heard a mercy bid from Hoover<\/a>. The judge challenged Hoover\u2019s attorneys during that hearing, asking \u201chow many murders is he responsible for?\u201d<\/p>\nHoover\u2019s lawyers ultimately responded by asking the judge to disqualify himself from the case. Blakey hasn\u2019t ruled in the months since.<\/p>\n
Hoover and David Barksdale created the Gangster Disciples in the late 1960s, ruling as \u201cKing Larry\u201d and \u201cKing David\u201d until Barksdale was killed in 1974.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t stop Hoover from running the gang, though.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Hoover was charged in federal court with 40 crimes, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, and a jury found him guilty on May 9, 1997.<\/p>\n
The late U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber handed down Hoover\u2019s life sentence in 1998, telling him he\u2019d misused a \u201cgift\u201d from God.<\/p>\n
Wallace \u201cGator\u201d Bradley, a former Gangster Disciples enforcer and longtime advocate for Hoover\u2019s release, said he prays that Gov. JB Pritzker follows suit to commute Hoover\u2019s life sentence for murder in Illinois.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it should have happened under Biden. They should have done it under Barack Obama,\u201d Bradley says. \u201cI commend Trump for doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradley says the last time he spoke to Hoover was in 2014 when Bradley was in Mississippi on a tour for his book, \u201cMurder to Excellence: Growth & Development for the Millennial Generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis wife had him on a speaker phone and he was telling people to stop the violence,\u201d Bradley says.<\/p>\n
This is a developing story.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n