Larry Hoover's family, supporters lobby for release in Springfield
The Brief
Larry Hoover's family and supporters visited the state capital on Saturday to ask Governor Pritzker for the Chicago gang leader's release.
Hoover's prison sentence was commuted by President Trump on Wednesday; he has been serving a life sentence for a 1970s murder conviction, as well as an additional life sentence for running a criminal enterprise from behind bars in the 1990s.
Hoover remains eligible for parole in Illinois and has a hearing later this year.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Larry Hoover's family and supporters visited the state capital on Saturday to ask Governor Pritzker for the Chicago gang leader's release.
What we know
Hoover's prison sentence was commuted by President Trump on Wednesday. The co-founder of the Gangster Disciples, a Chicago street gang, has been serving a life sentence for a 1970s murder conviction, as well as an additional life sentence for running a criminal enterprise from behind bars in the 1990s.
Trump's move commutes the federal sentence of the former kingpin and prison entrepreneur. However, Hoover must still serve his lengthy Illinois sentence.
In front of the governor's office, Illinois Rep. Kam Buckner, Illinois Rep. Marcus Evans, Senator Willie Preston, Senator Lakesia Collins, Ja'Mal Green, along with Hoover's wife, sons and grandchildren urged Pritzker to "bring (Hoover) home to his family," according to a press release from the family.
Ja'Mal Green posted a photo of himself and the group in Springfield on his Facebook page, saying "Springfield, we're here to win the hearts of our legislators and Governor to Free Larry Hoover!"
Hoover remains eligible for parole in Illinois and has a hearing later this year.
Pritzker declined to comment on Thursday.
What they're saying
"Larry Hoover is a human being. He's not a symbol. He is a human being of struggle. He is a husband, father, a grandfather. His kids, his grandkids are all college graduates. He has an amazing family around him," Ja'Mal Green said. "He's a human who cares about his family, about the community, about life itself. He is rehabilitated and not the 22-year-old man he is today at 74 years old."
The backstory
The Gangster Disciples remain 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.
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.
The Source
Information for this story was provided by a press release from Hoover's family, social media posts and previous Fox 32 reporting.
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