WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2021) The United States sentenced a senior member of Big Hazard, a Hispanic street gang in the city of Los Angeles, California, to 192 months in prison for a series of arson attacks on African American homes, the Justice Department said.
"Carlos Hernandez, 36, aka 'Rider' or 'Creeper'... planned, coordinated and led these racially motivated attacks that targeted vulnerable families, including grandparents and infants, while they were sleeping peacefully in their own homes," Principal Deputy Assistant US Attorney General Pamela Karlan said in a press release on Tuesday.
Big Hazard, also known as Hazard Grande, is a Hispanic-American gang in Los Angeles, according to media reports.
On Mothers' Day in May 2014, Hernandez organized and led seven co-defendants - all members of Big Hazard - in an attack on four apartments, three of which were occupied by Black families, the release said.
The motive was to force residents out of their homes, the release added.
All seven defendants who participated in the firebombing were charged in 2016 and have since pleaded guilty to Federal hate crime and related offenses.
In addition to the 16-year sentence given to Hernandez on Tuesday, five members were previously sentenced to lengthy prison terms, according to the release.
