Four men were arrested on Wednesday night in a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh,New York. The four were petty criminals who appeared to be acting alone,not in concert with any terrorist outfit,the New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W Kelly said on Thursday. The men were arrested in an elaborate sting operation around 9 pm on Wednesday after planting what they believed to be bombs in cars outside the Riverdale Temple,a Reform synagogue,and the nearby Riverdale Jewish Center,an Orthodox synagogue. Once the explosives were planted,the men planned to detonate them remotely and drive to the National Guard base to shoot down military aircraft with a Stinger surface-to-air guided missile. The men did not know that the bombs,obtained with the help of an informant for the FBI,were fake,and that the missile was incapable of being fired. In a news conference on Thursday Commissioner Raymond W Kelly offered details about the four defendants James Cromitie,David Williams,Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen. The men,all from Newburgh,had met in prison. Cromitie,53,described as the plots leader,had lived in Brooklyn,Kelly said. Cromitie,David Williams,and Onta Williams were native-born Americans,while Payen is a Haitian citizen. All four are Muslims,a law enforcement official said. Kelly said: They were disturbed about what was happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were making statements that Jews were killed in this attack and that would be all right. The painstaking investigation began in June 2008,involving an FBI agent who had been cooperating with the authorities since 2002,when he pleaded guilty to taking part in a fraud scheme and was sentenced to five years of probation. The plot unfolded on Wednesday night as one of the suspects placed the homemade bombs into separate vehicles parked outside the synagogues. The other three suspects served as lookouts,Kelly said. As everyone was going back to the car,that is when the signal was given to the emergency service officers to move in, Kelly said. An 18-wheel New York Police Department vehicle blocked the suspects black sport utility vehicle at 237th Street and Riverdale Avenue. The FBI informer also served as the driver of the suspects SUV,Kelly said. Another vehicle arrived and officers from Emergency Service Unit removed the men from the vehicle,and handcuffed them. None offered resistance.
