Born in Havana, Cuba, Felipe emigrated to the United States in the Mariel Boatlift in 1980.

Six years later, in 1986, after fleeing Chicago, he founded the New York chapter of the Latin Kings.

[1] In 1995, he was convicted of ordering multiple murders from prison by writing to members of the Latin Kings on the outside.

He forbade him to write or be visited by anyone except his lawyer and close relatives, of whom Felipe has none.

[2] However, the appellate court recognized that federal statutes generally allow only the attorney general, through the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to determine the conditions of confinement imposed on federal prisoners,[3] but that other statutes,[4] allow district courts to set special conditions of confinement on defendants convicted of racketeering.