Initially it was thought that it was a fire or that a transformer in the basement blew. As rescue efforts were underway, the FBI was scouring the scene to find the cause of this destruction and devastation.
The streets were buckling and the Vista Hotel, which rested between the two towers, sustained tremendous amount of damage. The FBI was assisting in the search and rescue efforts.
When they made their way to the basement debris and concrete were scattered over 100 yards in all directions. There were demolished cars and fires that were started from spilled gasoline. There also dead bodies trapped underneath concrete. It was beginning to look to investigators that something sinister was afoot. That this was a criminal explosion.
The next day inter-agency teams got a better view of the destruction. The floor of the B-2 level of the garage had collapsed sending cars from three parking levels down several stories down to the very bottom of the building. They made their way to the blast zone, where the damage was so extensive there was no evidence of what caused the explosion. The floors were completely blown away, leaving a five story crater.
Two days after the attack investigators processing the crime scene spotted a piece of charred twisted steel that was theorized coming from the vehicle that encased the bomb.
Investigators also found a VIN number that led them to a Ryder truck rental by Mohammed A. Salameh, one of Yousef's co-conspirators. Salameh had reported the van stolen and repeatedly returns to try to get his deposit back. When he returned the last time, on March 4, 1993, authorities arrested him.
A tip also came in leading them to a storage locker rented by Salameh, which contained ingredients to make explosives and explosive paraphernalia. There was a payphone near the storage lockers that authorities acquired records for.
This led investigators to Nidal Ayyad. Nidal Ayyad was a chemical engineer and a week after the arrest of Salameh, authorities discovered that Ayyad was calling around trying to purchase more chemicals. Ayyad was arrested at his home in New Jersey on March 10th, 1993. Allied Chemical, the place at which Ayyad worked, was searched and his computer was seized. A deleted letter claiming credit for the bombing was retrieved from his computer from the Liberation Army 5th Battalion. The letter claimed that it was in retaliation for the United States support of Israel. An almost identical copy of the letter had been sent to a newspaper. There was also a second letter on his computer that he hadn't had sent, claiming there was going to be another attack.
All of this led to an apartment in New Jersey, rented by Salameh and Ramzi Yousef, that turned out to be where the bomb was made.
More tips came in, several people said they saw Mahmud Abouhalima with Salameh and Yousef on several occasions. Agents then started focusing their attention on Abouhalima. His red hair earned him the nickname Mahmud the Red. After the bombing Abouhalima fled the country. He was associated with
El Sayyid Nosair and Sheik Abdul Rahman. Egyptian authorities contacted the FBI saying that they had Abouhalima who had been arrested and detained in Cairo for conspiring against the Egyptian president. Agents flew to Egypt and took him into custody. On the plain ride to the United States, Abouhalima talked to the FBI agents. He said that he and Yousef met in Afghanistan at a secret camp for the Mujahideen Muslim freedom fighters, which is a training ground for international terrorists.
A tip also came in leading them to a storage locker rented by Salameh, which contained ingredients to make explosives and explosive paraphernalia. There was a payphone near the storage lockers that authorities acquired records for.
All of this led to an apartment in New Jersey, rented by Salameh and Ramzi Yousef, that turned out to be where the bomb was made.
El Sayyid Nosair and Sheik Abdul Rahman. Egyptian authorities contacted the FBI saying that they had Abouhalima who had been arrested and detained in Cairo for conspiring against the Egyptian president. Agents flew to Egypt and took him into custody. On the plain ride to the United States, Abouhalima talked to the FBI agents. He said that he and Yousef met in Afghanistan at a secret camp for the Mujahideen Muslim freedom fighters, which is a training ground for international terrorists.
Ramsey Yousef was a known international terrorist and an expert with explosives. And with all the interviews and evidence they had collected so far in their investigation, agents now believed he was the mastermind behind the attack. The FBI began searching for Yousef and learned that he had fled the country on the night of the bombing. While the search for Yousef was underway, agents were digging into Yousef's past.
Yousef arrived illegally in the United States on September 1st, 1992, traveling with Ahmed Ajaj from Pakistan.
Ajaj tried to enter with a forged Swedish passport, though it had been altered raising the suspicions among INS officials at John F. Kennedy
International Airport. When officials put Ajaj through secondary inspection, they discovered bomb-making instructions and other materials in his luggage, and arrested him. The name Abu Barra, an alias of Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, appeared in the manuals. Yousef tried to enter with a false Iraqi passport, claiming political asylum. Yousef was allowed into the United States, and was given a hearing date.
