Last ‘Newburgh Four’ inmate seeks release, claims entrapment in post-9/11 scheme.
A Walmart Worker Claims He Was Framed by the U.S. Government in Terrorist Plot
A third shift worker at Walmart, James Cromitie, who was allegedly the leader of a terrorist group called the “Newburgh Four,” has filed a motion for his release. His attorney, Kerry Lawrence, argues that the entire plot was fabricated by law enforcement, as stated in the motion filed in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York.
“Cromitie had been maneuvered by the Government and its informant into committing a crime that had a twenty-five year minimum sentence,” according to the filing (pdf). “It was a crime so beyond Cromitie’s capabilities that any objective person would conclude that he would not, could not, have ever committed it if the Government had not framed him by suggesting it, supplying it, and walking Cromitie through every step.”
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The evidence suggests that the targets, bombs, missiles, and plans for the mission were all provided by a federal informant named Shaheed Hussain. Mr. Hussain, who was trying to avoid prison time for his own fraud case, had gained attention in Newburgh by driving a flashy black BMW into the poverty-stricken area of New York State.
According to the filing, “In brief, Cromitie, an impoverished small-time hustler, was gulled by the Government’s informant Shaheed Hussain to agree to commit horrendous terrorist crimes that he never would have even thought of, let alone attempted or committed, if the Government had left him alone.” It further states, “The offenses were heinous but never real and were made up by the Government in every respect. There was never any actual danger.”
James Cromitie’s attorney, Kerry Lawrence, believes that his client should be released “as soon as possible.”
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, in her scathing 28-page order, stated that Onta Williams, David Williams, and Laguerre Payen were caught up in a scheme driven by overzealous FBI agents and a manipulative informant. She wrote, “The FBI invented the conspiracy; identified the targets; manufactured the ordinance; federalized what would otherwise have been a state crime … and picked the day for the ‘mission.'”
The arrests took place on May 20, 2009, following an FBI operation that claimed the men were planning terrorist attacks on Jewish synagogues in and around New York City, as well as targeting National Guard planes. All four were sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in federal prison. However, Judge McMahon reduced the sentences of three of the men to time served plus 90 days in her July 27 order.
The four men targeted by the informant were described as poor and unsophisticated. One of them, Laguerre Payen, was arrested in a crack house surrounded by bottles of his own urine and suffered from severe mental illness. It was later revealed that he believed Florida was a foreign country.
The informant even offered to pay medical bills for David Williams, one of his targets, after learning about his brother’s battle with liver cancer. Additionally, Mr. Hussain promised to cover rent and debts for the other men involved in the case. Along with providing weapons, he offered them hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, expensive cars, and other incentives to participate in the plot, according to the defense.
During Mr. Cromitie’s trial, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon portrayed him as incapable of masterminding such an elaborate plot, stating, “[The government] created acts of terrorism out of his fantasies of br
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