A judge handed down his ruling almost a year to the day after U.S. Attorney John Lausch made a rare personal plea to reject the notorious Chicago gang leader’s appeal.
Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover’s request for a sentencing break under a law signed by former President Donald Trump was shot down Tuesday by a federal judge in Chicago who earlier seemed open to the idea.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber’s 19-page order referred to Hoover, 70, as “one of the most notorious criminals in Illinois history.” And though the judge wrote that the life sentence Hoover is serving in the federal “supermax” prison is “particularly grim,” he wrote that he’s concerned of “an active risk” if Hoover were to ultimately be released.
“Unlike most people, Hoover’s federal criminal convictions were based on his ability to convince others to commit illegal acts on his behalf,” Leinenweber wrote. “It is not clear to the court that this particular skill decreases with age.”
The judge issued his order without prejudice, leaving the door open for Hoover to try again.
Leinenweber handed down his ruling almost a year to the day after U.S. Attorney John Lausch made a rare personal plea asking the judge not to re-sentence Hoover, saying it would be a “miscarriage of justice to reduce (Hoover’s) sentence in any way, shape or form.”
During that hearing on July 16, 2020, Leinenweber did not reject the idea of a sentencing break for Hoover. Rather, he asked lawyers whether Illinois’ prison system could handle the notorious gang leader.
Hoover challenged his sentence under the First Step Act, signed by Trump in 2018 with bi-partisan support. Among other things, the law allows federal prisoners to seek reductions in their sentences for selling crack cocaine, based on lower penalties that were enacted in 2010.
Hoover ordered a murder in 1973 that led to his conviction in state court and a sentence of 150 to 200 years in Illinois’ prison system. There, the feds say he ran a $100 million-a-year drug business as tens of thousands of gang soldiers continued to work for him in Chicago and other cities.
A federal investigation then led to Hoover’s conviction for running a criminal enterprise. Leinenweber gave Hoover a life sentence in 1998 at the end of a hearing that prompted a finger-pointing confrontation between the two men. Leinenweber told Hoover the charisma he used to gain the loyalty of thousands was proof he could have been a great man.
“You misused a great gift that you received from God,” Leinenweber told Hoover then.
Hoover has been serving his federal prison sentence for roughly a quarter century.
Even if Leinenweber had reduced Hoover’s sentence to time served, Hoover still would have had to serve his murder sentence. And authorities say arrangements had been made for Hoover to serve that sentence in the federal prison system.
But federal prosecutors clearly worried that Hoover would commence a legal attack on his murder sentence next, possibly leading to his ultimate release.
Ron Safer, a former assistant U.S. attorney who helped prosecute Hoover, said Tuesday that Leinenweber was “right on the money” when the judge called Hoover one of Illinois’ most notorious criminals.
“He ran a gang from prison that was responsible for the highest murder rate this city has ever seen, a drug network that was pervasive and efficient, and an organization that controlled parks and street corners in neighborhoods and made it possible for children to go outside and be children.”
Safer said supported previous decisions by Leinenweber to release several of Hoover’s co-defendants under the First Step Act, “But there are some crimes that are so heinous that mercy conflicts with justice.”
“It’s sad,” Safer said. “He’s a human being.”
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Sun-Times file
Safer said he remembers the day Hoover was sentenced and the door to the federal lock up “clanged” shut behind him while his family watched from the courtroom.
“I remember feeling justice had been done,” Safer said, adding, “There was no joy in that.”
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