Brothers Charged in Arson Fire That Killed Family of 4 : Crime: Ronald and Carlos Germany face possible death penalty. Chief Williams says motive was to force the family out so that the suspects could sell drugs from the house.

After a months-long investigation, two brothers have been charged in an arson fire that killed a South-Central Los Angeles couple and their two young children, Police Chief Willie L. Williams announced Wednesday.

Ronald Germany, 32, and Carlos Germany, 29, were arrested Monday in a pre-dawn raid on their Van Nuys home, Williams said. They were each expected to arraigned today on four counts of murder in the Sept. 30, 1992, deaths of Jeronimo Martinez, 40; his wife, Amparo, 35; and their daughters, Fabiola, 7, and Liliana, 2.

Williams said at a news conference that the motive for the crime was to force the family, which had recently moved in, out of the dwelling on West 89th Street so that the Germanys, both suspected gang members, could sell drugs from it, as they had done when it was vacant.

The brothers also are charged with attempted murder against three people who escaped the blaze, one count of setting fire to an inhabited building and one count of conspiracy to commit arson. The district attorney’s office has filed special allegations in the case, meaning convictions could lead to the death penalty.

“The family was in the way of two people who decided they were going to continue to deal drugs,” Williams said. “When they couldn’t intimidate (the Martinezes), they burned them out.”

Ronald Germany was quoted by Deputy Dist. Atty. John Zajec as saying before the fire: “The homies talking about getting back the ‘hole,’ so if you see it on fire, don’t trip (panic).”

A “hole” is street slang for a place where drugs are stashed.

While the property was vacant, the landlord discovered that a telephone had been installed and that bicycles had been stored there, Zajec said. The landlord removed those items. Not long after, the bungalow was renovated and the Martinez family moved in.

The Germanys were particularly incensed when Amparo Martinez built a chicken coop next to her bungalow, blocking the drug dealers’ escape route from a street to an alley, Zajec said.

In addition, he said, Amparo Martinez had planned to provide police with information about a robbery she suffered that involved a gang member associated with the Germanys. She was killed before she could do so. But Detective J.L. Flores, one of the Los Angeles Police Department investigators, said he knew of no link between the robbery and the fire.

The Martinezes and the three other people were asleep when Ronald Germany poured gasoline on the dwelling and set it afire, Zajec said. Carlos Germany acted as a lookout, Zajec said.

The crime outraged the family’s neighbors, who flooded police with tips, Williams said.

City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas led a multiracial candlelight vigil and march in the neighborhood to underscore the anger. About 300 people attended. Ridley-Thomas and Councilman Mike Hernandez also persuaded the council to post a $25,000 reward.

Neighbors “provided the investigators with a large number of leads,” Williams said. “Without that relationship between the community, the police and elected officials, we probably would be out beating bushes.”