Bronx Bombers Convicted In Shul/Stewart Airport Bombing Plot

Four men accused of plotting to blow up two Bronx synagogues (shuls) and planes taking off from Stewart International Airport near Newburgh, New York, as part of an independent jihad, were found guilty today.

Onta Williams, Laguerre Payen, James Cromitie and David Williams IV will face up to life in prison after a jury deliberated for eight days on terror related charges.

The jury found that the defendants were guilty on all but the following counts: Williams and Payen were found not guilty of one charge, attempting to kill officers and employees of the United States.

The prosecutors were able to overcome defense claims of entrapment and the four made actual attempts to carry out their nefarious plot:

Prosecutors say the men planted three devices packed with the plastic explosive C4 in two cars. One was parked outside the Riverdale Temple and one was parked outside the Riverside Jewish Center. They were planning to later fire heat-seeking Stinger missiles at military planes at an Air National Guard base located at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, prosecutors said.

All of the weapons had been disabled by the FBI and were provided to the suspects by the informant, who was posing as a member of the Pakistan-based terror organization Jaish-e- Mohammed.

The case is U.S. v. Cromitie, 09-cr-00558, U.S. District Court, SDNY.