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CNN Security Watch: Miami Terror Indictment

Aired June 23, 2006 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN LIVE TODAY: I want to explain to our viewers that now is when you usually see international news from CNN International. We decided keep going here on CNN because of the nature of this developing story.
So, let's go ahead and bring you up to date on what we know about what they're calling these homegrown terrorists. That is the description today from federal officials about suspects in an alleged terror plot.

They're accused of conspiring to blow up targets here in the U.S. Seven people are in custody, most are expected in court this afternoon. Law enforcement sources describe the men as radical Muslims. The Sears Tower in Chicago and the Miami FBI office were said to be targets of the alleged plot.

We're told raids turned up no weapons or bomb making materials, but the indictment alleges the suspects sought help from an informant they thought was a member of al Qaeda.

You heard Susan Candiotti make mention of this, our Drew Griffin is on the ground in Miami. He's been talking to family members of some of the suspects. And he join us now by phone.

Drew, what have you been able to hear from family members?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): These family members obviously stunned by the news of this development, had no idea that any of this was going on, and quite frankly do not believe it.

Let me set the stage for you. We're in a very poor working-class neighborhood in Miami. About two or three miles from where this group met. The two mothers of Ligessin Ramoran and Stanley Feigner (ph) live across the street from each other. The children kind of grew up in the same neighborhood together.

And these two gentlemen, they said, were very deeply religious men, closely following the Bible and they believe -- still believe that these men were in this group to study the Bible. They constantly were studying the Bible. They say this amounts to nothing more than a religious study or a Bible group that was meeting in this warehouse facility.

Mrs. Feigner, her name is Elizene Feigner (ph) -- she is an immigrant from Haiti. Her son was born here in the U.S. -- showed me the construction work her son did on her home. Showed me his work clothes that he goes to work in and how she washes them every single day. And says, every month he comes home with a paycheck and hands it over. He lives with her, and his sister, and helps raising the kids.

He is single. Both of these women say that this religious group, they do not drink or curse, they do not even have any kind of sexual relationships with women. And so they are a completely stunned by this development. And say that it just could not possibly be so, Daryn.

KAGAN: Well, interesting that these family members say they're studying the Bible, because we're hearings this mixture, it's described as a mixed religion. Some Islam, some Christianity, but then we hear them described as radical Muslims, as well.

GRIFFIN: Yeah, I can absolutely, from the family, rule out any kind of Muslim connection. These were gentlemen who read and studied the Bible, according to the family. Stanley Feigner was baptized and confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church. His mother is Catholic. Ligessin Ramoran (ph), similarly, was -- according to his ex-wife, his ex-wife divorced 11 years ago -- she said he's still actively involved with his children, his two children. That he was in Atlanta to attend the college graduation of his sister and said he's deeply religious. And, you know, he does not participate in any kind of a sexual relationships with anybody. And this was a Bible study group.

They call themselves the Sect of the Mores. And they point out that is spelled M-O-R-E-S. And they were soldiers of the Sea of David, dedicated to bettering the black community and stopping black- on-black crime. And that these black outfits they wore, according to a cousin, were black dickeys with an emblem they made up of the Sea of David on the sleeve. So they are definitely, says the family, Christians, not Muslims. And not radicals, and according to the family, no way could they have been terrorists.

KAGAN: All right. Drew Griffin on the phone from Miami.

Drew, thank you.

Let me tip you off to a couple of sources of new information we expect to be coming in over the next few minutes. We're standing by, waiting for emergency officials in Chicago. They should be holding a news conference very soon.

Not the best picture there, but we'll work on getting that more clear.

Also FBI Director Robert Mueller is talking homegrown terror. This was a speech that was already set up, in Cleveland. That is set for the bottom of the hour. You'll see that live here on CNN as well.

Then the actual indictment of these seven people is -- we have it. We also posted it on CNN.com, so you can read it for yourself. Or if you don't have time for that just stand by here.

Let's check in with our Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve. She has read through the indictments and she brings us a wrap up of those.

