Larry Hoover

Larry Hoover
Born (1950-11-30) November 30, 1950
Sallis, Mississippi, U.S.
Other names King Larry
Criminal penalty 150–285 years imprisonment
(six life sentences)
Criminal status imprisoned at ADX Florence supermax prison in Florence, Colorado[1]
Spouse(s) Winndye Jenkins
(common–law wife)[2]
Children Larry Bernard, Larry Hoover, Jr., Tyree Hoover
Conviction(s) Murder, conspiracy, extortion, and continuing to engage in a criminal enterprise.
Date apprehended
 March 16, 1973

Larry Hoover (born November 30, 1950) is an American gang leader and founder of the Chicago street gang called the Gangster Disciples. Hoover is currently serving six life sentences at the ADX Florence supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. His sentences include a 150–200 year sentence for a 1973 murder; and in 1997, after a 17-year investigation of conspiracy, extortion, money laundering, and running a continuing criminal enterprise for leading the gang from state prison, he received a life sentence.[3] During an October 2018 summit with President Donald Trump, rapper Kanye West pled for clemency for Hoover.[4]

Biography

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Hoover's parents moved their family (which included brothers, sisters and grandparents) to Chicago, Illinois in search of a better life when Hoover was 4 years old. By the age of 12, Hoover was on the streets with his friends calling themselves "supreme gangsters". As the gang grew, Hoover emerged as its leader. Known as "Prince Larry," Hoover, along with rival gang leader David Barksdale, decided to merge their gangs into one: the Black Gangster Disciple Nation. A grade school dropout, Hoover earned his GED and an emergency medical technician's license while incarcerated.

1973 murder of William Young

On the evening of February 26, 1973, William "Pooky" Young, a 19-year old neighborhood youth drug dealer, was abducted and later shot to death in an alley near 68th Street and Union Avenue in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. His killing was ordered by Hoover after his name was mentioned as one of three people accused of stealing drugs and money from the gang five days earlier.[5] On March 16, 1973, Hoover and Young's killer, Gangster Disciple member Andrew Howard, were both arrested. In November 1973, Howard and Hoover were both charged with murder and sentenced to 150 to 200 years in prison. Hoover was sent to Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois, to serve out his term.[3][6]

Gangster Disciples Leader and Events

In 1974, after the leader of the Black Disciples, David Barksdale, died from kidney failure by an injury due to an earlier shooting, Hoover took the reins of the Black Gangster Disciples Nation while under his wing, which now had control of Chicago's South Side. Under Hoover's rule, the Black Gangster Disciples took over the South Side drug trade. While incarcerated, Hoover helped form the Folks Nation, which added other gangs such as: Black Disciples, Satan Disciples, Ambrose, Gangster Two-Six , Simon City Royals, North Side Insane Popes, La Raza Nation, Spanish Cobras, Imperial Gangsters, Maniac Latin Disciples, Harrison Gents, Spanish Gangster Disciples and Latin Eagles. In 1989, The Black Gangster Disciples start going against their own merger and ally, the Black Disciples, over a drug dealing dispute in the neighborhood of Englewood, Chicago that escalated into a shooting that killed several people, this infruated members of BGDs and result them to changing their name into the "Gangster Disciples." While Hoover was incarcerated, he ran the gang's illicit drug trade in prison and on the streets, starting from Chicago's West Side and later extending throughout the United States. By early 1993, Hoover claimed to have renounced his violent criminal past and became an urban political celebrity in Chicago. The Gangster Disciples earned fans in the community with charity events and peaceful protests. Hoover proclaimed that initials GD had changed to mean "Growth & Development." A lengthy federal investigation using wiretaps led to Hoover getting another life sentence in 1995. Hoover's gang allegedly had 30,000 "soldiers" in 35 states and made $100 million a year, a total of approximately $3,300.00 per "soldier" annually.

Conviction

On August 22, 1995, after a 17-year undercover investigation by the federal government, Hoover was indicted for drug conspiracy, extortion, and continuing to engage in a criminal enterprise.[7] He was arrested at the Vienna Correctional Center by federal agents, and moved to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago to stand trial. In 1997, Hoover was found guilty on all charges. Hoover is currently serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado.[1][8]

See also

  • Continuing Criminal Enterprise
  • Cooley, Will (2017). "Jim Crow Organized Crime: Black Chicago’s Underground Economy in the Twentieth Century," in Building the Black Metropolis: African American Entrepreneurship in Chicago, Robert Weems and Jason Chambers, eds. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 147-170. ISBN 978-0252082948.

References

  1. 1 2 "Inmate Locator – BOP Register No. 86063-024". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "Hoover's Girlfriend Helping U.s. Case". tribunedigital-chicagotribune.
  3. 1 2 "Larry Hoover". Infoplease.
  4. ↑ "Here's every word of Kanye West's bizarre meeting with President Trump". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-10-14.
  5. ↑ The Gang that Could Go Straight – Ever since he read Boss, tttLarry Hoover knew he wanted to mold his street gang into a political organization like the old Daley Machine. He's still in jail, but 21st Century V.O.T.E. is ready to roll; Chicago Reader
  6. ↑ Leagle: People v. Howard (1975)
  7. ↑ "Larry Hoover & The Gangster Disciples". Drug Enforcement Administration. Archived from the original on 2013-06-26.
  8. ↑ Binelli, Mark (26 March 2015). "Inside America's Toughest Federal Prison". New York Times. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
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