President Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of Larry Hoover, leader of the Gangster Disciples, a Chicago-based gang, who is in prison for murdering a rival gang member who, like himself, was involved in the illegal drug trade. 

Larry Hoover Jr. thanked President Trump and Ye (formerly Kanye West), a Trump backer, for advocating for his father, Larry Hoover Sr.’s, freedom. 

The elder Hoover had his federal life sentence commuted by President Trump on Wednesday, May 28. 

The Gangster Disciples’ founder has been locked up since 1973 in the maximum security prison ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado. 

President Trump recently issued a flurry of pardons and commutations over the last few days. Pardons and commutations are easy to confuse with one another, but they are very different.

A pardon is a forgiveness of the offender’s underlying offense. A commutation does not mean that there is forgiveness for the underlying offense. It simply means that the period of incarceration served for the offense has been reduced.

President Trump also pardoned Michael Harris, co-founder of Death Row Records, who was sentenced to 28 years in prison after being convicted of dealing crack cocaine, kidnapping, and attempted murder. Harris, “Harry-O,” was granted clemency in 2021 by President Trump.

On May 27, Trump granted full pardons to reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who had been convicted in 2022 on charges of tax evasion and bank fraud after using fraudulent documents to secure $30 million to fund their lavish lifestyle.

Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced to 12 and 7 years in federal prison, respectively, and began serving their sentences in January 2023. Julie won an appeal for a resentencing, but U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross sentenced her again to 7 years, which ended her chance at freedom. 

These are some, but not all, of the pardons and commutations issued by Trump.

When it came to Hoover, Kanye whispered in President Trump’s ear while he and Hoover’s family were at the White House.

“He took us to the White House on his platform when he didn’t have to do that,” Hoover Jr. said. “[Ye] stuck his neck out there. We know he doesn’t have a problem with sticking his neck out there about what he believes in, and I’m glad he believed in this.”

Hoover has spent 30 years in solitary confinement. He was born on November 30, 1960.

He’s still dealing with a 200-year sentence in Illinois for the 1973 murder of drug dealer William “Pooky” Young. 

The Gangster Disciples had an estimated 30,000 members at one time. 

Along with the Almighty Black P Stone Nation, now known as the El Rukins, their role was to clean up the neighborhood, fight police brutally, and fight other gangs. At one time, the Almighty Black P Stone Nation had White members.