4 Arrested in New York Terror Plot

The entire sting operation reveals more about the mindset of the organizers than the sinister nature of the sting victims, whose naïveté and culpability is less dangerous than the vicious nature of those who could possibly be out to perpetrate an act of provocation around the notorious Islam vs Jewish divide and its denouement in the city of New York, around the chosen target of Jewish Synagogue. Entire scenario smacks of the work of agents provocateur out to time the event to parallel the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to meet a less than accommodating US President Obama. The event could have been managed to once again to revive the acute fear of Muslim terrorists through scaremongering and to bolster neo-con case for a war against Islam.

Michael Appleton for The New York TimesJames Cromitie, one of the four men arrested on Wednesday night.

Read the latest updates.

Updated, May 21, 12:38 a.m. | Federal and city authorities arrested four men on Wednesday night on charges of plotting to bomb two synagogues in the Riverdale section of the Bronx and to use antiaircraft missiles to shoot down planes at a military base in Newburgh, N.Y., 60 miles north of New York City. (See a related article. See Thursday updates on City Room.)

The charges, which include conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use antiaircraft missiles, represent some of the most significant allegations of domestic terrorism in some time. They come months into a new presidential administration, and asPresident Obama grapples with the question of how to handle detainees at theGuantánamo naval base in Cuba.

The four defendants — whom federal authorities identified as James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, all of Newburgh, in Orange County — are to appear in Federal District Court in White Plains, in Westchester County, on Thursday morning. Three of the suspects are American citizens, and one suspect is of Haitian descent, according to the office of Gov. David A. Paterson.

Stan Honda/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesLev L. Dassin, the acting United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Mr. Cromitie, who is described as the lead defendant, is said to have told an F.B.I. informer that he had ties with Jaish-e-Muhammad, a jihadist group based in Pakistan. None of the defendants actually obtained weapons of mass destruction, according to the authorities. The men were, however, given an antiaircraft missile system that was incapable of being fired, as well as homemade bombs containing inert plastic explosives, as part of the undercover investigation, the authorities said.

Rabbi Jonathan I. Rosenblatt, the senior rabbi at the Riverdale Jewish Center, a modern Orthodox congregation in Riverdale, said the police informed him on Wednesday evening that his synagogue was a target of the plot, as well as the Riverdale Temple, a Reform synagogue that is a short distance away, on Independence Avenue. He said the police told him that the bombs were to have been detonated late Wednesday evening.

Rabbi Rosenblatt and several Jewish community leaders, including elected officials, were summoned to a meeting shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday and told about the plot, he said in a phone interview. Rabbi Rosenblatt said he took the news with “shock, surprise — a sense of disbelief that something which is supposed to belong to the world of front pages and the evening news had invaded the quiet world of our synagogue.”

DOCUMENTS

• Text: Criminal Complaint (pdf)

• Text: U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release (pdf)

According to the criminal complaint, Mr. Cromitie met the informer last June, and told the informer that his parents had lived in Afghanistan and that he was upset about the deaths of Muslims at the hands of United States military forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mr. Cromitie expressed interest in returning to Afghanistan and said that if he were to die a martyr he would go to paradise, according to the complaint, which states that Mr. Cromitie threatened to do “something to America.”

In July, according to the complaint, Mr. Cromitie and the informer discussed Jaish-e-Muhammad, and Mr. Cromitie claimed to be involved with the militant organization. Jaish-e-Muhammad was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department in 2001.

That month, Mr. Cromitie also told the informer he wished to “do jihad,” the complaint states.

Starting in October, the informer began meeting Mr. Cromitie in a house in Newburgh that the F.B.I. had equipped with concealed video and audio equipment, according to the complaint. In several meetings at that house, Mr. Cromitie and the other defendants discussed their desire to attack a synagogue in Riverdale — a heavily Jewish neighborhood in the northwestern Bronx — and to shoot down military aircraft at the Air National Guard base in Newburgh.

Mr. Cromitie “asked the informant to supply surface-to-air guided missiles and explosives for the planned operations,” and the informer told Mr. Cromitie that he could provide him with C-4 plastic explosives, the complaint states.

Starting in April 2009, the complaint says, the four men selected the synagogues they intended to attack and conducted surveillance, including photographs, of military planes at the base.

Mr. Cromitie went to Riverdale, and, using a camera bought at a Wal-Mart, examined his targets, the complaint states. He “pointed to people walking on the street in the vicinity of a Jewish Community Center and said that if he had a gun, he would shoot each one in the head,” it states.

Later in April, Mr. Cromitie and David Williams bought a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol in Brooklyn to use in the planned attack, and then traveled to “a location from which they could shoot at the military planes using surface-to-air guided missiles,” the authorities said.

The two men indicated that they mainly intended to kill military personnel, but David Williams said if Jews were killed, “it does not matter,” according to the complaint.

