Larry Hoover

Larry Hoover (born November 30 1950, Jackson, Mississippi) is the leader of the Chicago-based Growth & Development Nation, formerly Gangster Disciple Nation.

Early years

After moving to Chicago with his family in 1955, Hoover joined a gang of 50 older youths called the High Supreme Gangsters . They hung around the corner of 68th and Green Street in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago where Hoover lived. Hoover was kicked out of high school on the first day of his sophomore year after being shot in the thigh by a rival gang member in 1965.

The Gangster Disciples and the Folk Nation

In 1974, after the death of David Barksdale, Hoover was appointed the new president of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation. Two years later, Jerome "Shorty" Freeman (who was a candidate for the Nation's presidency) left the BGDN, making the Black Disciples and the Black Gangster Disciples separate organizations. Even in prison, Hoover seemed to have great influence. On July 22, 1978, an inmate riot at the Pontiac Correctional Center in Illinois resulted in the death of three corrections officers. This uprising was rumored to have been ordered by Hoover. 18 inmates were indicted; ten were acquitted after an 11-week trial. Charges against Hoover and seven others were eventually dropped. Hoover and the leaders of other organizations in Chicago came together to form the Folks alliance, a pact meant to settle disputes and instill a more peaceful environment behind prison walls and on the streets.Hoover was not totally responsible for its creation as some suggest; at the time the largest gang in the alliance was the Simon City Royals, a white gang. Hoover is the leader of the GDs, not all Folks.

Operation Headache

In 1995, the government launched Operation Headache with the goal of hurting the group's leadership and crippling their political operations. Agents from the FBI, CIA, DEA, the Illinois Department of Corrections, and local police were mobilized for five years. On August 31, 1995, Hoover was arrested at Vienna by federal agents. Thirty-eight other Gangster Disciples were also arrested. The trials were held in three groups; the trial of Hoover's group began on March 19, 1997. Wiretaps of Hoover's conversations that were obtained in prison via a badge worn by his visitors were presented in court. On June 18, 1998, Hoover was convicted of participating in a contuining criminal enterprise and sentenced to six life terms, seven terms of 20 years, three four-year terms, and one five-year term under federal mandatory sentencing guidelines, with all sentences running concurrently and in addition to the 150-200-year sentence he received for his 1973 murder conviction.[1] Hoover is currently serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence, Colorado.

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