Jeanne, hello.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

Officials describe the alleged plot as being more aspirational than operational. They say they moved in preemptively after the group had taken surveillance pictures, but before they had obtained explosives to carry out what authorities say was a plot to blow up FBI headquarters in Miami, the Sears Tower in Chicago and other buildings.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales talked about their alleged intentions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERTO GONZALES, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: These individuals wished to wage a, quote, "full ground war against the United States". That quote is from the investigation of these individuals who also allegedly stated the desire to, quote, "kill all the devils we can." They hoped for their attacks to be, quote, "just as good or greater than 9/11."

The defendants, five American citizens, one legal permanent resident, and one Haitian national in the United States illegally, are expected to make appearances at U.S. District Court in Miami today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Officials say authorities were tipped off after the leader of this group talked about its intent to stage an attack against the United States. The law enforcement then used an informant posing as a member of al Qaeda to gather evidence and information including details of the plot and requests for al Qaeda training and equipment, including firearms, including machine guns, bulletproof vests, and money.

All seven of these individuals are alleged to have taken an oath of loyalty to al Qaeda. The charges, that they conspired to provide material support to al Qaeda, that they conspired to maliciously damage and destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago and FBI building in Miami; and that they conspired to levee war against the United States.

Who were these people? Justice Department officials describe them as believing the United States government did not have authority over them. Some had served time in prison, but not in connection with terrorism, two were of Haitian origin, one in the country illegally, the rest born right here in the United States. Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: All right, Jeanne Meserve, live from Washington, D.C.

Thank you.

Now back to South Florida, there's a warehouse in this part of Miami called Liberty City. This appears to be the center of that alleged plot. In fact, in that news conference from the U.S. attorney's office we heard that the leader referred to it as the embassy. You see where John Zarrella is standing. It's not exactly what you think of as an embassy, but he'll pick up that part of the story.

John, hello.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. Yeah, far from an embassy, that's for sure.

We are here in this neighborhood, an inner city neighborhood in Miami. And this is where the federal agents swooped down yesterday afternoon at about 2:00 p.m. To conduct a raid here, broke into the building, found no one inside.

At that point, they came out holding up what amounted to mug shots of individuals they were looking for. Showed those mug shots to the different neighbors in the area and asked if they had seen them. Eventually they did track these men down. And, of course, they're expected to appear in court today.

A lot of the activity, the plotting, supposedly, allegedly, according to the indictment, took place here on March 16. They met here with this man who was supposed to be a member of al Qaeda. Of course, he was an informant as we know now. And this is where they plotted to bomb the FBI building in Miami, according to the indictment and other FBI buildings. They also swore an allegiance to al Qaeda during that meeting with this alleged al Qaeda representative.

About ten days later, meeting again with this same man here, they turned over photographers, pictures, some videotape of different buildings in the Miami area, the FBI building as well as the federal courthouse here as well as Miami Police headquarters, and a couple of other buildings; turned over to this man who was supposed to be the al Qaeda representative.

Now it's interesting in everything we're hearing this morning from family members, from relatives about how these men belonged to a group called the Sea of David, a very religious group. We managed to talk with one of these family member -- one of the group that Drew talked to, as well. And that person told us the exact same thing, that these men were not terrorists, insisting they were not. Saying in fact they were very, very religious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENITIFIED MALE: The only thing is that probably made people suspicious was the training they did. The only thing they was martial arts to protect themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Protect themselves from what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From any -- they're just like anybody. If you have a child you want your child to be able to yourself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Self-defense?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Self-defense. That's all it was. They practiced martial arts and that's the only thing that they did. They didn't have any guns. They don't own any bombs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't have no bombs!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't have no money funding, whatever they say that they're funding. So, I want to know how are you going to be a terrorist if you got -- if al Qaeda is giving us money for somebody to bomb something, we don't have that kind of money to put on a terror act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now, by all accounts from the friends, from the relatives, from a man I talked with last night here on this spot who claimed to be a member of this organization, this was a religious headquarters. This was -- he called it their temple. This is where they studied the Bible. He told us about working construction, about plans to open a restaurant, raise money.

