NEW YORK — For the past two years, people at the small mosque in Newburgh, N.Y., were suspicious that a government informant was in their midst.
The man talked about violent jihad, took people to lunch to push his beliefs and even offered some money. Salahuddin Muhammad, the imam of the mosque, said he warned people away.
But four members were apparently taken in, by either him or someone else, and were arrested around 9 p.m. Wednesday in the Bronx as they planted what they thought were bombs in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Riverdale. The suspects reportedly planned to detonate the devices remotely and then drive to the Air National Guard base in Newburgh, about 60 miles north, to shoot down military aircraft with a missile.
The suspects were unaware that the bombs were fake and the missile faulty and that the man who provided them was an FBI informant, according to a criminal complaint. Muhammad said he suspected the informant was the man who showed up suddenly at his mosque, Masjid al-Ikhlas, about two years ago.
In a news conference at the Riverdale Jewish Center, an Orthodox synagogue that was a target, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters that the four defendants had met in prison and now live in Newburgh, according to wire reports.
Kelly said James Cromitie, 53, the plot’s leader, had more than two dozen arrests for minor crimes in New York. Working with him were David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen — all American-born except for Payen, who is from Haiti. They were arraigned Thursday in New York courts.
Muhammad said the men were not regulars at the mosque.
“I knew one by face; he came to the mosque a couple of times,” said Muhammad. “The other guys, I don’t know them; I don’t think they ever stepped foot in the mosque.”
Last June, the informant first met Cromitie at the Newburgh mosque, where he told the informant his parents had lived in Afghanistan and he was upset about the loss of Muslim lives in the war there, according to the complaint. He said he wanted to visit Afghanistan and that if he were to die a martyr, he would go to paradise.
A month later, the informant told Cromitie he was a member of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a violent group based in Pakistan, and Cromitie responded that he would like to join and “do jihad,” according to the complaint.
Soon the informant began meeting with Cromitie in a house equipped with concealed audio and video equipment, allowing authorities to watch the plot take shape.
In November, Cromitie told the informant that he would “like to destroy a synagogue,” and in December he asked the informant to supply him with missiles and explosives.
James Cromitie
Aliases: Abdul Rahman, Abdul Rehman, David Anderson
Age: 55
Residence: Newburgh, N.Y.
Background: Convicted in 1987 of misdemeanor drug possession; 12 later arrests for drug offenses that led to three felony convictions in 1989, 1990 and 1992, according to parole-department spokeswoman Heather Groll.
He served prison time under three names: his own, the variation James Crometie and the alias “David Anderson.” His most recent arrest was for selling drugs to an undercover officer near a New York City school.
Daphne Moore, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, confirmed that Cromitie worked at the Wal-Mart in Newburgh until three months ago.
David Williams
Aliases: Daoud, DL
Age: 28
Residence: Newburgh, N.Y.
Background: Williams’ aunt, Aahkiyaah Cummings, said he was a good father to his 7-year- old daughter and newborn son. He was introduced to Islam in prison but never talked about his faith, she said. He grew up in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg section.
He was released from prison in April 2005 after doing just less than a year on minor drug and weapons charges. He violated parole in August 2005 and went back to prison until December that year, when he was released on parole in Brooklyn.
Onta Williams
Alias: Hamza
Age: 32
Residence: Newburgh, N.Y.
Background: Williams served about three months in state prison on drug charges in Orange County. He was released to federal custody in August 2003, convicted of federal drug charges and sentenced to 70 months in federal prison. It is unclear when he was released.
His uncle, Richard Williams, said Onta is separated from his wife and that she has custody of his three children, ages 6 to 15. He lived with his uncle until February, then moved in with his girlfriend.
Laguerre Payen
Aliases: Almondo, Amin
Age: 27
Residence: A native of Haiti living in Newburgh, N.Y.
Background: State records show he was released on parole in August 2005 after serving just more than a year in prison for hitting two people with pellets fired from a BB gun and snatching purses from two women in Rockland County, N.Y.
Hamin Rashada, an assistant imam at a Newburgh mosque, described Payen as penniless, jobless, quiet, evasive and paranoid. He had been fighting deportation to Haiti and for the custody of his 3-year-old son, who is living locally with the child’s mother.
Rashada said he was introduced to Islam in prison; the imam said he worried about Payen’s lack of knowledge about the religion.
