President Donald Trump gave Larry Hoover, the former leader of notorious Chicago-based gang Gangster Disciples, a glimmer of hope this week when he announced the commutation of his federal sentence. But both men have to get through the Illinois governor first…and he’s not going.
As the Chicago Sun-Times reported, Governor JB Pritzker’s office says Hoover “needs to continue serving” his state sentence and would need to petition the state’s Prisoner Review Board, which makes parole decisions and recommendations for clemency. But the odds are not on his side, as the board has been turning down his requests since the 1970s.
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President Trump’s commutation only guarantees Hoover’s release from federal prison. The former gang leader who was convicted by the state of Illinois in 1973 on murder charges still faces a sentence of up to 200 years in the state.
Hoover, 74, was convicted in 1997 on charges of running a criminal enterprise from prison, He was serving six consecutive life sentences in a federal supermax prison in Colorado before Trump’s May 28 announcement came. But while some are celebrating Hoover’s commutation — including the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who thanked the president in a May 28 post on X for “Freeing Larry Hoover” — the reality is a lot more complicated than that.
According to NBC News 5 Chicago, community leaders in the city have already appealed to Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Prisoner Review Board to offer clemency to Hoover, who they say has been reformed during his time behind bars.
“I think if the Prisoner Review Board looks at the totality of this situation, I think that they will make a recommendation for the governor to provide a clemency to Mr. Hoover,” said state Senator Willie Preston. “I understand folks on both sides some who quite frankly felt a lot of pain, but also those who can believe in the power of redemption.”
Alice Marie Johnson, President Trump’s “pardon czar,” who learned about Larry Hoover’s case from Kanye West and Drake at their 2021 “Free Larry Hoover” concert, has also called for the governor to consider giving him a second chance at freedom.
“This man has been in solitary confinement for almost 30 years, not having seen daylight, not having had human touch,” she told TMZ. “This is not ceremonial, this is a step towards the door. They’re now working on hoping that the governor of Illinois will have the same mercy President Trump had upon Larry Hoover.”
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