A lot of what we're hearing from friends and family is about the connection to perhaps a karate school here as well. All of these things are falling in place as things that people, that friends were being told by this group as well as other members of this group were telling us last night -- Daryn.

KAGAN: John Zarrella, live from south Florida. Thank you.

We head to the Midwest now, Chicago, within the next 20 minutes or so we do expect to hear from emergency officials in that city on that building, the Sears Tower. Apparently, it was the target of this alleged plot. With more on that, let's go to Keith Oppenheim.

Keith?

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn.

I'm standing about a half a block from the base of the Sears Tower. You know, I can see police all around here. There are plenty of talking Chicago police around here, private security for the building itself. But that's the way it normally is around this building. It's a very well guarded building, and has been especially so since September 11th, 2001.

This morning we got a chance to talk to commuters about this story how they were reacting to it. And some were a little bit rattled about the idea of a plot against the Sears Tower. But, for the most part, they were taking it in stride and going about their regular routine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course, you're concerned. But you know, you have no control over anything that happens. So we have to do what we have to do and that is keep moving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think if you asked people on 9/11 would they have done anything differently, nobody knew. You can never predict something like that happening, so you just have to do the best you can and hope that the right precautions are in place to prevent anything terrible like that ever happening again.

OPPENHEIM: The building is privately owned and there is management that speaks for it. They had kind of a tight-lipped and restrained statement they made last night, but the gist of it was, Daryn, was their view was this was a plot that was more at the talking stage than at the plan of action stage.

We've been hearing that theme from law enforcement officials, as well, in Florida and Miami. And within minutes perhaps we're going to have a news conference at the Office of Emergency Management. The 911 Center, kind of the technological nucleus of Chicago security and we'll hear what Chicago officials have to say themselves.

KAGAN: All right. We are going to show the press conference live here on CNN. Also at the same time we expect a news conference from FBI Director Robert Mueller. He was scheduled already to give a speech in Cleveland talking about homegrown terrorism. You'll see that speech live here on CNN as well.

Much more on this developing story ahead. CNN is the most trusted name in news. We're back after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We continue our coverage on the indictment and arrest of seven people in south Florida. The indictment alleges they pledged their allegiance to al Qaeda and wanted to wage war on the U.S., targeting places in south Florida and also in Chicago./

We are standing by for a number of live events. First of all, within the next 10 minutes we expect to hear from emergency officials in Chicago, that you see on the right side of your screen. The Sears Tower, this allegedly one of the targets this group wanted to go after. We'll go live to Chicago when emergency officials begin to talk about that.

Also FBI Director Robert Mueller had a previously scheduled speech in Cleveland, talking about homegrown terrorism. So we'll listen in to that, as well.

Earlier we heard from the U.S. attorney's office in Miami. And they made a specific point to say, that even though these seven individuals, by some people, have been described as radical Muslims, they say this is an indictment against individuals not against a faith.

In light of this news, just a few minutes ago, there were comments from the Council on American Islamic Relations. Let's listen in to their leader.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMED BEDIER, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: Our organization is very concerned about the disturbing allegations -- that in regards to this case.

We are concerned about the safety of the community and we are concerned about any sort of attacks on our nation. At the same time, we are very concerned about the type of backlash that will result because of the publicity this case is receiving. And we want to make it very clear, and we're calling on all media officials, as well as the government to stop calling these individuals Muslims.

As far as we're concerned, they have no relation to our community. Their ideology has nothing in common with the ideology of Islam. And they should not be called Muslims whatsoever.

So we call on you, and the media, and the nation to not associate these individuals with the great religion of Islam. I have personally spoken to Muslim leaders in Liberty City and at the mosque that's in the same neighborhood. And they have told me that these individuals are no way associated with their mosque, or any of the other mosques in south Florida. That they don't know anything about these individuals and they're not part of our community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And in addition to that, our Drew Griffin, who is on the ground in Miami, has had a chance to speak with some of the relatives of the suspects. And they told Drew they men gathered together to study the Bible. So their religious affiliation does remain in question at this time.

