Lawsuit over alleged Banditos deputy gang assault at Kennedy Hall settles on eve of trial
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An expansive lawsuit filed by eight Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies who said they were attacked by members of an alleged deputy gang known as the Banditos has reached a settlement, according to court records.
The case stemmed from an off-duty brawl in 2018 outside Kennedy Hall, an event space in East L.A. The following year, deputies from the East L.A. sheriff’s station filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court, describing the incident as an attack launched by alleged deputy gang members, one of whom they said strangled another deputy “in an apparent attempt to murder him.”
Prior to the Kennedy Hall violence, the deputies said they’d been repeatedly harassed, pressured to quit and “terrorized” by members of the Banditos, who they accused of withholding backup on dangerous calls. The suit’s claims included harassment, racial discrimination and unlawful retaliation.
As of last year, the deputies were asking for $80 million, along with specific policy changes to prevent future abuses. The three-page notice of a conditional settlement filed Thursday morning did not specify the dollar amount or terms of the proposed agreement, which must be accepted by the Los Angeles County Claims Board and approved by L.A. County Board of Supervisors — a process that often takes weeks or months.
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Vincent Miller, the attorney representing all eight of the deputy plaintiffs, declined to comment on the size or scope of the agreement.
“I can’t talk about the settlement; it’s confidential,” he told The Times on Friday. “But I do hope this is the start of my clients putting what has been a nightmare behind them.”
Attorneys for the county and the eight deputies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Sheriff’s Department said it was reviewing the case and would provide comment later.
News of the settlement comes on the eve of trial, which was expected to begin in February and potentially last several months. However, the agreement does not fully resolve the claims at issue, which included allegations by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California that the county has been “wasting” money by funding “illegal activities” of the Sheriff’s Department.
In the coming months, the county and the civil rights organization are expected to continue moving toward a settlement. On Friday during a remote hearing, Judge Ruth Ann Kwan scheduled a status conference for May 22 to hear updates on the negotiations.
The case began in the fall of 2019, when the eight East L.A. deputies — Art Hernandez, Alfred Gonzalez, Benjamin Zaredini, David Casas, Louis Granados, Mario Contreras, Oscar Escobedo and Ariela Lemus — sued both the county and four alleged Banditos. Three of the defendants have since been fired, and one retired before he could be terminated.
The allegations centered on the Banditos, said to be a clique of predominantly Latino deputies who sport tattoos of a skeleton with a sombrero, bandoleer and pistol. According to the lawsuit, some of the group’s alleged members go by names such as “the Godfather” and “Bam Bam.”
The group has long controlled the East L.A. station, according to the suit, and its members have allegedly pressured younger Latino deputies to work excessive hours and demanded that they pay “taxes” to gang members.
In the early hours of Sept. 18, 2018, the suit says, several alleged Banditos members showed up to the Kennedy Hall party with a plan to beat up a newer deputy who had begun training at the station the year before.
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Later, as the party wound down in the early morning hours, they approached him in the parking lot, at one point threatening his family, the lawsuit says.
Other deputies tried to intervene. One — Art Hernandez, now a plaintiff — reportedly was knocked to the ground and punched multiple times in the face. When he got up, he was knocked unconscious. Another was strangled and lost consciousness. Both were later hospitalized.
The district attorney’s office declined to pursue criminal charges against any deputies accused of bad behavior in relation to the Kennedy Hall incident, saying in 2020 that there wasn’t enough evidence to move forward because it was dark out and everyone involved had been drinking.
The deputies who filed the suit have since been transferred to other stations.
After the deputies filed their suit, the ACLU of Southern California joined as a plaintiff suing on behalf of local taxpayers.
“The County has repeatedly settled lawsuits resulting from violence, harassment and other forms of misconduct perpetuated by deputy gang members and required nondisclosure agreements to cover up the facts,” the civil rights group alleged in court filings. “The County is additionally wasting funds through authorizing funds for LASD with the knowledge that those funds are being used to further illegal activities of LASD.”
The ACLU is seeking what’s known as injunctive relief, such as changes to department policies or procedures.
After taking office in 2022, Sheriff Robert Luna began tackling what he has acknowledged is the department’s longstanding problem with violent groups of deputies running roughshod over certain stations, including the one in East L.A.
In early 2023, Luna announced the appointment of a former federal prosecutor to combat those problems within the department.
“This new office will be tasked with helping to eradicate all deputy gangs from this department,” Luna said at the time. “I will have an absolute zero tolerance for this type of conduct.”
Last year, Luna unveiled a new anti-gang policy that banned being in a deputy gang or hate group and required department employees to participate in investigations into them.
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