LOS ANGELES, CA — Three gang members agreed Thursday to plead guilty to federal civil rights and racketeering violations for firebombing the homes of black residents in the Boyle Heights area four years ago in an effort to drive them out of the defendants' Latino gang territory.

Jose "Lil' Moe" Saucedo, 24, Edwin "Boogie" Felix, 26, and Jonathan "Pelon" Portillo, 23, admitted in plea agreements that they targeted the apartments in the Ramona Gardens housing complex because of the occupants' race and color. In the early morning hours of May 12, 2014, eight members of the Big Hazard street gang, which claims Ramona Gardens as its territory, prepared Molotov cocktails, smashed the windows of four apartments and threw the lit firebombs into the units, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Three of the four targeted apartments were occupied by black families, including women and children, who were sleeping at the time of the unprovoked attack, federal prosecutors said.

"It was a miracle that no one was injured in these racially motivated attacks," said U.S. Attorney Nicola T. 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." All three defendants agreed to plead guilty to racketeering and conspiring to violate the civil rights of the families, specifically the constitutional right to live in a home free from "injury, intimidation and interference based on race." They will also plead to using force to injure, intimidate and interfere with the residents because of their race, according to their plea documents.

Additionally, Portillo agreed to plead guilty to a charge of using fire to commit another federal felony, and Saucedo and Felix will plead to a charge of attempted malicious damage of federal property through the use of fire. Once they enter their guilty pleas on a date to be determined, all three will face potential sentences of at least 30 years in federal prison.

Three other members of the Big Hazard gang who were charged in the case -- Francisco "Bones" Farias, 27, Joel Matthew "Gallo" Monarrez, 23, and Jose "Fresco" Zamora, 28 -- previously pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes and related offenses, and are awaiting sentencing in Los Angeles federal court.

The final two defendants -- Carlos "Rider" Hernandez, 33, and Josue "Malo" Garibay, 24, are facing trial before U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder on July 31.

According to an indictment unsealed in summer 2016, Hernandez ordered the other defendants to meet at a location in Hazard gang territory on May 11, 2014 -- Mother's Day -- to prepare for the night's attack. At the meeting, Hernandez allegedly distributed materials to be used during the firebombing, including disguises, gloves and other materials. Hernandez explained that the order for the racially motivated attack had come from the Mexican Mafia, a prison gang that controls the majority of Hispanic gangs in Southern California, prosecutors allege. The indictment also alleges that Hernandez told the other defendants to break the victims' windows, allowing the Molotov cocktails to make a clean entry, ignite the firebombs, and throw them into the victims' units in order to maximize damage. One of the victims, a mother sleeping on her couch with her infant child in her arms, narrowly missed being struck by one of the weapons.