The Liberty City Seven were seven members of a small Miami, Florida-based religious group who called themselves the Universal Divine Saviors. Described as a "bizarre cult," the seven were arrested and charged with terrorism-related offenses in 2006 after a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting investigation. The members of the group operated out of a small warehouse in the Miami neighborhood of Liberty City.
Indicted in federal court, three trials of the Liberty City Seven defendants took place. One defendant was acquitted in the first trial, but the jury deadlocked on the other six defendants and a mistrial occurred. The second trial also resulted in a deadlocked jury and a mistrial. On the third trial of the remaining six defendants, five were convicted on some of the counts, including the group's leader, Narseal Batiste, the only defendant to be convicted on all four charges. One more defendant was acquitted of all charges in the third trial.
The charges centered around the group's belief that they were being offered money by someone in Yemen to help their mission in Liberty City, provided they supported the al-Qaeda jihad. The FBI agents represented themselves as representatives of al-Qaeda (but who were actually undercover FBI agents), and persuaded Batiste to provide plans for a stated intention to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago, the FBI field office in Miami, and other targets. Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation John S. Pistole described the group's plot as more "aspirational than operational"; the group did not have the means to carry out attacks on such targets. The group had no weapons and did not seek weapons when they were offered. The group had no communication with any actual al-Qaeda or other terrorist operatives.
Read more about Liberty City Seven: Views and Beliefs, Investigation and Arrest, Trials, Members, Press Coverage of The Arrests, FBI Payments
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