FBI: Motives of alleged Miami plotters differed

updated 4:45 p.m. ET July 6, 2007

MIAMI - Statements given to the FBI by six of the seven men accused of plotting to destroy Chicago’s Sears Tower and other buildings indicate that some didn’t believe the talk of joining up with al-Qaida and others were motivated by money rather than Islamic radicalism.

Some were clearly bewildered by what had happened to them. One even asked the FBI agents interrogating him whether he could have some of the marijuana he had been carrying, according court documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

That defendant, 23-year-old Naudimar Herrera, asked for “a rub of my green” after the agents showed him a videotape of the group swearing loyalty to al-Qaida and its leader, Osama bin Laden, at the direction of an FBI informant the men knew as Mohammed.

“Herrera said that he needed the substance to calm his nerves ... Herrera was provided with a bottle of water to drink and was allowed to take a restroom break,” an FBI summary said.

The FBI statements are key pieces of evidence in a case scheduled to go to trial this fall. The group, known as the “Liberty City Seven” after the impoverished neighborhood where they were based, has been in custody since their June 2006 arrests on charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to wage war against the United States.

Prosecutors say they discussed blowing up the Sears Tower and destroying FBI offices and other buildings in Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Washington. Authorities have said their purported plot never moved beyond the preliminary stages and the group never possessed explosives or other weapons to carry it out, but insist the men were serious about their intentions.

Suspects play down roles
The seven men have pleaded not guilty to charges that carry combined maximum sentences of some 70 years in federal prison.

Defense attorneys are asking a federal judge to throw out their statements to the FBI, mainly over claims they were not truly voluntary or that some defendants asked for lawyers but were interrogated without one present. A July 16 hearing is scheduled on those and other motions.

In the statements, some of the men appear to play down their roles or minimize what they knew about the purported bombing plots. The alleged ringleader, 33-year-old Narseal Batiste, told the FBI that he only played along with joining al-Qaida so he could extort as much as $50,000 from Mohammed.

“Batiste stated that during his relationship with Mohammed that he agreed to blow up buildings, but that was not his intention,” the summary said.

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