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Last of NY 'Newburgh Four’ bomb plot co-defendants set to leave prison
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Jan 26, 2024
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By
Arun Venugopal
Published Jan 26, 2024
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The last of the “Newburgh Four” co-defendants, convicted more than a decade ago of plotting to bomb Jewish sites in the Bronx and military aircraft upstate, is leaving prison early, a judge's incendiary rebuke of federal law enforcement clearing the way.
U.S. District Court Judge Colleen McMahon granted “compassionate release” to James Cromitie, 58, the last of four Newburgh men convicted of terrorism charges in 2010, the culmination of a government sting long portrayed by civil liberties groups as an example of federal excess and FBI entrapment.
McMahon’s Jan. 19 release order heavily criticized prosecutors and law enforcement, arguing that Cromitie had been “a small time grifter and petty drug dealer with no history of violence,” and that “the government created a terrorist.”
Kerry Lawrence, Cromitie’s lawyer, said in an interview Thursday that his client would remain incarcerated at a federal correctional facility in Pennsylvania until April. He added that he had not yet been able to speak with Cromitie, but said the release order was significant.
The notion that Cromitie was selected as a 'leader’ by the co-defendants is inconceivable, given his well-documented buffoonery and ineptitude.
U.S. Judge Colleen McMahon
“This was the most egregious case of government entrapment I've ever encountered,” said Lawrence, who previously served as a prosecutor for the Southern District of New York. “I've never seen anything like this and haven't seen anything like this since.”
The office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York declined to comment. Calls to the FBI’s New York office went unanswered.
A post-9/11 bomb plot
Cromitie and his co-defendants – David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen – were convicted of plotting in 2008 plot to bomb a Jewish synagogue and community center in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, and to destroy military aircraft at the New York Air National Guard Base at Stewart Air Force Base – in upstate Newburgh, Orange County.
Each was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Cromitie’s release order follows “compassionate release” orders granted to the three other co-defendants last summer. While the convictions of all four men were upheld, McMahon noted that “the real lead conspirator was the United States.”
Coverage of the plot, which took place late in the presidency of George W. Bush was extensive and included revelations that an informant had offered the defendants expensive cars and vacations and in one case $250,000. The informant, Shaheed Hussain, testified that Cromitie was full of hate for Jews and President Bush.
“He said he would kill the president 700 times because he's the Antichrist," said Hussain, according to a 2010 article in the Associated Press.
McMahon’s release order, however, noted that Cromitie and other defendants lacked the know-how to execute the crimes for which they were convicted and that the plots were almost entirely executed by the FBI. She described Cromitie as “unemployed and broke” when he agreed to participate in Hussain’s plots. All four co-defendants are Muslim and hailed from Newburgh.
'Buffoonery and ineptitude'
“The notion that Cromitie was selected as a 'leader’ by the co-defendants is inconceivable, given his well-documented buffoonery and ineptitude,” wrote McMahon, adding that “nothing about the crimes of conviction was of defendants' own making.”
**“**The FBI invented the conspiracy; identified the targets; manufactured the ordnance” and “picked the day for the ‘mission’ (which was filmed in real time so it could be shown on television news the night the men were arrested).”
She also noted that the FBI’s “most unsavory” confidential informant, Hussain, “drove the four men to Riverdale (they had no way to drive themselves); ‘armed’ the ‘bomb’ (because the hapless Cromitie, despite his ‘training,’ could not figure out how to do it); and told Cromitie how to place the (inert explosive) device, while David Williams, Onta Williams and Payen performed lookout duty. As soon as the fake device was left by the community center door, law enforcement arrested the four men.”
McMahon said the 15 years that Cromitie had already served more than sufficed, given the actual extent of his crimes, and placed much of her condemnation on Hussain.
“As far as this court is concerned, the only thing connected to this case that undermined anyone's respect for the law was the Government's questionable decision to send a villain like Hussain to troll among the poorest and weakest of men for ‘terrorists’ who might prove susceptible to an offer of much-needed cash in exchange for committing a faux crime.”
Michael German, a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program who previously served as an FBI agent, said the story was that of a “manufactured terrorist plot that the FBI created for the purpose of solving and claiming a success in their war on terrorism.”
“The media, I think, was part of the problem,” said German, “that it was a mutually exploitative relationship between the government's counterterrorism narrative and the media.”
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Race And Justice Unit
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Arun Venugopal
Arun Venugopal is a senior reporter for the WNYC and Gothamist Race & Justice Unit who focuses on issues of race and bias in our region. His reporting also tackles the topics of immigration, faith, and inequality. Arun serves as the regular fill-in host of the station's "U.S. of Anxiety" program. Arun was the creator and host of Micropolis, a series about race and identity. He is a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour, On the Media and Studio 360, and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Salon. He also frequently serves as an emcee and moderator of panel discussions on race, religion, and identity issues and has been a guest host of NPR's "Fresh Air." He lives with his family in Queens.
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