Jose Saucedo was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Wednesday for planning a 2014 gang attack on Black homes in Los Angeles' Ramona Gardens housing complex. 

On Mother's Day in 2014, Saucedo and members of the Big Hazard street gang threw firebombs into the homes of three Black families in an effort to push them out of the complex. 

“The innocent victims of this cold-blooded attack were targeted based on the color of their skin,” Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office Paul Delacourt said in a statement last year. Saucedo and two others plead guilty last year to federal civil rights and racketeering charges.  

“I’m proud of the agents, detectives and prosecutors who identified the defendants and continue to investigate this very challenging case. These plea agreements are the first step in delivering justice to the victims, as well as delivering the universal message that there is no place for racially motivated hatred or violence in the United States.”

The attack represented a culmination of disputes between local gangs at the time and Big Hazard was explicit about wanting the complex's Black residents to leave.

Saucedo and seven others set out on Mother's Day with masks and hammers. They smashed the windows of three Black families and threw in Molotov cocktails. 

United States Attorney Nicola Hanna said one of the firebombs nearly hit an infant and a woman sitting in her living room.

“It was a miracle that no one was injured in these racially motivated attacks,” said Hanna.

“These defendants have admitted their goal was to drive African Americans out of this housing facility. This simply will not be tolerated, and we will take any and all steps necessary to protect the civil rights of every person who lives in the United States.”

Ramona Gardens has long had issues with attacks on Black families. A 1992 bombing pushed out most of the housing complex's Black residents, but efforts by community leaders to mend ties with the local Latino community took a turn for the worse. As more Black families moved back into the complex in the 2000s, attacks began to crop up. 

The LA Times said Saucedo and six others have been charged or pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes and a variety of other offenses. Saucedo has been in prison for about four years due to other charges. 

“The defendants’ racially motivated and unprovoked attack on families sleeping peacefully in their homes caused fear and destruction,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore of the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute violent acts of hate.”

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