Hoover was the leader of the Gangster Disciples and in the 1990s was given six life sentences on conspiracy, extortion, drug and other criminal charges.
During his first presidential term, Trump granted a total of 237 pardons and commutations, according to the Pew Research Center.
Hoover, 74, built the Gangster Disciples into a nationwide street gang from its origins on Chicago’s South Side in the 1970s.
In the 1990s he formed a political organisation and claimed that he had transformed the Gangster Disciples into a community-service organisation called Growth and Development.
“I am no longer a member, leader, or even an elder statesman of the Gangster Disciples,” Hoover wrote in a letter to a court in 2022.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump commuted the federal prison sentence of Larry Hoover, the founder of a notorious street gang in Chicago, as part of a wave of more than two dozen clemency actions this week.
In the 1990s, Hoover, the head of the Gangster Disciples, received six life sentences for conspiracy, extortion, drug offenses, and other offenses.
Hoover is still facing a 200-year prison sentence for murder in the state of Illinois in addition to his federal sentence, and it is unlikely that he will be released anytime soon. State-level sentences cannot be commuted by a president.
The president also pardoned other prisoners on Wednesday, including former New York City congressman Michael Grimm.
He admitted to the felony tax fraud charge and was sentenced to seven months in prison.
In the past few days, the president has pardoned at least eight other people in addition to Hoover and Grimm; according to the New York Times, Trump granted 25 pardons or commutations of prison terms on Wednesday.
In addition to the nearly 1,600 pardons granted to those accused or convicted in connection with the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, Trump has pardoned over 40 others during his second term in office, according to Department of Justice (DoJ) records.
Trump issued 237 pardons and commutations during his first term as president, the Pew Research Center reports. The majority of those took place during the last month of his term.
A presidential pardon: what is it?
Beginning as a street gang on Chicago’s South Side in the 1970s, Hoover, now 74, transformed the Gangster Disciples into a national organization.
He was found guilty in 1973 of directing the execution of a rival drug dealer. He allegedly kept up his gang leadership while incarcerated, according to authorities.
When he founded a political organization in the 1990s, he claimed to have converted the Gangster Disciples into Growth and Development, a community service organization.
Nevertheless, in 1997, he was convicted of numerous federal offenses.
He has been a proponent of criminal justice reform in recent years, including the First Step Act, which was signed into law by Trump in 2018. The law permits reduced sentences, among other things, for prisoners who take part in reoffending reduction programs.
Hoover’s public rejection of gang life has persisted.
“I am no longer a member, leader, or even an elder statesman of the Gangster Disciples,” Hoover wrote in a 2022 letter to a court. “I want to stay away from it for good. “.”.
One of Hoover’s attorneys was asked by a judge during a hearing last year, “How many other murders is he responsible for?”.
“We got Larry Hoover out of federal prison – when many said it was impossible… Illinois must send him home for good,” wrote Hoover’s attorney Justin Moore on the internet following the announcement of the commutation of his federal sentence. “,”.
