President Donald Trump has commuted the federal sentence of a Chicago gang leader, Gangster Disciples founder Larry Hoover, his attorney said.
CHICAGO (WLS) — President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of a notorious former Chicago gang leader.
Gangster Disciples founder Larry Hoover was serving a life sentence at a prison in Colorado. He was convicted of murder in Chicago and then later convicted on several federal charges.
Hoover will still have to serve his sentence on state charges.
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Attorney Jennifer Bonjean confirmed to ABC7 Wednesday that her client, Hoover, is being granted clemency by the president. The White House also confirmed to ABC News the commutation of the federal sentence.
The wife and son of Larry Hoover reacted Wednesday evening after his six federal life sentences were commuted by President Trump.
“It’s overwhelming,” wife Winndye Hoover said. “It’s a long time coming, and we just want to hope it go all the way through.”
“He deserves redemption,” son Larry Hoover Jr. said. “He deserves a second chance at being a part of this community, and he can be a benefit to this community if they want him to be a benefit to this community.”
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A judge once called Hoover one of the most notorious criminals in Illinois history. But in recent years, his attorney argued that Hoover, now in his mid-70s, had been rehabilitated.
That argument apparently resonated with President Trump, who commuted Hoover’s multiple federal life sentences.
Hoover still faces the remainder of a 200-year state sentence for a 1973 Chicago murder. While in prison for that murder, federal prosecutors said Hoover, one of the founders of the Chicago Gangster Disciples, continued to oversee that gang.
Prosecutors said he was an organizational genius and ordered murders, beatings and drug deals while behind bars.
He was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to six life sentences in connection with those federal charges.
Ron Safer, the former lead federal prosecutor who secured Hoover’s 1997 conviction for running a criminal enterprise behind bars, told ABC7 he’s disappointed Hoover has received clemency.
“I believe in redemption. I believe in rehabilitation. I believe in mercy. There are some crimes that are so heinous, so notorious, that they’re not deserving of mercy,” Safer said. “If Larry Hoover said there was going to be a killing, there was a killing.”
As years passed, Hoover’s case drew increasing attention, including from Chicago native artists like Kanye West and Chance The Rapper.
Hoover still faces the remainder of a hefty sentence on a state murder conviction. Governor JB Pritzker could also offer clemency.’
“We know that Governor Pritzker believes in rehabilitation, redemption, and transformation, and he’s done all of that,” Hoover Jr. said.
Hoover Sr. would likely, at some point, be transferred to a prison in Illinois from the notorious supermax prison in Colorado, where he’s currently behind bars.
ABC News contributed to this report.