In early May, Mr. Cromitie, David Williams and Mr. Payen drove with the informer toward Stamford, Conn., to obtain what the three men were told would be a surface-to-air guided missile system and three improvised explosive devices containing C-4 plastic explosive material.

The informer gave the men “a Stinger surface-to-air guided missile provided by the F.B.I. that was not capable of being fired,” as well as three improvised explosive devices, each containing more than 30 pounds of inert C-4 plastic explosives, telling the men that he had obtained them from Jaish-e-Muhammad, the authorities said.

The three men took the weapon materials back to Newburgh, and two days later, joined by Onta Williams, they met to inspect the materials and “further discuss the logistics of the operation,” the authorities said.

Lev L. Dassin, the acting United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement on Wednesday night that “the defendants wanted to engage in terrorist attacks.”

He added: “They selected targets and sought the weapons necessary to carry out their plans. Fortunately, the defendants sought the assistance of a witness cooperating with the government. While the weapons provided to the defendants by the cooperating witness were fake, the defendants thought they were absolutely real.”

Political leaders responded to the news of the arrests with statements expressing relief.

“While the bombs these terrorists attempted to plant tonight were — unbeknownst to them — fake, this latest attempt to attack our freedoms shows that the homeland security threats against New York City are sadly all too real and underscores why we must remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent terrorism,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement.

Governor Paterson said in a statement: “Through the cooperation, hard work, and dedication of federal, state, and local law enforcement a serious threat was mitigated and terrorist attacks in our state were thwarted. Throughout the course of this investigation, law enforcement professionals have assured that all measures of security to protect our citizens were taken and, thanks to their watchful eye, at no time was anyone in danger.”

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said in a statement: “If there can be any good news from this terror scare it’s that this group was relatively unsophisticated, infiltrated early, and not connected to another terrorist group.”

Mr. Schumer added that he had spoken with the New York office of the F.B.I. and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, and said, “They have told me they have been monitoring this group for some time and that they did not have any connection to other terrorists.”

In addition to the F.B.I. and the New York City Police Department, the New York State Police and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations were also involved in the investigation.

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Readers’ comments: Total 350

1.May 20, 200911:06 pmLink

Why?

— John Harrington

2.May 20, 200911:08 pmLink

Alright, let’s roll out the background identity of the suspects beyond just their names….LET THE CIRCUS BEGIN!!!

— LJ

3.May 20, 200911:08 pmLink

Congrats to the FBI, NYPD, and other law enforcement officials for keeping us safe and for their amazing police work to make sure these wanna-be terrorists did nothing but assure themselves of a lifetime in prison.

— oxfdblue

4.May 20, 200911:09 pmLink

Home grown terrorists ! The FBI has done a good job in derailing this plot

— alston green

5.May 20, 200911:12 pmLink

Thank you to those individuals who work tirelessly to protect us all. God bless their efforts and may they always be successful and moral.

— Jake

6.May 20, 200911:23 pmLink

Treason. Lock them away forever.

— Eugene Gorrin

7.May 20, 200911:24 pmLink

Old fashioned police detective work, rather than wars in foreign countries, is the more effective method to stopping Al Quaeda.

— David

8.May 20, 200911:25 pmLink

And would you look at that! They didn’t even need waterboarding! In all seriousness, congrats to FBI and NYPD and others!

— Chris

9.May 20, 200911:26 pmLink

Props to all involved in rounding up the bad guys!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

— Leslie

10.May 20, 200911:28 pmLink

Thank God our government is doing its job to keep us safer.

— Louis F.

11.May 20, 200911:29 pmLink

THis sounds eerily similar to the Florida goup they arrested on suspicion of bombing the Sears Tower.

Of course, they had no money, no earlier ties to terrorism, some didn’t even have drivers licenses. But an “Informant” is able to coax them into accepting combat boots and cash. Then they’re arrested.

Entrapment is a nuance of the law. I accept that. Still, I wonder just how these men came into the orbit of the govt.

Never forget Randy Weaver, a former Special ops who the ATF mistakenly had ties to the Aryan Nation. His son and wife were shot and killed in a US Marshalls siege in 1992.

— Henry F

12.May 20, 200911:37 pmLink

anti semitism. Will it ever end? Hatred is the bread of the ignorant.

— angelique

13.May 20, 200911:38 pmLink

Thank you to all those who thwarted these men and saved so many lives.

— Dana C.

14.May 20, 200911:49 pmLink

Awesome job to everyone who helped. Thank you and keep it up!

— Jen

15.May 20, 200911:55 pmLink

Angelique – what a myopic comment! The intention to use violence against all civilians is what you should be outraged about. Bravo to the law enforcement officials who prevented a grave calamity from happening.

— Parul G. Kalbag

16.May 20, 200911:55 pmLink

Thank you for doing a job well done.

