The Illinois Prisoner Review Board has received and is set to review a clemency petition for the state murder case of Gangster Disciples founder Larry Hoover, a board spokesperson confirmed to the Tribune on Wednesday.

The petition comes after President Donald Trump in May commuted the federal life sentence of Chicago-born Hoover, a controversial move that abruptly ended a yearslong quest by the notorious street gang leader to win early release under the First Step Act passed during Trump’s first term.

Trump commutes federal life sentence of founding Gangster Disciples kingpin Larry Hoover

But Trump’s decision to commute didn’t mean Hoover was going free, as he’s still serving a 200-year sentence for his state court conviction for murder.

Should the board deem the petition complete and meeting the requirements to be heard, the next step in Hoover’s push for freedom would be placed on the Prisoner Review Board’s clemency docket in January, the board spokesperson said.

Gov. JB Pritzker spokesperson Matt Hill declined to comment on Wednesday, directing questions to the Prisoner Review Board.

In June, an apparently fake clemency request for Hoover was sent to the governor’s office. While at the time a spokesperson for Pritzker’s office had no comment on the document, Pritzker has previously said that any clemency requests from Hoover would be treated the same as any other prisoner.

“We have a process in the state of Illinois,” Pritzker told reporters soon after Trump’s commutation of Hoover’s federal sentence. “If you want to seek commutation or pardon, you go through a process. First you apply through the Prisoner Review Board, and then the Prisoner Review Board makes a recommendation to the governor.

Hoover’s other avenue to freedom would be the granting of parole, a decision made by the Prisoner Review Board. His most recent bid for parole fell short last year, though he’s allowed to renew his request next year, records show.

One of the nation’s largest street gangs, the Gangster Disciples became a major criminal force under Hoover’s leadership, with operations that spread to dozens of U.S. cities and were as sophisticated as many legitimate corporations, including a strict code of conduct for members and a franchise-style system for drug sales.

But they were also notoriously brutal, using violence and murder as a way to keep rivals at bay and even punish members who went astray.

Hoover was convicted in state court in 1973 of the murder of William Young, one of Hoover’s gang underlings who was shot to death that same year after he and others had stolen from gang stash houses.

In the early 1990s, before Hoover was charged in federal court, former Chicago Mayor Eugene Sawyer lobbied the Illinois Department of Corrections parole board on his behalf, arguing that Hoover could help stem Chicago’s street violence if he were allowed to return home, the Tribune reported at the time.

Hoover was indicted in federal court in 1995 on charges he continued to oversee the murderous drug gang’s reign of terror from prison. He was convicted on 40 criminal counts in 1997, and then-U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber sentenced him to the mandatory term of life.

For years, Hoover had been housed in solitary confinement at a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, which counts a number of high-profile and notorious detainees, including Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Sept. 11 terrorist attack plotter Zacarias Moussaoui and Jeff Fort, the Chicago gang leader who founded the El Rukns.

Days after Trump commuted his federal sentence, Hoover was transferred out of the supermax prison in Florence and is currently being housed in the Colorado state Department of Corrections system, though his exact whereabouts are not public.

Federal prosecutors vehemently opposed any breaks for Hoover, arguing he did untold damage to communities across Chicago during his reign on the streets. They argued he has continued to hold sway over the gang’s hierarchy while imprisoned, even promoting an underling he’d secretly communicated with through coded messages hidden in a dictionary.

Hoover’s attorneys, meanwhile, have claimed that decades behind bars have left him a changed man and that prosecutors have unfairly painted him as a puppet master to try to keep him locked up.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/22/larry-hoover-clemency-petition-illinois/