Larry Hoover has no release date. President Trump commuted his six federal life sentences in May 2025, but the 75-year-old founder of the Gangster Disciples is still serving an Illinois state sentence of 150 to 200 years for a 1973 murder, and whether he ever walks free now depends on Governor JB Pritzker, who has received a confidential clemency recommendation and faces no legal deadline to act.1NBC Chicago. Former Chicago Gang Kingpin Larry Hoover’s Sentence Commuted2Chicago Tribune. Street Gang Leader Larry Hoover Clemency Bid Before Gov. JB Pritzker
Why the Federal Commutation Didn’t Free Him
Trump’s May 28, 2025 commutation ended Hoover’s federal confinement at the ADX Florence supermax in Colorado, where he had spent nearly 27 years after a 1997 conviction on 40 counts including drug conspiracy, racketeering, and running a continuing criminal enterprise.1NBC Chicago. Former Chicago Gang Kingpin Larry Hoover’s Sentence Commuted It did not touch his state sentence. That sentence came from a separate 1973 case: Hoover was convicted of ordering the murder of William “Pooky” Young, a 19-year-old drug dealer killed in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.3ABC News. Trump Commutes Federal Life Sentence for Gangster Disciples Founder Larry Hoover
After the commutation, Hoover was transferred to the custody of the Colorado Department of Corrections under the Interstate Corrections Compact. His clemency petition later identified the facility as the Colorado State Penitentiary.4ABC News. Months After Trump’s Pardon, Larry Hoover Pushes Pritzker He has now spent more than 53 years behind bars.
Why There Is No Fixed Release Date
Hoover was sentenced before Illinois abolished indeterminate sentencing in 1978, which means he carries what the state calls a “C-number.” These are open-ended sentences with no fixed release date, and freedom depends entirely on the discretion of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board or the governor’s clemency power. Roughly 35 people are still incarcerated under this pre-1978 system.4ABC News. Months After Trump’s Pardon, Larry Hoover Pushes Pritzker
The parole route has already failed twice. The Prisoner Review Board denied Hoover parole in December 2022 by a vote of 10 to 1, finding that his release would not serve public safety and would “deprecate the serious nature of the offenses.”5Illinois Prisoner Review Board. En Banc Minutes, December 15, 2022 The board denied him again in 2024. That is why his legal team switched to executive clemency, filing a 39-page petition with Governor Pritzker on October 22, 2025.6Chicago Sun-Times. Larry Hoover Files State Clemency Petition With Pritzker
Where the Clemency Decision Stands Now
The Prisoner Review Board held Hoover’s clemency hearing on April 7, 2026, at the Bilandic Building in Chicago. A three-member panel of Matthew Coates, Carmen Terrones, and Jeffrey Grubbs heard testimony from both sides but gave no indication of a decision at the hearing itself.7Chicago Sun-Times. Larry Hoover Clemency Hearing
As of mid-2026, the board has completed its review and forwarded its confidential recommendation to Pritzker.2Chicago Tribune. Street Gang Leader Larry Hoover Clemency Bid Before Gov. JB Pritzker The governor has sole authority to grant or deny, and Illinois law sets no deadline for him to act.8Illinois Prisoner Review Board. Executive Clemency He has given no public signal of his thinking or timing.
What Pritzker’s Record Suggests About the Odds
Illinois receives roughly 1,200 clemency petitions a year, and in a typical year only one or two commutations are granted.9Restore Justice. Explainer: Executive Clemency Pritzker granted 144 petitions in both 2020 and 2021, then far fewer: 11 in 2022, 57 in 2023, and just 6 through mid-December 2024.10WTTW News. Waiting for Grace: Incarcerated People Hope Pritzker Addresses More Petitions for Clemency Advocates have described the governor’s office as a “black box,” with some petitions resolved in weeks and others left pending for years. There is no reliable way to predict when, or whether, Hoover’s petition will be answered.
What Pritzker Is Weighing
Hoover’s attorney Justin Moore has built the case around age, health, and rehabilitation. The petition states that Hoover has completed more than 100 educational and rehabilitation programs, overcome dyslexia, earned a GED, obtained an EMT certification, and renounced all ties to the Gangster Disciples.4ABC News. Months After Trump’s Pardon, Larry Hoover Pushes Pritzker It also says he has suffered multiple heart attacks since his transfer to Colorado and is assigned physically demanding kitchen work, where his attorneys allege he is the oldest worker on his line by 10 to 15 years.6Chicago Sun-Times. Larry Hoover Files State Clemency Petition With Pritzker At the April hearing, former federal judge and prosecutor John Gleeson testified that Hoover is “remorseful” and “poses no risk of danger to the community.”7Chicago Sun-Times. Larry Hoover Clemency Hearing Supporters also note that Andrew Howard, the co-defendant who actually carried out the 1973 killing, was paroled more than 30 years ago.
The petition has backing from U.S. Representative Jonathan Jackson, former U.S. Representative Bobby Rush, Illinois State Senator Willie Preston, White House “pardon czar” Alice Marie Johnson, former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Chance the Rapper, and the late Reverend Jesse Jackson.6Chicago Sun-Times. Larry Hoover Files State Clemency Petition With Pritzker
Prosecutors are pushing the other way. Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has formally asked Pritzker to deny the petition.11Chicago Sun-Times. Larry Hoover Clemency Petition Before Pritzker At the April hearing, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Enrique Abraham argued that clemency would minimize the seriousness of the 1973 murder and ignore the crimes Hoover committed from behind bars, noting that Hoover’s criminal acts were “almost always carried out vicariously through surrogates,” so advanced age does not necessarily reduce the threat.7Chicago Sun-Times. Larry Hoover Clemency Hearing Federal prosecutors have said over the years that Hoover caused “untold damage to communities across Chicago.”2Chicago Tribune. Street Gang Leader Larry Hoover Clemency Bid Before Gov. JB Pritzker A hidden-microphone recording from the late 1990s captured Hoover directing the Gangster Disciples’ street operations from inside state prison, which prosecutors have cited as evidence that incarceration alone did not stop him from running the gang.
Unless and until Pritzker grants the clemency petition, Hoover remains in Colorado custody serving his Illinois sentence, with no scheduled date of release.