He is also the former leader of the Los Padillas gang that was active in Albuquerque, New Mexico throughout the late 1990s decade. In 1999, Padilla was arrested for murdering two citizens named Fernando Velasquez and Julius Sanchez among other crimes for which he was suspected. In 2013, he was released from prison and put on probation for the remainder of his 25-year sentence, but committed three violations while on probation and resultingly ended up being sent back to prison in 2015 to complete the sentence. He was later released again on June 27, 2017, claiming to have reformed from his criminal actions.