Jose Luis Razo, Jr.

Jose Luis Razo Jr. was a student at Harvard University who was convicted of multiple accounts of armed robbery in 1989, for crimes committed while on vacation from Harvard. The press called him "The Harvard Homeboy."

Razo grew up in La Habra, California, where he had been an altar boy, the Boys Club's boy of the year, a top student at his Roman Catholic high school, and an outstanding football player. More than 60 colleges and universities pursued him during his senior of high school in 1984.

Razo selected Harvard University, and after his Freshman year, he lived in Kirkland House, the 'jock' house, and was a B+ student. However, Razo was not able to return after his sophomore year because in July of that summer, he confessed to police that he had committed a string of armed robberies in California and Florida, while on break from Harvard.

The police had labelled the unknown criminal the 'ski mask bandit' but after it became known that Razo was responsible for the crimes, the press immediately labelled him "the Harvard Hold-up Man" or "the Harvard Homeboy".

Prior to his confession, Razo had not been a suspect in these crimes. On July 9, 1987, he walked into the police station in his hometown, claiming to know something about an unsolved murder. After it became clear that he knew nothing about the slaying, Razo almost casually stated: "By the way, I've done some armed robberies."

The Crimes

Razo's crime spree began during his first winter vacation from Harvard. The day after Christmas in 1985 he robbed a dairy. From then on, he committed at least one robbery every time he returned home on vacation.

Wearing a ski mask and holding a long-barrel revolver, the young scholar held up at least 10 and as many as 15 grocery stores and fast-food restaurants in Southern California. He also admitted to committing an armed robbery in Florida when he went there for spring vacation with classmates.

Razo estimated that he had stolen about $30,000 and spent most of it on gifts for him family. He bought them new furniture, a television set, a security door and window bars, a new roof for the house, clothes and other gifts. He spent some of the money on drugs as well.

The crimes seem to have been driven by a desire to prove to his friends back home that Harvard had not made him soft. According to his sister, Leticia Razo, as his time at Harvard progressed, her brother moved increasingly close to his old cholo friends. "He started walking different, standing different," she said.

The Trial

The trial wasn't until 1989, and it proved to be a pretty simple case. Razo was charged with only ten holdups. The prosecution relied heavily on the videotaped confession in which he described committing the crimes in detail.

John Barnett, Razo's defense lawyer, offered that the confession was given in a drug-induced stupor.

The jury found him guilty of six counts. "I think that none of us wanted to find him guilty," one of the jurors said, "But there was just too much evidence on most of the counts." He was also found guilty of trying to escape from the police. He faced a maximum sentence of fifteen years and four months in prison, and was sentenced to ten years.

The Aftermath

Razo's mother was heartbroken. "He said that he felt so guilty knowing that he had everything and his family had nothing. I told him there was plenty of time for the family, and not to worry. But he was so lonely back there."

In prison interviews, Razo has told reporters that he hated the time he spent at Harvard, and has portrayed himself as a kind of Robin Hood, stealing to save his starving family. "I was torn between having to be over there and wanting to be here," he told one interviewer. "I did what I had to do to take care of my family - food, clothing, shelter, bills." (From all available evidence, his family had been middle class in Mexico, and lower-middle in the States.)

As of January 2003, Razo reported a home address in Tijuana, Mexico.

Sources

* The New York Times, July 26, 1987
* The New York Times, June 11, 1989
* http://www.caucus.org/archives/93spr_modelmexican.html
* Swing Magazine June 1995
* The Boston Herald, April 7, 1996