4 Arrested in New York Terror Plot

May 20, 2009, 10:55 pm
By Sewell Chan
Federal authorities arrested four men on Wednesday night on charges of plotting to bomb a synagogue in the Riverdale section of the Bronx and to use antiaircraft missiles to shoot down military planes at a military base in Newburgh, N.Y., 60 miles north of New York City.
The charges, which include conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, represent some of the most significant allegations of domestic terrorism in some time, and come months into a new presidential administration, as President Obama grapples with the question of how to handle detainees at the Guantánamo camp 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 expected to appear in Federal District Court in White Plains, in Westchester County, on Thursday morning.
(See related criminal complaint and the United States attorney’s press release, both in PDF form.)
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.
Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said in a statement that he had spoken with the New York office of the F.B.I. and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly.
“They have told me they have been monitoring this group for sometime and that the men arrested did not have any connection to other terrorists,” Mr. Schumer said in a statement. “This incident shows that we must always be vigilant against terrorism foreign or domestic.”
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