The notorious co-founder of the Gangster Disciples street gang sat with his hands shackled in his lap Thursday, listening from a thousand miles away, as a judge in Chicago asked the question that could lie at the heart of whether he grants mercy to Larry Hoover after 26 years.
“How many murders is he responsible for?” U.S. District Judge John Blakey asked.
The judge directed his question to Hoover’s defense attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, who had just argued that Hoover’s once-monolithic gang is now a “splintered, disorganized group with no hierarchy,” and that prosecutors simply feed the “mythology” of Hoover to keep him locked up.
Hoover is asking for a new sentencing hearing under the First Step Act, signed by then-President Donald Trump in 2018.
The feds say Hoover “destroyed neighborhoods and lives” and “ordered murders to maintain discipline.” That’s why Blakey wanted to know how many murders to lay at the 73-year-old’s feet. But Bonjean seemed taken aback.
She said she wasn’t sure how to answer. She wasn’t sure how to properly count. She sarcastically suggested that Hoover is responsible for every murder ever committed by a member of the Gangster Disciples. And she said she wanted a chance to speak with her client, who was only made available Thursday by a remote video link.
Ultimately, Bonjean told the judge, “I would like to answer that question.”
Blakey gave her until Oct. 7 to do it. But later, Bonjean reflected on what she described as a “strange moment” and called the judge’s question “inappropriate.”
Jennifer Bonjean, an attorney for Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover, speaks to reporters at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. Bonjean said it was “inappropriate” for U.S. District Judge John Blakey to ask how many murders her client was responsible during a court hearing earlier in the day.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
The tension came as Hoover made his first public appearance in many years, through the video screen in Blakey’s 12th-floor courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. People filled the benches during the hearing, including Hoover’s supporters, his wife and his son, who appeared emotional as the hearing came to an end.
The judge did not limit his questions to Hoover’s defense team, though. He also challenged a prosecutor on an assertion that Hoover has played some role in the Gangster Disciples while being locked up in what’s seen as the country’s harshest, most restrictive prison — the so-called “supermax” in Florence, Colorado.
Blakey called it a “hard ask” for him to believe that.
The judge handed down no ruling, nor a timeline for his decision. Hoover still has a state-court murder sentence to serve, so Blakey cannot end Hoover’s imprisonment by undoing his separate federal life sentence. Still, such a ruling is seen as a potential step toward Hoover’s freedom.
Hoover wore tan prison garb and glasses during Thursday’s hearing. He sat in what appeared to be a courtroom but also mentioned being “here” at the Colorado prison.
“I am a completely different person from the man that entered prison in 1997,” Hoover told Blakey. “I have had a chance to reflect on my life, and the troubles that my existence has caused in the community. … If released, I would take the time to try to — what’s the term — redeem myself for some of the trouble I’ve caused in the community.”
Later, Larry Hoover Jr. told reporters his father seemed “a bit nervous,” and revealed his age as he stumbled over his words.
Larry Hoover Sr. and David Barksdale created the Gangster Disciples in the late 1960s by merging two street gangs. They ruled as “King Larry” and “King David” until Barksdale was killed in 1974.
The elder Hoover was convicted of murder after a trial in December 1973, and a judge sentenced him to 150 to 200 years in state prison. That didn’t stop Larry Hoover Sr. from running the gang, though. The late U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber handed the gang leader a federal life sentence in 1998 following his conviction for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.
Some in Chicago say Larry Hoover Sr. left a more positive legacy behind, and he now claims to have renounced his gang.
One focal point of Thursday’s hearing was a document of the gang kingpin’s known as the “Blueprint.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz told the judge the Bureau of Prisons considers it to be “gang related.” She said Hoover asked his wife during a visit last month if his lawyers wanted him to bring it with him to Thursday’s hearing.
Larry Hoover Sr. had originally been ordered to attend Thursday’s hearing in person.
But Bonjean and her co-counsel, Justin Moore, rejected prosecutors’ characterization of the document. So did Larry Hoover Jr., who explained to reporters Thursday exactly what he believes it represents.
“The Blueprint is supposed to be my father’s legacy,” he said. “It’s what my father was doing to try to make things right out here on these streets and take kids and young men away from a life of crime to being a part of society.
“And they don’t want to accept it. They don’t want to accept his influence as anything positive. They want him to be the guy and the symbol of evil. It’s not true.”