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$65,000 Plan: Blow Up 1 Police Plaza, Behead Ray Kelly
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 6, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 6, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Yesterday, the NYPD revealed a plan hatched by a Rikers inmate to kill Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and place a bomb at 1 Police Plaza. David Brown, an ex-con who is in jail because he violated his parole by "disobeying an order of protection against his ex-wife" (he tried to kill her in 2001), told an undercover cop posing as a hit he was "fed up with the case where the guy got shot 50 times," referring to Sean Bell. Brown allegedly added the shooting "got me frustrated to the point where I want [Commissioner Kelly] murdered." Other things the 400-pound inmate said: "I want his head chopped off" and "I want them to feel like I'm a motherf------ terrorist."
Brown was offering to pay $15,000 for Kelly to be beheaded and $50,000 for NYPD headquarters to be blown up. The undercover detective said the blowing up could cost around $150,000, which Brown was allegedly willing to consider. The NYPD got hold of the plot when Brown told another inmate he wanted to kill the commissioner; that inmate called Crimestroppers.
No money actually was exchanged and the NYPD says Kelly was never in direct danger. Brown was charged with second-degree criminal solicitation. We bet his lawyer will ask for a psychiatric evaluations and claim Brown was insane - asking someone to behead Kelly for $15,000 certainly sounds like a suicide mission.
Commissioner Kelly has been rumored to be a candidate for the 2009 Mayoral election, but he's has been on the hot seat since the Bell shooting. During a City Council hearing, City Councilman Charles Barron asked him to resign.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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