Luis Felipe, also known as "King Blood", is a Cuban-American former gang leader and is the founder of the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

chapter of the Latin Kings (ALKN) street gang. Born in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Felipe came to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the

Mariel Boatlift The Mariel boatlift () was a mass emigration of Cubans who traveled from Cuba's Mariel Harbor to the United States between 15 April and 31 October 1980. The term "" (plural "Marielitos") is used to refer to these refugees in both Spanish and En ...

in 1980. Six years later, in 1986, after fleeing

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, he founded the New York chapter of the Latin Kings. In 1995, he was convicted of ordering multiple murders from prison by writing to members of the Latin Kings on the outside. Judge John S. Martin Jr. sentenced him to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

plus 45 years. Furthermore, the judge added extraordinary conditions, surprising even

prosecutors A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

. Judge Martin said Felipe must serve the sentence in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

. He forbade him to write or be visited by anyone except his lawyer and close relatives, of whom Felipe has none. Finally, the judge said that he himself, rather than the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

, would control the case. 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, but that other statutes, allow district courts to set special conditions of confinement on defendants convicted of racketeering. Felipe is currently incarcerated at

ADX Florence The United States Penitentiary, Florence Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX), commonly known as ADX Florence, is an American federal prison in Fremont County near Florence, Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Pris ...

References

1961 births Living people Cuban gangsters Hispanic and Latino American gangsters Latin Kings (gang) Gang members Gangsters from New York City People from Havana Cuban emigrants to the United States American people convicted of murder Inmates of ADX Florence People convicted of murder by the United States federal government American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government {{US-crime-bio-stub