Black Gangster Disciple Nation, currently known as Gangster Disciples, is a Chicago street gang that was founded and formerly led by Larry Hoover. He is referred to as “King Larry,” “Prince Larry,” and “The King of Kings Honorable Chairman.”
King Larry is regarded as the greatest criminal in Chicago since Al Capone. Hoover, who is now imprisoned for 6 straight life terms at the ADX Florence supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, helped the once local street gang become nationwide.
His group, known as GD, has engaged in a variety of illegal acts, including extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, murder, shootings, assaults, and more.
Under Hoover’s direction, the gang’s illegal drug trade expanded throughout the whole country, beginning on the West Side of Chicago and continuing in jails and on the streets.
Hoover started committing crimes when he was only 12 years old. As the years went by and he became the Gangster Disciples leader, his crime rate only increased.
Later, Hoover maintained his illegal drug business and controlled the reins of his gang, assisting its massive development, all while operating under the guise of GD, which he claimed to stand for “Growth & Development.”
Larry Hoover’s Date of Birth and Parents
On December 25, 1950, Larry Hoover was born in Jackson, Mississippi, into a busy family with grandparents, parents, and siblings.
The family moved to Chicago, Illinois when Hoover was four years old in quest of a better life. The older Hoovers had no idea how bad the relocation would be for their family.
Larry Hoover’s Wife
Winndye Jenkins and Larry Hoover are married in a common law relationship. Samaya Hoover and Larry Hoover, Jr. are their two children.
Larry Hoover’s Crimes
Larry Hoover started engaging in illegal activity at the age of 12. He gathered with neighborhood pals who identified as “Supreme Gangsters” and participated in minor crimes including stealing and mugging.
Hoover became the group’s obvious leader as the number of the “Supreme Gangsters” increased. Hoover combined his gang, the “Supreme Gangsters,” as a kingpin with a competing organization headed by David Barksdale.
They formed the Black Gangster Disciple Nation as a group. They continued to engage in shooting and assault as their illegal operations became more intense.
After a gunshot left Barksdale injured in 1969, Hoover assumed control of the Gangster Disciples. The gang took over the South Side narcotics trade and made more than $1,000 per day.
When Hoover was in his early 20s, he had already had many arrests for various crimes. He has furthermore experienced many periods in and out of jail as well as six consecutive gunshot attempts on his life.
He had impressive academic credentials for a criminal. Despite having dropped out of school in elementary school, Hoover completed his GED and obtained his EMT certificate while he was jailed.
Hoover gave the order to murder William “Pooky” Young, a 19-year-old neighborhood kid believed to have stolen cash and narcotics from the gang, that fateful evening on February 26, 1973.
Young was kidnapped by Andrew Howard, a member of the Gangster Disciple, who then executed the order by shooting Young to death in an alleyway in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, close to 68th Street and Union Avenue.
Hoover and Howard were both charged with Young’s murder after his passing, and they were both taken into custody on March 16, 1973. Both received sentences of 150 to 200 years in jail.
Hoover was sent to the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois, for maximum security to complete his sentence.
Hoover did not back down from his illegal actions after being sentenced to life in prison; in fact, he became the driving force behind the Black Gangster Disciple Nation, which eventually changed its name to Gangster Disciple when Barksdale passed dead in 1974 from kidney failure.
Hoover kept control of the gang’s narcotics business in the South from behind bars. Additionally, he had complete control over the drug trade in the area of Chicago’s West Side, which he ultimately expanded to the whole country.
He also participated in the formation of Folks Nation, which later included gangs including the Spanish Gangster Disciples, Black Disciples, Maniac Latin Disciples, Black Disciples, and Gangster Disciples.
In Stateville, Hoover’s influence rose rapidly. He started defending other prisoners, who later turned into followers and fresh recruits for the Gangster Disciples.
Hoover had such influence on the other prisoners that even the warden’s officer saw it. Hoover was really seen as having a good impact on putting an end to brawls and revolutions within the jail system.
Early in the 1990s, Larry Hoover claimed to have abandoned his violent criminal background and transformed into a Chicago urban political star.
By hosting charitable activities and nonviolent protests, his criminal gang, GD, gained support from the neighborhood. When Hoover said that the GD gang now stood for “Growth & Development,” everything changed.
Hoover made a full roundabout in the front. He founded a non-profit that registered voters launched a record label that supported disadvantaged children and planned a number of nonviolent demonstrations to protest the closure of public services.
People outside the prison sincerely thought of him as their savior and fought to have him released on parole for his services to society, despite the fact that prison authorities were aware that his sugar-coated sweetness was a cover to leave jail and continue the unlawful activity.
However, GD maintained its evil acts while disguising them as “growth and development.” According to an investigation, Hoover’s gang reportedly employed 30,000 “soldiers” throughout 35 states and earned $100 million annually.
Hoover’s charitable groups were also exposed by informants to be fronts for the laundering of narcotics money.
In actuality, none of the funds raised by the so-called charity were used to aid anybody in need. The investigation’s findings led to Hoover’s second life sentence in 1995.
Hoover was charged with narcotics conspiracy, blackmailing, and continuing to operate a criminal business on August 31, 1995, after years of undercover investigations by the federal authorities.
Federal officials hold up him in the Vienna Correctional Center, and he was later transferred to Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center to face trial.
Larry Hoover was given six life sentences in 1997 after being found guilty on all counts. He is presently serving a life sentence at Florence, Colorado’s United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility.
Hoover is regarded as a gangster community hero from the past in Colorado.
His gang, GD, has undergone such a transformation that some now accuse him of being a victim of political forces, guilty only of being black and in the wrong line of work.