— Ronald

17.May 20, 200911:57 pmLink

Never forget Randy Weaver, a former Special ops who the ATF mistakenly had ties to the Aryan Nation. His son and wife were shot and killed in a US Marshalls siege in 1992.
— Henry F

Randy Weaver is your idea of an American hero? David Koresh must be next on your list. Funny thing…you deal illegal weapons and defy a federal court order, then brandish weapons before federal agents, bad things are gonna happen. Misogynist, anti-Semite, religious bigot…yup, he’s a real America hero. Henry, I don’t know what America you think you are defending, but it ain’t mine.

Along these lines, if the allegations are true, I hope these zealots get a proper defense, sentenced, and spend the rest of their pathetic, bigoted lives in jail.

— Robert, NYC

18.May 20, 200911:59 pmLink

Once again, law enforcement accomplishes what the “war on terror” does not.

— John

19.May 21, 200912:01 amLink

Why not report on where these guys were recruited ?(in jail), by who? (a radical Islamist). Guess the Times doesn’t want to break this news as Obama is giving a speech tomorrow about National Security. Sure, just bring the Guantanomo radicals here so they can enlist more prisoners to their cause , that’s what the liberal press and the ACLU seem to want.

— Linda

20.May 21, 200912:02 amLink

Amazing work! The struggles you have endured today have saved the lives of the innocent. Take pride in your accomplishments.

— Oracle

21.May 21, 200912:04 amLink

It seems to me that these suspects were not really a credible threat until the informer made them such. I agree with post #11.

Just thinking about violent acts or boasting about them is not really a crime. I wonder how successful the prosecution of this case will be?

— HL

22.May 21, 200912:06 amLink

If the government did not help these looney’s they would have gone home and taken a cold shower or they might have gone to a local gun shop, bought guns and shot up something, maybe some wildlife in a national park.

One thing is clear, this type of mayhem is on the rise and has nothing to do with terrorists. It has to do with the collective, highly communicable emotional and mental disorders that are rampant in America. Clearly continuing and expanding wars everywhere is having its impact on all those whose wiring is loosely connected and are having a difficult economic time. The question is where was the FBI when it knew about Arabs in America seeking fluing lessons of jumbo jets and not expressing interest in how to take off or land? Can you see it now. The FBI gave two Egyptions and 14 Saudi Arabians a jumbo jet that could not land just before they failed to arrest them.

All these kooks would need is a credit card and a signature of the president on the two bills awaiting his signature, one helping the credit card industry in a bill that is misnamed reform and the other a bill wanted by the NRA and gun dealers everywhere that apparently even Bush II could not get that will allow people to take hidden weapons into federal parks.

CHANGE we can believe in? Yikes!

I bet this was part of the smorgabord horsesh-t fed to Obama to bring him around on everything the military and intelligence agencies want. Got to give Cheney credit. He still is the VP of fear, doom and super protector of the 1%-ers who own over 35% of America’s wealth.

You can see it happening this way. At a gathering of the insiders and political appointees and a few Homeland Security types the president is informed that there are serious plots underway to cause massive destruction in America. In addition to a Jewish Synaguoge attack (nothing new here. It is called anti-Semitism and has been going on for too many years.) and a few military planes, a Boys Club will be invaded by Islamic sympathizers who will sodimize any R. C. kids not already abused by the church priests, who are also allegedly part of a similar plot to bomb a local theater showing Devils and Angels. Also as part of the list of attacks will be doctors from Iran and Syria performing unauthorized autopsies on hospital patients still in shock after seeing the bill for uninsured medical care services and products and lastly a plot to attack Congress by Tea Party participants because they correctly believe that Congress collectively is nuts, unconnected to the average Main Street American and along with its favorite insiders do not give poo-poo for them.

Has bin Laden been reduced to this? Can’t wait to see the track record on thses guys. The courts will find them incompent to stand trial.

— ed g

23.May 21, 200912:06 amLink

Thank god these men didn’t follow through on their plot.

I’m confused–they’re being arraigned on weapons of mass destruction charges, but they weren’t planning to use nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, from what I understand reading the article. Do domestic WMD charges go beyond NBCs?

— Pierce Randall

24.May 21, 200912:07 amLink

It is so interesting that there is very little attention paid in the article to the fact that these men had targeted a synagogue, as if this were a completely normal thing to do. Even Bloomberg and Schumer, themselves Jews, had nothing to say about the plot to massacre Jews in their place of worship.

Where is the shock and outrage? Or do we think this is normal and hardly worth protesting out loud?

— BPS

25.May 21, 200912:08 amLink

Henry F — The Florida conspirators in the Sears Tower boming plot were just recently convicted by a jury of their peers. Perhaps you haven’t seen all the details and should refrain from judgment unless/until you have.

— John Self

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