Imprisoned Gangster Disciples' Ex-Leader Larry Hoover Tries Again For Resentencing
One of Chicago's most notorious gangsters has made another attempt to reduce his life sentence.
Larry Hoover, the founder of Gangster Disciples, wrote to a federal judge in Chicago on Wednesday (July 6), saying he is no longer the man who was convicted of murder and operating the gang from behind bars, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
According to local station WLS, Hoover, who is incarcerated in the federal Supermax prison in Colorado, is now represented by Jennifer Bonjean, the same lawyer who represents R&B singer R. Kelly and helped win comedian Bill Cosby’s release from prison.
In letters to U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber and the public, Hoover, 71, said 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.”
Leinenweber declined Hoover’s request last year for a lower sentence under President Trump’s First Step Act, according to the Sun-Times
The Gangster Disciples, which has existed since the 1960s, at one point operated street gangs in more than 30 states with an estimated 30,000 members, Newsweek reported. Hoover and six other gang members were convicted in May 1997 of running a drug ring that prosecutors said made about $100 million a year. At that time, Hoover was already serving a 200-year murder sentence.
In his letters, Hoover wrote that he regrets that “misguided people” hold him up as a symbol.
“Regardless, these people are apart from me and do what they do with zero encouragement or direction from me,” Hoover added. “To be clear, if I had any ability to influence them, I’d ask that they’d forget me and forsake the gang life forever.”
He acknowledged responsibility for his past criminal actions and “renounced” his gang involvement. “I am no longer a member, leader, or even an elder statesman of the Gangster Disciples,” Hoover stated. “I want nothing to do with it now and forever.”
Bonjean filed an appearance on Hoover’s behalf Tuesday (July 5) and insisted in a new motion that her client has reformed, saying that the old gang boss “died long ago, notwithstanding the government’s unfounded claim that he harbors a desire to reclaim his title as the king of the Gangster Disciples, an enterprise that bears little resemblance to the organization he built in the 1970s.”
Prosecutors say Hoover has been a menace behind bars. He “ran a gang from prison that was responsible for the highest murder rate this city has ever seen, a drug network that was pervasive and efficient, and an organization that controlled parks and street corners in neighborhoods and made it impossible for children to go outside and be children,” the Sun-Times quoted former prosecutor Ron Safer.
