http://riverdalepress.com/atf.php?sid=8741¤t_edition=2009-05-21Four men accused of attempting to detonate bombs outside two Riverdale Jewish institutions are being held without bail after brief court appearances on Thursday.
The men were arrested on Wednesday night after allegedly trying to plant car bombs in front of two Riverdale synagogues on Independence Avenue.
No one at Riverdale Temple or the Riverdale Jewish Center was hurt and no property was damaged. The explosives, which the suspects allegedly believed to be C-4, were inert, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a Thursday morning press conference. A cooperating witness working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation provided the C-4 to the alleged would-be bombers, along with an inoperable Stinger missile launcher they planned to use to shoot down planes at a New York Air National Guard base near their homes in Newburgh, N.Y., according to a criminal complaint.
Wednesday night’s events were the culmination of an investigation that stretches back to last June, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. At each stage, officials stressed, federal agents monitored their prey, allowing the four accused to further their alleged plot — but ensuring it could do no harm.
When asked how the suspects picked their targets, Mr. Kelly said the synagogues’ proximity to the Henry Hudson Parkway may have made them convenient for James Cromitie, 55, David Williams, 28, Onta Williams, 32, and Laguerre Payen, 27, the men accused of attempting the bombings.
The suspects, Mr. Kelly said, are believed to have met in prison. Each has a criminal record, but their criminal careers are largely comprised of petty crimes, he said.
During court proceedings Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Snyder said Mr. Payen had twice been indicted and twice pleaded guilty, though he did not say what crimes Mr. Payen admitted to committing.
Asked for comment as they left the federal courthouse in White Plains, N.Y. Thursday, attorneys for each defendant declined in turn. During court proceedings, each defendant testified to having finished school in or before twelfth grade, and one, Mr. Payen, said he could not read or write in English. Another, Mr. Cromitie, admitted to having smoked marijuana in the previous 24 hours.
They were apparently still wearing the clothing they had on when they were arrested last night on Independence Avenue between West 239th and 246th streets.
Witnesses described the scene.
“At about 9:15 we heard screaming, and then two gunshots,” said Lindsay Sherman, who lives in an Independence Avenue apartment building, as she stood on Independence Avenue late Wednesday night.
Sitting on his terrace four floors above the intersection of West 239th Street and Independence Avenue, Daniel Langer was pulled out of his chair by what he described as a bang followed by loud, sustained shouting. When he looked down onto the street, he saw numerous police and other cars with lights flashing, as well as uniformed NYPD officers and people wearing jackets with “FBI” branded on the back.
As he watched, more police cars and emergency service vehicles “streamed” into the area surrounding the RJC.
Ms. Sherman saw two men being whisked into unmarked cars and taken away. She saw a van and another, smaller car, both near Riverdale Temple, also towed away.
NYPD Emergency Services Unit officers waited nearby Wednesday night as the men planted what they thought were explosives outside the temple and the Jewish center, Mr. Kelly said. When the men returned to their sport-utility vehicle and got behind its tinted windows, police approached in an armored vehicle called a BearCat, shattered the windows — because the windows were tinted and the officers could not see what was going on inside — and made their arrests, said Mr. Kelly.
During court proceedings Thursday, Mr. Cromitie requested medical attention. Through his attorney, Vincent L. Briccetti, he said he had sustained cuts to his back and arms. The cuts are apparently from the shattered glass.
Mr. Payen stood before Magistrate Judge Lisa M. Smith with what appeared to be stitches under a bandage on his forehead.
With the exception of Mr. Payen, who is Haitian, the men are all American citizens. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the men believed they were receiving their supplies from Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist organization based in Pakistan, via the FBI cooperating witness. The men wished to retaliate against the United States for its involvement there and in Afghanistan, according to a criminal complaint.
Their homegrown origins did not stifle their ambitions, prosecutors charge.
Asked if it was safe to infer the men were amateurs because they could not tell they had been sold inoperable equipment, Mr. Kelly replied, “The only thing I would infer is they wanted to kill people.”
In the federal courthouse in White Plains on Thursday, Mr. Snyder described the men as “eager to bring death to Jews.”
“In a group of extremely violent men… he stands out,” Mr. Snyder said of David Williams. “He bought a gun in the projects in Brooklyn… from a … Bloods gang leader.”
But some details in the proceeding belied the picture of deliberate menace prosecutors sought to paint behind the defendants’ alleged actions.
Mr. Payen seemed confused and repeatedly indicated he didn’t understand what was being said.
His attorney, Marilyn Reader, said he was
“intellectually challenged,” had a low IQ and that he had “difficulty understanding the more complex concepts” of the legal system. She also said he might be bipolar or schizophrenic, and takes Seroquel and Celexa, medicines used to treat both disorders.
Mr. Snyder, the prosecutor, countered that the government had video of a much more alert Mr. Payen handling and learning how to us a Stinger missile, as well as praying for the success of their mission.
The defendants’ attorneys reserved the right to ask that bail be set for their clients at a later date.
Topic: Defense Attorney for Bomb-plot suspects: They had low IQ's!!! (Read 559 times)