New York ‘lone wolf’ was one hour away from finishing his bomb
She also praised the New York Police Department, saying, “I think they handled it well.”
Officials with the NYPD, which conducted the undercover investigation using a confidential informant and a bugged apartment, said the department had to move quickly because Pimentel was about to test a pipe bomb made out of match heads, nails and other ingredients bought at neighborhood hardware and discount stores.
Two law enforcement officials said Monday that the NYPD’s Intelligence Division had sought to get the FBI involved at least twice as the investigation unfolded. Both times, the FBI concluded that Pimentel lacked the mental capacity to act on his own, they said.
The FBI thought Pimentel “didn’t have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own,” one of the officials said.
The officials were not authorized to speak about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity. The FBI’s New York office and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan both declined to comment on Monday.
Pimentel’s lawyer, Joseph Zablocki, said his client was never a true threat.
“If the goal here is to be stopping terror … I’m not sure that this is where we should be spending our resources,” he said.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly defended the handling of the case Monday, saying the NYPD kept federal authorities in the loop “all along” before circumstances forced investigators to take swift measures using state charges.
“No question in my mind that we had to take this case down,” Kelly said. “There was an imminent threat.”
Added Kelly: “This is a classic case of what we’ve been talking about �� the lone wolf, an individual, self-radicalized. This is the needle in the haystack problem we face as a country and as a city.”
Authorities described Pimentel as an unemployed U.S. citizen and “al-Qaida sympathizer” who was born in the Dominican Republic. He had lived most of his life in Manhattan, aside from about five years in the upstate city of Schenectady, where authorities say he had an arrested for credit card fraud.
His mother said he was raised Roman Catholic. But he converted to Islam in 2004 and went by the name Muhammad Yusuf, authorities said.
Using a tip from police in Albany, the NYPD had been watching Pimentel using a confidential informant for the past year. Investigators learned that he was energized and motivated to carry out his plan by the Sept. 30 killing of al-Qaida’s U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, police said.
Pimentel was under constant surveillance as he shopped for the pipe bombmaterials. He also was overheard talking about attacking police patrol cars and postal facilities, killing soldiers returning home from abroad andbombing a police station in Bayonne, N.J., authorizes said.
Men's Epee results…
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Was hoping for a medal, but a friend’s brother still did well….
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/fencing/highlights-seth-kelsey-shocks-the-world.html
Ended up 4th…still proud!
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You like the Olympics? We have always followed them as a family. Italy not doing as well as expected. Fencing traditionally one of our better sports.
I used to play with the Searle brothers( gold medal winning rowers)as a child. My mother taught with their mother. -
@wittman:
You like the Olympics? We have always followed them as a family. Italy not doing as well as expected. Fencing traditionally one of our better sports.
I used to play with the Searle brothers( gold medal winning rowers)as a child. My mother taught with their mother.Italy not doing as well as expected in Fencing? They swept the women’s foil medals and took fourth in Men’s foil and silver in Men’s sabre. That’s just off the top of my head and there is lots of fencing left.
Italy is as of this edit leading the fencing medal count.
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Our 3 women wiped the floor with the Foil and are on for Gold as a team. Think we were expecting to win Gold in the Men’s Sabre and the women disappointed in the �p�e.
Know we have had a couple of 4ths in other sports too.
Nothing in swimming after a Gold in Beijing (US too good).
And our Cycling has not brough any medals again.
Have hopes for the Volleyball(women), not Waterpolo this time.
Very happy for our Silver in the Skulls.
You like watching too? -
Like the olympics, but more of a winter man myself….love watching the Hockey, curling, Skiiing, snowboarding and almost everything else except men’s figure skating (shocker!)…had a classmate in the 2000 olympics for Diving…that’s about as far any olympic relationships I can muster…I just haven’t watched much this year, because I’m currently in San Diego and get all the news prior to it being on TV, so why watch? I understand why NBC is doing what its doing, but I have other things to do (like prep for my fantasy football drafts! :-D )
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I am not a Winter man.
I lived in Surrey ( county south west of London) until I was 19, so I recognise the roads and buildings where the London ones are. Adds something to it for me.
Spent most of the Summer Holidays at the seaside in Italy and seems like the Olympics were always on! -
where in Italy? I spent 2 years in Sardinia…LOVED IT! vino! They had a place like a gas station, but instead of gas, it was wine, so you just brought your jug and filled it with the pump…GOD DAMN GENIOUS! 8-)
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I was born in Florence to an English mother. She brought me here before I was one. Dad has three brothers, so I have eight Florentine cousins. I go back once a year now, but mum and dad have a second home in the city. Will retire there. Work here.
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miss Europe….so sad when I had to leave…well, at least I have Japan to look forward to for the next 3 years.
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Looks like the North Koreans are getting it right!
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Looks like the North Koreans are getting it right!
Makes any Cardassian proud!
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Man, I’d hate to be a North Korean archer. The South Koreans typically crush that sport.
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Men’s team too (foil).
Cannot win on the track, but can shoot with rifle or bow or stab any one who comes close.
Proud to keep the enemy at bay.