NYPD, FBI heroes honored after foiling terror plot to bomb Riverdale synagogues

BY Celeste Katz and Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Updated Friday, May 22nd 2009, 1:44 PM

The cops and G-men who busted a gang of homegrown terrorists before they could blow up two Bronx synagogues got a big pat on the back Friday from a grateful city.

"I feel safer in the city today than ever before," Mayor Bloomberg said at a City Hall ceremony to honor the heroes. "They have prevented what could have been a terrible loss of life."

Gov. Paterson called the plot "one of the most heinous crimes that has been [planned] in this city for a long time."

And Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called the police and FBI response "a textbook example of how a major investigation should be handled."

The kudos came a day after the suspects were ordered held without bail - and branded anti-Semitic would-be killers who dreamed of basking in the glory of their spectacular attacks.

"It's hard to envision a more chilling plot to bring mass murder to a . . . community," said Eric Snyder, an assistant U.S. attorney. "These are people who are eager to bring death to Jews."

Three of the shackled suspects - James Cromitie, 44; David Williams, 28, and Onta Williams (no relation to David), 32 - barely spoke at their Thursday arraignment in White Plains Federal Court.

The fourth man, Haitian immigrant Laguerre Payen, 27, looked dazed when he appeared later.

Cromitie, who recruited the other plotters, decided to bomb the synagogues because Al Qaeda already had brought down the best target the World Trade Center, court papers said.

"I hate those motherf-----s, those f-----g Jewish bastards," he told the informant, court papers revealed. "I would like to get [bomb] a synagogue."

He was itching to watch the devastation he wrought played out over and over again on TV.

"I'm the one who did that," Cromitie congratulated himself after the planned attacks, an informant told cops. "That's my work."

Even though cops called Cromitie the ringleader, Snyder singled out David Williams as the meanest of the bad-news bunch, saying he bragged he'd shoot anyone who tried to stop him.

The suspects, who are charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and anti-aircraft missiles, did not ask for bail. A judge ordered them held until a hearing on June 6.

The group's diabolical dream was to create "a fireball that would make the country gasp," a law enforcement source said.

The accused terrorists were busted Wednesday night as they planted what they thought was 37 pounds of explosives outside the Jewish center and the Riverdale Temple, two blocks away.

Within seconds, authorities had closed off the normally tranquil street using 18-wheel trucks. Cops and agents swarmed over the black SUV getaway vehicle, broke the windows and yanked the suspects out.

The four also plotted to blow a plane out of the sky at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, Orange County, authorities charge.

"These guys were angry, they had intent and they were searching for capacity," a senior federal law enforcement official told the Daily News. But, the official added, they're "not exactly Al Qaeda."

The suspects met at their Newburgh mosque, Masjid al-Ikhlas, sources said, and at least three were jailhouse converts to Islam.

The mosque's spiritual leader denounced the plot and disowned the suspects. "Their plan was un-Islamic," declared Imam Salahuddin Mustafa Muhammad.

With Rich Schapiro, Tanyanika Samuels and Alison Gendar