Speaking of the relatives of some of these suspects, they also spoke with one of our affiliates, WPLG, in Miami. And this is what they had to say in reaction to the arrests of their family members.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Mores, is -- it's basically, it's a religion. And the only thing they did was -- all they go to is they go to the temple and they prayed and stuff like that. But what I'm saying is whoever the feds talked to that's the ones they need to get in trouble for. Because this guy here doesn't have anything to do with it. The only thing he has to do with it is that he was hanging around somebody who might have made plans to do something wrong, which he never knew nothing about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was this a form of Islam to him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. No. Well, no, not a form of Islam, no. Just basically a religion trying to find God. You understand what I'm saying? They read the bible just like everybody else.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he ever profess to you any --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, this guy here. This is at, this is his Bible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a regular Holy Bible.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That looks like a hotel Bible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, it's just a basically --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, this is their Bible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just a regular Bible. But what I'm saying, this to you, is that's all they were doing. But what I'm saying, the person that is in charge of the religious group, whoever the feds talked to, that's who they need to get. Because the other guys ain't got nothing to do with it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he live at this warehouse?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he didn't live here. This is his home right here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you ever hear him talking about exploding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, never ever, never, ever, never. This guys is a humble dude. He helps his mom out. He does construction. He just put the tile down. You understand what I'm saying? I'm hurt by it because, you know, what I'm saying this is not true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long has he been into the religion, The Mores?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For a year. And the feds also say they have been watching him for year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They've been watching them both for a year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything that somebody don't understand, they fear. And I understand that, but what I'm saying this to you is you can't sit here and judge everybody that's around, so one person that causes everybody goes down for something for one person.

What I'm saying is they need to get the person that made the allegations to the feds. They need to get him. But Sonny does not have anything to do with it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell me your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sylvian Plantin, S-Y-L-V-I-A-N.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And your last name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Plantin, P-L-A-N-T-I-N.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how are you related?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a family --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: friend, friend of the family? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a family, yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Ma'am, what's your first name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Elizene Phanol.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you spell that for me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: E-L-I-Z-E-NE, P-H-A-N-O-L

My son -- he don't have heart to kill people. I swear to God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He don't want to kill nobody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He does not want to kill people. All day he talk to me, he said, Mommy, why do people have heart to shoot people or to shoot somebody? Where they find the heart? I said nobody knows that, only Jesus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he ever tell you about these people he hung around with?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did he say about them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only thing is that they did that probably made people suspicious is the training they did. The only thing they what did was martial arts to protect themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Protect themselves from what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just like anybody. Just like if you have a child you want your child to be able to protect themselves if somebody --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Self-defense?

Self-defense, that's all it was. They practiced martial arts, that's the only thing they did. They don't have any guns, they don't own any bombs, no money funding, whatever they say that they funded. So I want to know how you going to be a terrorist if you got, if al Qaeda is giving us money to bomb something, we don't have that kind of money to put on a terror act.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Period.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, that sound coming in from our affiliate WPLG, in Miami, reaction from family and friends of some of those who have been arrested in connection with the alleged terror plot.

Still standing by, we will be hearing from Chicago and emergency officials there. Also FBI Director Robert Mueller scheduled to give a speech in Cleveland, the topic, homegrown terrorism. You'll see both live here on CNN. Our coverage continues after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And that is not Robert Mueller, I can tell you that, the head FBI, but that is where he'll be standing soon at that podium. He's in Cleveland today to give a speech on homegrown terror groups. You'll see part of that speech right here live on CNN.

This in light of the news there's an indictment and arrest of seven people in south Florida. They will be appearing in a federal courtroom this afternoon as well. They are charged with pledging their allegiance to al Qaeda and wanting to wage war here in the U.S.

One of their targets, allegedly, the Sears Tower in Chicago. They also momentarily do expect a news conference from officials there. You'll see that live right here as well.

