Community, elected leaders on South Side call on Pritzker to offer clemency for Larry Hoover

NBC Investigates what will happen next to Chicago street gang kingpin and killer Larry Hoover hours after his life sentences were erased by President Trump A day after Chicago street gang big shot Larry The King Hoover was let off the federal hook by President Trump Hoover is being processed out of the federal Supermax prison in Colorado After his release he will then be signed into an Illinois maximum protection prison where he is expected to ask for parole from a -year state sentence on a murder conviction dating back to the s But will one of the state s the bulk hardened criminals truly be paroled out At age gangland leader Larry Hoover has spent majority of his life behind bars As of Thursday if history holds true prison is where Hoover will spend the remainder of his life Hoover cannot leave his past That is what the Illinois Prisoner Review Board reported just three years ago when he appealed for parole and most of of the same people that announced no to Hoover then will make the decision now Hoover had already been arrested more than a dozen times when he kidnapped and killed a drug dealer in an Englewood alley in William Pooky Young shot between the eyes dead at age for stealing drugs from Hoover s Gangster Disciple s street gang Hoover sentenced to years in state prison Hoover would later be convicted of numerous federal crimes as the leader of a murderous drug gang spanning three dozen states and commanding a criminal army of soldiers according to federal documents With a stroke of a pen by President Donald Trump Wednesday Hoover s six federal life sentences were commuted In an interview late Thursday with NBC Chicago Hoover s namesake son Larry Jr stated he was surprised and happy that his father had been cut loose by the president It was great news I couldn t explain the feeling It didn t feel real I d be waiting on it for so long announced Larry Hoover Jr I think he s been a political prisoner because of the power that he possesses But when Hoover leaves the supermax prison in Colorado where he has been in solitary confinement it will be in the custody of Illinois officers-who will return him to a top protection state prison In Illinois however Hoover is eligible for parole and return to the streets a benefit that was denied him numerous times largest part in the past few days in late The parole board three years ago noted Hoover s role in a deadly riot at Pontiac state prison in The parole board also pointed to Hoover s use of a decoding dictionary in his cell in seeming to backing the belief that he has continued to run gang rackets despite his promise that he s been reformed According to the parole denial Hoover s past continues to impact his present and will forever affect his future parole release at this time would not be in the interest of inhabitants safety What all this means tonight is that Trump s commutation won t matter and Hoover won t be published according to a former longtime Illinois parole board member and chairman I think it s all just drama commented attorney Jorge Montes who was a member of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board for years including six years as chairman The president Trump well knows that Mr Hoover isn t going anywhere And that he s not going to be published he s not going to be given freedom Hoover has to come back and fulfill his Illinois sentence I think he President Trump is trying to impress his friends Kanye West and other celebrities who have been pushing for this pardon but it s a pyrrhic preeminence contends Montes At the end of the day Hoover isn t going anywhere Just a couple years ago when Hoover last came up for parole the state board denied release by a vote of to That single parole board member on Hoover s side is no longer even on the board But a majority of the others are and they voted against Hoover s release less than three years ago This time they will be the only people standing between Larry Hoover and freedom