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Kelly: 4 arrested in terror plot 'wanted to commit jihad'

BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA AND JOHN VALENTI | rocco.parascandola@newsday.com. john.valenti@newsday.com

2:13 PM EDT, May 21, 2009

Worshipers arriving Thursday at one of two Jewish synagogues in the Riverdale section of the Bronx targeted in a terrorist plot foiled by police the night before were greeted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly in a show of reassurance.

"Sadly," Bloomberg said Thursday outside the Riverdale Jewish Center at 3700 Independence Ave., "we are reminded peace is fragile, democracy is fragile and we have to be vigilant all the time."

That vigilance paid off Wednesday when NYPD Emergency Services Unit officers and FBI agents arrested four men from upstate Newburgh after authorities said they planted what the suspects believed were C-4 plastic explosives in vehicles outside the Jewish center and the nearby Riverdale Temple, also on Independence Avenue.

The suspects, Kelly said, were intent on jihad.

Unknown to the would-be terrorists, police and federal agents had been monitoring the plot for about one year - and had used an informant, who supplied them with inert bomb materials. The four men - three of them American-born, all said to be Muslim - also had planned to use surface-to-air missiles to shoot down aircraft using the Air National Guard base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, officials said.

The four suspects were identified as ringleader James Cromitie, 55, and co-conspirators Onta Williams, 32, David Williams, 28, and Haitian-born Laguerre Payen, officials said.

Kelly said none of the men had ties to al-Qaida, but were an independent group who met in prison, where the plot was hatched - stoked by what he called a hatred of Jews and American military policy in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The informant, authorities said, also had no ties to terrorist organizations, but posed as a member of Jaish-e-Mohammed - a mujahideen organization in South Asia whose name means "The Army of Mohammed." Its goal reportedly is to separate Kashmir from India.

"They stated they wanted to commit jihad," Kelly said.

"They were disturbed about what was happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan, that Muslims would be killed," Kelly said Thursday morning. "They made the statement that if Jews were killed in this attack, that would be all right."

The four men are charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use antiaircraft weapons. Three of the men appeared in federal court Thursday morning in White Plains and were remanded to federal custody.

The fourth, Payen, is scheduled to appear in court Thursday afternoon, officials said.

"I applaud the efforts of the FBI, the New York Police Department, the New York State Police and other participating investigative agencies in bringing this case to a successful resolution," Gov. David A. Paterson said in a prepared statement Thursday. "This case clearly illustrated that the threat of terrorism in New York is persistent."

The four men had been planning the attacks for about a year, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

In planning the attack, the suspected terrorists bought cell phones, phoned handgun suppliers, scoped out launch locations and took surveillance photographs, authorities said.

But, the governor stressed: "At no time was anyone in danger."

On Thursday morning, Rita Posalski arrived for prayers at Riverdale Jewish Center, before the arrival of Bloomberg and Kelly.

"This is my shul," Polish-born Holocaust survivor Rita Posalski said of her synagogue.

"It's very scary," she said. "I'm a Holocaust survivor. I remember the difficult times during the war. We always felt safe here. From now on, we don't know anymore."

Police said the scenario evolved quickly Wednesday night - over a period of about 20 to 25 minutes.

It was then, police said, that Cromitie, with the informant acting as his driver and the other three men serving as lookouts, placed what he believed were C-4 explosives in a Pontiac outside the Riverdale Temple at 4545 Independence Ave. Then, police said, the informant drove the men south to the Riverdale Jewish Center - where Cromitie again placed what he believed was a plastic explosive in a sport utility vehicle outside the synagogue.

But, as the five men left the site in a SUV, two 18-wheeled tractor-trailer trucks pulled in front of the vehicle, blocking their exit. ESU officers and FBI agents stormed the SUV, breaking windows and pulling out all five men, including the informant, police said. The four suspects were then arrested.

"It was very closely monitored," Kelly said of the plot, noting the group was under surveillance during the entire operation.

"No one was at risk," Kelly said. "This was a very tightly controlled operation."

Jewish center executive director David Winter said he was thankful for that.

"There's a sense of shock and then relief," he said. "As a Jewish organization with close ties to Israel, it [terrorism] is always in the back of our minds. But, we never actually thought it was going to happen."

A teacher in a public middle school across the street from the Jewish center noted how fast the concerns of metropolitan area residents were shocked back into thoughts of terrorism.

"The biggest concern was the swine flu yesterday," said Bob Finz, 60, of MS 141. "Now, it's terrorism."