U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon has ordered the release of James Cromitie, a man previously convicted in a post-9/11 terrorism sting, harshly criticizing the FBI’s reliance on a controversial informant in what she described as an “FBI-orchestrated conspiracy,” the AP reported.
The ruling centers on a plot to attack New York synagogues and shoot down National Guard planes, a plan the judge deemed as largely manufactured by the FBI itself.
Cromitie, 58, was granted compassionate release on Friday, completing 15 years of a 25-year sentence. His release follows that of his three co-defendants, collectively known as the Newburgh Four, who were similarly freed six months prior.
The group, hailing from Newburgh, a small city 60 miles north of New York City, was convicted of terrorism charges in 2010. However, the case has since been mired in controversy, with accusations of entrapment and overreach by federal agents.
According to the DOJ press release in 2011:
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JAMES CROMITIE, DAVID WILLIAMS, and ONTA WILLIAMS, were each sentenced today to 25 years in prison for plotting to bomb synagogues in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, New York, and to use Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles to shoot down military planes located at the New York Air National Guard Base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, New York. The defendants were convicted in October 2010 after a two-month jury trial. United States District Judge COLLEEN McMAHON, presided over the trial and imposed today’s sentences.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: “James Cromitie, David Williams, and Onta Williams voluntarily agreed to target synagogues and military planes using what they thought were real bombs and missiles. As reflected in the sentences imposed by Judge McMahon, these were extremely serious crimes that targeted New York and its citizens. Today’s sentences ensure that the defendants will be punished for their actions.”
Prosecutors had argued that the defendants spent months planning their attack, procuring what they believed were explosives and a surface-to-air missile. Their intended targets were purportedly the Air National Guard base in Newburgh and synagogues in the Bronx. The arrests were made after they allegedly planted bombs, which unbeknownst to them, contained inert explosives supplied by the FBI.
In her scathing ruling, Judge McMahon stated that the FBI had not only created the conspiracy but also selected the targets. She expressed that without the FBI’s orchestration, Cromitie and his co-defendants were incapable of conceiving such a sophisticated plot, much less carrying it out.
Furthermore, McMahon criticized the government’s choice of informant, Shaheed Hussain, who she called a “villain” looking to exploit “the poorest and weakest of men” into committing a contrived crime for cash.
Hussain’s credibility had been previously questioned due to his involvement in other contentious stings.
He gained renewed attention in 2018 when a limousine owned by his company was involved in a crash in Schoharie, New York, resulting in 20 fatalities. His son, Nauman Hussain, was convicted of manslaughter in connection to the crash.
Cromitie’s attorney, Kerry Lawrence, expressed relief at the ruling, reiterating his belief in Cromitie’s entrapment by the government. With the family elated at the news, Lawrence stressed that the conviction was entirely a product of governmental manipulation.
“I’m obviously thrilled that Mr. Cromitie will be released from prison, but still believe that his conviction was entirely the product of government entrapment,” Lawrence told AP.
“Seeing as he was hounded and manipulated by the government informant way more than any of … the other defendants who were previously ordered released, it would have been shocking if Judge McMahon didn’t grant our motion.”
This is the same corrupt agency who plotted a sham Whitmer kidnapping plot. The entire plot was hatched, planned, paid for, and executed by paid FBI informants. The FBI informants pushed the violent plans to kidnap Whitmer. It was all a setup.
In an October 2020 press conference, the FBI announced it had thwarted a plot by a so-called “right-wing militia” to kidnap and kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
The Whitmer kidnapping plot was in the media 24/7 and used to bludgeon Trump with just a few weeks to go until Election Day.
The plot, it was later revealed, involved a group of men who liked to go shooting, discussing how bad the Governor was, and one time they drove by her house.
The case fell apart when it emerged that there were just as many FBI informants and undercover agents among the plotters as there were alleged plotters, and that in every case the FBI was the one urging the plotters to commit violence.
The FBI also financed the operation. The FBI used at least 12 informants in the Michigan Whitmer kidnapping case.
Six defendants and 12 FBI informants were identified as the case progressed.
Last year, three Michigan men were acquitted in the FBI plot.
The FBI planned and organized the Whitmer attack, paid for the attack, and recruited local men to join in their planned attack.
It was another complete setup by Chris Wray’s FBI to frame and ruin innocent men.
The case, which we now know was comprised of virtually all FBI agents and informants, took another devastating hit in August.
Michael Hills, an attorney for Brandon Caserta, one of the six defendants, produced text messages showing an FBI field agent telling an informant to lie, frame an innocent man, and delete text messages.
One female FBI agent admitted during testimony that she slept in the same hotel room, and the same bed, during a training weekend with FBI target Barry Croft. She went the extra mile to get her man!
And… she also smoked pot with him.
The female FBI agent told the court, “Sometimes informants have to play along.”
