among other things.
Hoover’s notoriety has kept him relevant in cultural references over the years — from a namedrop in rapper Rick Ross’ song "B.M.F. (Blowin’ Money Fast)" to a one-off benefit concert in 2021 called “Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert” put on by rappers Kanye “Ye” West and Drake.
How the idea of commuting Hoover’s federal sentence ended up on President Trump’s radar is not completely clear.
West advocated for Hoover when he met with President Trump during his first term in 2018. President Trump did not seem to know Hoover’s name at the time.
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Earlier this year, President Trump appointed former federal prisoner turned criminal justice reform advocate Alice Marie Johnson as his "pardon czar" — a first-of-its-kind position intended to advise him on clemency.
Johnson’s life sentence for a 1996 drug trafficking conviction was commuted by President Trump during his first term in 2018 after public advocacy from Kim Kardashian — who was still married to West at the time.
Following the news of President Trump commuting Hoover’s federal sentence, West posted to X on Wednesday, "WORDS CAN’T EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE FOR OUR DEVOTED ENDURING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP FOR FREEING LARRY HOOVER."
Hoover will need to petition the Illinois Prisoner Review Board or be granted clemency by Gov. Pritzker to live the remainder of his life outside of prison.