Meanwhile, let's take a closer look now at the investigation. I'm joined by CNN Security Analyst Pat D'Amuro; he's a former assistant FBI director, in charge of the New York office.

Pat, hello. Good to see you.

PAT D'AMURO, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, how are you?

KAGAN: I want to talk about this indictment, which we have a copy here at CNN and let our viewers know they can read it for ourselves, just go to cnn.com, where we've posted it for them.

Have you had a chance to look at it?

D'AMURO: Yes, I have.

KAGAN: What do you take away?

D'AMURO: It identifies the fact that these individuals are involved with material support, the support of al Qaeda. They're individuals that apparently pledged or wanted to pledge their allegiance, what we call bayat, to bin Laden and al Qaeda.

And in addition to that, the indictment is very specific as to what actions they took that they took surveillance photographs. That they were desiring to conduct an attack on the FBI office in Miami, the Sears Tower and other locations that they were surveilling.

They did not apparently have the means to conduct these attacks or at least the explosive material in hand to be able to actually carry these attacks out. But it's important to note that that's not necessary. What they look for in the indictment is that there is the intent that they conduct these terrorist attacks, that they conduct these violent acts.

Apparently the intent was there. We know that there's someone cooperating with the FBI or an undercover FBI agent that has obtained some of this evidence. And there is has been a judge now that has reviewed that evidence and has found that there's enough to charge these individuals and to bring them to trial.

KAGAN: Well, let's talk about the evidence that's there because as far as we know they went to this warehouse where a lot of these men were living but there is no bombing material or explosives. There's really nothing. It's just ideas.

D'AMURO: Well, that's correct, but when there is the will to carry out a terrorist attack, I think it would be ludicrous to say to law enforcement you have to wait until you find the bomb to bring those individuals to justice. These are individuals that conspired to conduct these attacks.

There's obviously enough evidence -- and that's the beauty of the court system in this country. It's not the FBI or law enforcement making the decisions that they've obtained enough evidence to charge these individuals. The material, the evidence that they've obtained has been presented to a judge, an independent judge, who has found that there's enough probable cause to charge these individuals.

And that information was also brought to a grand jury who's heard the information and has returned what they call a true bill, an indictment, to charge these individuals.

KAGAN: Momentarily we expect to hear to hear from emergency officials in Chicago, where of course the Sears Tower is. And we understand that was one of the their desired targets. What do you make out of that being a target?

D'AMURO: Well, I think we're going to find that one of the individuals have linkages back or some have linkages back to Chicago. I believe we'll learn more as to why this is a potential target, as this case unfolds.

KAGAN: All right. Pat D'Amuro. Pat, thank you for your insight. We will be listening in to learn more from Chicago.

Pat, thank you.

D'AMURO: Thank you.

KAGAN: We're at the bottom of the hour, so let's as we stand by for these two live events, both the FBI Director Robert Mueller and the Chicago news conference to begin, let's wrap up for you what we know.

KAGAN: We're at the bottom of the hour, so let's, as we stand by for these two live events, both FBI Director Robert Mueller and this Chicago news conference to begin, let's wrap up for what we know. That they're calling them homegrown terrorist. The description today from federal officials about suspects in an alleged terror plot. They're accused of conspiring to blow up targets right here in the U.S.

Seven people are in custody. Most are expected in court this afternoon. Law enforcement sources describe the men as radical Muslims. The Sears Tower in Chicago and the Miami FBI office were said to be targets of the alleged plots. We're told raids turned up no weapons or bomb making materials, but the indictment alleges the suspects sought help from a an informant that they thought was a member of al Qaeda.

Once again, standing by for those two live events to begin, including FBI Director Robert Mueller, who will be speaking. And you can see that shot on the left part of your screen. And on the other side, the city of Chicago talking about the Sears Tower as a possible target. Also, direct you to online, CNN.com, a copy of the indictment that led to the arrest of these seven men in South Florida.

We're back after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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