They wanted to take over the world ... starting with the Sears Tower ... then the freeing of Muslim prisoners in a massive jail break ... all planned from the command center under a Key West bridge. This is the story of show trials, nefarious interstate plots, a guy named "the Sultan" and a gang that apparently had dreams much bigger than their means or capabilities. The latest on the Liberty City Seven:
The Liberty City 7 will be heading back to court Wednesday morning as their lawyers try to convince a judge they be let out on bond until the start of their trial in Miami.
On Friday, all pleaded not guilty as the government played grainy videotapes of the meetings between the suspects and an informant. Prosecutors presented evidence in a hearing where they claimed the leader of the “Liberty City Seven” felt he was a year away from carrying out his plans to blow up the Sears tower, shedding some light on how he planned to carry out his alleged attack.
Prosecutors say Narseal Batiste told the FBI’s informant he planned on toppling the world’s tallest building with dynamite planted in the tunnels below it, using the help of the other six suspects that agents believed were operating out of a Liberty City warehouse. Batiste said he would use the help of former fellow FedEx drivers with knowledge of Chicago’s tunnels carry out the attack.
The group’s plan, according to investigators, was to blow up the Sears Tower as a diversion, and while fire and police responded to that catastrophe, the suspects’ “army” would blow up a nearby prison to conduct a massive jailbreak. The purpose would be to enlist “Muslim” prisoners whom they had just freed to take part in their jihad.
The informant also says Batiste wanted to “smoke a cigarette with Osama Bin Laden” and that he was willing to die in his mission to blow up the Sears Tower.
Another one of the suspects, Burson Augustin, allegedly told the informant the group “wanted to take over the world, starting with Miami.”
Batiste had apparently become suspicious of the FBI informant, which is when he went into hiding in January, moving to the Florida Keys to live in a tent under a bridge near Islamorada.
He had told the informant, who was posing as a member of al Qaeda, that he needed the resources to pull off a ground war.
"We got to have a full ground war," he said, according to documents. “We’re going to kill all of the devils we can.”
Okay, I have to stop here for a moment. the government says these guys were planning to "take over the world???" The whole thing??? and to do this, they planned to start with Miami? Dudes, if you're taking over the world ... my advice? Start with someplace much more organized. And why would they want to enlist Muslim prisoners in an al-Qaida plot when, I can't stress this enough, these fellows are not Muslims??? Somebody please to 'splain! Okay, proceed:
However, problems within the organization reportedly erupted in April, when one of Batiste’s top Chicago “lieutenants” and him got into a heated argument.
Agents say that on April 17th, someone called the “Sultan” staged a type of trial at the Liberty City warehouse, which the group called the “embassy”. The “sultan" was arrested by police and turned over to the FBI.
Despite all this information compiled in the government’s investigation, some black community groups and even terrorism experts say the group had no resources and was just too far disorganized to pull off a credible threat.
Family member of the defendants who attended the hearing all wore white t-shirts that read “The Liberty City 7” in support of the suspects.
The six defendants present in court Friday entered pleas of not guilty. The men now await a bond hearing Wednesday July 5th.
Oh the tangled web we weave, when first we plot to take over the world.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
