Trump Commutes Sentence of ‘Gangster Disciples’ Founder

In one of his most unorthodox moves to date, President Donald Trump commuted the federal life sentences of ex-convict Larry Hoover, 74, who was a founding member of the “Gangster Disciples” street gang in the 1960s.

It is unclear why Trump commuted Hoover’s sentences, but his liberation has been championed by prominent rappers Kanye West and Aubrey “Drake” Graham.

Now Hoover, who has been imprisoned since the Nixon administration, has had some of his legal burden removed by Trump. He still has to serve the rest of a 150- to 200-year state sentence.

“Larry Hoover’s federal life sentences have been commuted by President Donald Trump,” Bonjean Law Group, which represents Hoover, told ABC. 

“Mr. Hoover, who is now 74 years old, spent nearly 30 years in solitary confinement at ADX Florence—the most restrictive, draconian supermax prison in the United States.”

ADX Florence, located in Colorado, holds such criminals as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, a former leader of the Sinaloa cartel; James Marcello, a former Chicago mafia boss; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing.

Hoover was a founding member of the Gangster Disciples, a black Chicago street gang. The gang is still active. 

He was imprisoned in 1973 on murder charges and found guilty on federal charges in 1997 on a number of prior gang-related offenses and sentenced to six life terms.

Hoover has since claimed that he has moved on from his past life, telling a judge in 2022 that he is “no longer the Larry Hoover people sometimes talk about, or he who is written about in the papers, or the crime figure described by the government.”

Kanye West and Drake have been vocal advocates for Hoover’s release, co-hosting a “Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert” in Los Angeles in 2021.

West advocated for Hoover’s release when visiting Trump at the White House in 2018, as well. Trump has recently called West a “complex person” in the wake of his antisemitic comments and erratic social media antics.

Rahm Emanuel, former Chicago mayor, White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama, and rumored 2028 Democrat presidential hopeful, blasted Trump’s decision. Emanuel told CNN, “This is a notorious gang leader who had many, many people killed at his direction, and this will have severe consequences.”

While the federal sentences have been communed, Hoover remains behind bars for the 1973 murder of 19-year-old William “Pooky” Young.