Liberty City Seven - Investigation and Arrest

Investigation and Arrest

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said in 2006 that the men had been taped promising to fight a "full ground war against the United States." The seven were arrested on June 23, 2006.

On June 22, 2006, a grand jury indicted the seven men. They were arrested during an FBI raid on the run-down warehouse in Liberty City, Miami in which the group met.

The seven men named in the indictment:

• Narseal Batiste, a/k/a Brother Naz, a/k/a Prince Manna - Considered the ringleader.
• Patrick Abraham, 29, a/k/a Brother Pat
• Stanley Grant Phanor, 33, a/k/a Brother Sunni (although actually nicknamed "Sunny")
• Rotschild Augustine, 25, a/k/a Brother Rot
• Burson Augustin, 24, a/k/a Brother B
• Naudimar Herrera, 25, a/k/a Brother Naudy
• Lyglenson Lemorin, 33, a/k/a Brother Levi, a/k/a Brother Levi-El

Five were U.S. citizens, one a legal immigrant from Haiti, and the last an illegal alien originally from Haiti. They were accused of planning to levy a "full ground war" against the United States.

The government lawyer said that the prosecution was being brought under 18 U.S.C. § 2339A rather than 18 U.S.C. § 2339B, since the former requires only that the accused believe they were conspiring in a terrorist act, even if they were actually being deceived by an informant.

Also involved was Charles James Stewart of the Moorish Science Temple in Chicago, a convicted rapist who was paid through the FBI informant to join the group in April. He subsequently shot one of Batiste's followers and then became a witness against him and his supporters.

The two FBI informants, both Middle Eastern-born, were known as CW1, a Miami resident who had previous arrests for assault and marijuana possession, and CW2, who had worked for the FBI for six years and was awaiting approval of his petition for political asylum in the United States.

Narseal Batiste (also known by some as "Prinze Nas"), 32, is a father of four and a martial arts enthusiast, who had been a member of the Guardian Angels in Chicago.

The indictments accused the seven of being a domestic terrorist cell who plotted to blow up the Sears Tower and the FBI building in Miami and had contact with al-Qaeda to attempt a bombing of Sears Tower. Although no links to outside terrorist groups were alleged, nor any weapons found, the arrests were the subject of a high level press briefing in Washington D.C. hosted by the Attorney-General and made headline news in Europe the following day. The Director of the FBI Robert Mueller cited the incident in a "Major Executive Speech" in Cleveland that afternoon entitled "Protecting America from Terrorist Attack: The Threat of Homegrown Terrorism".

According to the indictments, the group had been infiltrated for nearly a year by two paid FBI informants posing as al-Qaeda members. The warehouse they were in had been wired for surveillance and provided rent-free by the FBI since January, and members of the group discussed the terrorist plots with the undercover agents present while smoking marijuana. Differences had broken out in April between the leaders, causing one to be arrested for shooting a follower of the other.