THE MIXTAPE REPORT Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Hoovers parents moved the family north to Chicago, Illinois, when Hoover was four years old. By the time he was 12 years old, Hoover was on the streets with his friends. Calling themselves supreme gangsters, the group would often ditch school together and ride the train around the city.[3] As the gang grew, Hoover emerged as the natural leader. Known as Prince Larry, Hoover, along with rival gang leader David Barksdale, decided to merge their gangs into one: the Black Gangster Disciple Nation. In 1974, after Barksdale died from kidney failure due to an earlier shooting, Hoover took the reins of the Gangster Disciples Nation, which now had control of Chicagos South Side. Under Hoovers rule, the Gangster Disciples took over the South Side drug trade. While incarcerated, Hoover helped form the Folks Nation, which added other gangs such as: Black Disciples, Gangster Disciples, Imperial Gangsters, La Raza, Spanish Cobras, Latin Eagles, Maniac Latin Disciples, Simon City Royals, Latin Jivers, Spanish Gangster Disciples, Two Sixers, Young Latino Organization Disciples, Young Latino Organization Cobras, Black King Cobras, and International Posse. While incarcerated, King Hoover ran the gangs illicit drug trade in prison and on the streets, starting from Chicagos West Side and later extending throughout the United States. By the early 90s Hoover claimed to have renounced his violent criminal past and became an urban political celebrity in Chicago, and the GDs earned fans in the community with charity events and peaceful protests. He proclaimed that GD now meant Growth & Development. A lengthy federal investigation using wiretaps led to Hoover getting another life sentence in 1995. Hoovers gang allegedly has had 30,000 soldiers in 35 states and made US$ 100 million a year, a total of $3,300.30 USD per soldier annually (though as with all underground criminal enterprises, it is difficult, if not impossible, to calculate who got how much).[4] Growth and Development[edit] Hoover, inspired by the biography of Mayor Richard J. Daley, began discouraging violence in his followers. Instead, he made education mandatory for members of the Gangster Disciples, and instructed his army to go to school, learn trades and develop talents and skills, so that we will become stronger in society. Changing the GD of Gangster Disciples to Growth and Development, Hoovers move to reform began gaining positive attention from the outside. Growth and Development created nonprofit organizations that registered voters, a music label that helped needy children, a series of peaceful protests to fight the closing of public programs, and even a clothing line for charity. Prison officials, however, saw Hoovers good intentions as a ploy to get out of prison and resume his illegal activities. While friends and allies on the outside lobbied to get Hoover paroled for his contributions to society, law enforcement agents say Hoover was finding new ways to expand his criminal ventures. The Gangster Disciples had grown to more than 15,000 members in at least five states. Their drug profits had also risen well into the millions of dollars—all of which gang members attributed to the leadership of Larry Hoover. Transferred to a minimum security prison in Vienna, Illinois, Hoover was living a luxurious lifestyle that involved new clothes, expensive jewelry, specially prepared meals, and private visitations from friends and loved ones. Suspicious authorities began wire-tapping Hoovers private meetings, and discovered that he was running the Gangster Disciple group from within the prison system. Worse still, informants revealed that all of Hoovers nonprofit organizations were actually fronts for laundering drug money. According to the testimony of Gangster Disciple members, the proceeds for any of the so-called charities actually went to helping no one in need. On August 31, 1995, after a 5-year undercover investigation by the federal government, Hoover was indicted for drug conspiracy, extortion, and continuing to engage in a criminal enterprise.[5] He was arrested at the Vienna Correctional Center by federal agents, and moved to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago to stand trial. In 1997, Hoover was found guilty on all charges, and sentenced to six life sentences. Hoover is currently serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility[6] in Florence, Colorado. In popular culture[edit] Larry Hoover is mentioned in Rick Ross song, B.M.F. (Blowin Money Fast). Ross sings, I think Im Big Meech, HUUUH Larry Hoover.[7] Larry Hoover is mentioned in Matisyahus song, king crown of Judah. Matisyehu sings, Larry Hoover was my tutor. Larry Hoover provided vocals in the form of telephone conversations on a pair of tracks from the Geto Boys 1996 album The Resurrection; track 1: Ghetto Prisoner, and track 14: A Visit with Larry Hoover, specifically. Hoovers now defunct clothing line, Ghetto Prisoner Wear, was also advertised in the liner notes to the album.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:23:06 +0000
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