May 21, 2009 12:49 pm US/Eastern
NYC Community Exhales After Terror Tragedy Averted
Heightened FBI, Police Security Gives Riverdale Neighborhood Sense Of Relief, Comfort
Congregants, Students Of Targeted Temple Reflect On Thwarted Plot
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Families congregate outside the Riverdale Temple on Thursday morning. Congregants and students of the religious facility are breathing a bit easier now that an alleged terror plot targeting their center was thwarted by the FBI and New York City authorities
CBS
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The FBI arrested four men Wednesday evening who are accused of planning a terror plot, with targets including a NYC temple and an upstate New York Military airport.
CBS
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The FBI arrested four men Wednesday evening who are accused of planning a terror plot, with targets including a NYC temple and an upstate New York Military airport.
CBS
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James Cromitie, one of four men arrested in alleged plot to bomb Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx section of New York and a US Air National Guard Base on May 20, 2009.
AP
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David Williams, one of four men arrested in alleged plot to bomb Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx section of New York and a US Air National Guard Base on May 20, 2009.
AP
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Onta Williams, one of four men arrested in alleged plot to bomb Riverdale Jewish Center in the Bronx section of New York and a US Air National Guard Base on May 20, 2009.
AP
Four men arrested after planting what they thought were explosives near two synagogues and plotting to shoot down a military plane were bent on carrying out a holy war against America, authorities said Thursday.
The suspects were arrested Wednesday night, shortly after planting a 37-pound mock explosive device in the trunk of a car outside the Riverdale Temple and two mock bombs in the backseat of a car outside the Riverdale Jewish Center, another synagogue a few blocks away, authorities said.
James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, all of Newburgh, were charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, the U.S. attorney's office said.
In an effort to quell community anxiety, dozens of police officers were stationed in front of the Riverdale Jewish Center Thursday morning to give members an added sense of security, but still mothers taking their toddlers to nursery school there and at the Riverdale Temple had tears in their eyes.
"It's very unnerving knowing my child is in a school that was targeted. It's very scary knowing they were planting bombs right here," said nursery school parent Ava Sherman.
Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly greeted congregants as morning prayers were said and the Jewish Center tried to get back to business as usual.
Kelly quoted one of the men as saying, "If Jews were killed in this attack ... that would be all right."
"They stated that they wanted to commit jihad," Kelly said. "They were disturbed about what happened in Afghanistan and Pakistan, that Muslims were being killed."
Kelly said he believed the men knew each other through prison. They had long rap sheets for charges including drug possession and assault.
"I will embrace normalcy as a sacrament. In just a few minutes, I will say prayers and teach a page of the Talmud," said Senior Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt.
Across the street at the Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy, a public middle and high school, the acting principal was on alert.
"We're use to this in Riverdale. It's a targeted community. We know this was being investigated for a long time. We feel safe in this community because police are always here for us," said the acting principal Phylis Shulman.
And throughout the neighborhood there's a general sense of relief, relief that a tragedy was averted.
"It's an amazing feeling of security to know that you have the police staff behind your back watching you. It was a miracle, the hand of God," said Riverdale Jewish Center Youth Director David Freund.
The arrests came after a nearly yearlong undercover operation that began in Newburgh. The defendants bought a digital camera at Wal-Mart to take pictures of targets, they spoke in code, and they expressed their hatred of Jews on several occasions, according to a criminal complaint.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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