While in custody Ajaj kept in contact with his conspirators and actually was trying to assist them with carrying out the attack. FBI agents questioned him. Even though he said very little, he was arrested and charged for his part in the bombing.
Authorities decided to bring all the conspirators they had in custody to trial while continuing to search for the other bombers. September 1993, the trial for Salameh, Ayyad, Abouhalima and Ajaj began in federal court in New York City. By this time the "bomb factory", the World Trade Center and the storage facility had been processed. 70 percent of the van that carried the bomb had been found. Tons of evidence had been collected. The federal prosecution presented how the defendants carried out the attack on the World Trade Center.
Soon after Yousef arrived in the United States he moved in with Salameh and became friends on their mutual hatred of Israel and their disdain for the United States support of the Israeli government. This is when they chose the World Trade Center to vent out their frustrations on.
At the time, the World Trade Center Buildings 1 and 2, were the tallest buildings in the world, rising a quarter mile above the pavement. The World Trade Center Complex included the Vista Hotel as well as numerous underground shopping areas and subway lines. There were also five parking levels that contained more businesses. The terrorists decided the most damage would occur if they placed the bomb in the garage.
Receipts showed that in November of 1992, Yousef an alias to buy chemicals. Throughout the winter he ordered even more as he worked out the plan of attack. The chemicals were delivered to the storage locker that Yousef and Salameh had rented. Yousef wanted the manuals that Ajaj had on him when he was arrested and devised a three way calling system in attempts to hide the fact that he was keeping in contact with Ajaj.
One day Yousef and Salameh were in a car accident, putting Yousef in the hospital. Yousef made several calls from his hospital room to chemical companies. While Yousef was in the hospital, Salameh, Ayyad and Abouhalima went drove into the Pennsylvania woods to test out a prototype of their bomb. The bomb needed more power so Ayyad attempted to purchase compressed hydrogen gas.
On February 16th Ayyad rented a car to scout the World Trade Center. Salameh's fingerprints were found on the steering wheel and on the parking ticket for the B-2 level. A sketch was found that Ayyad had made of the floor plan.
Four days before the attack, Eyad Ismoil arrived in New York from Dallas to help finished the bomb. He ended up being the one who drove the Ryder van into the garage.
On February 23rd is when Salameh rented the Ryder van.
The conspirators returned one more time to the World Trade Center, this time with Ismoil. This is when they decided exactly where they were going to put the bomb. There was another ticket backing this up.
Ayyad finally acquired the compressed hydrogen that were delivered to the storage locker.
On February 25th, at the apartment they put their bomb together and loaded it in the van. They drove to the storage shed to add the hydrogen to their deadly concoction. Yousef and Ismoil then drove the van to a hotel in Manhattan. There was hotel records showing Ismoil's reservation. This is when Salameh reports the van stolen from his home in New Jersey. Salameh did this because needed the deposit back to help purchase a ticket out of the country.
The next day, Yousef and Ismoil drove the van to the World Trade Center.
The trial lasted 6 months. The jury heard from over 200 witnesses and reviewed 10,000 pages of testimony. In February of 1994, Salameh, Ayyad, Abouhalima and Ajaj were found guilty on 38 counts.
On May 24th, the judge charged each conspirator with 240 years each without the possibility of parole. A year in prison for each year of life they had deprived the victims.
Ramzi Yousef and Eyad Ismoil were still on the loose. Agents learned that Yousef was involved in several terrorist plots to bring down commercial airliners throughout the world.
On February 1995 Yousef was apprehended in Pakistan and turned over to the FBI. Yousef said that the World Trade Center was the greatest symbol for the United States finance and imperialism. He said he wanted to topple one of the towers into the other and kill thousands of people. He also said that this was only the beginning.
In June of 1995, Ismoil was discovered in Jordan and turned over to the United States for trial.
In January of 1998, Yousef and Ismoil were on trial together and received the same sentence as the others. The judged called Yousef the Apostle of evil and deemed that he would serve the remainder of his life in solitary confinement.
Six people were killed, five Port Authority employees and a businessman whose car was in the parking garage.
John DiGiovanni was 45 years old and born in Brooklyn. He lived in Valley Stream, Long Island, with his mother. He was known for his meticulousness, John detailed his car with a toothbrush. He worked as an East Coast sales manager for Kerr Chemicals. Heading to a sales call on Feb. 26, 1993, John pulled his car into the World Trade Center’s underground parking garage just before a bomb was detonated there.
Robert "Bob" Kirkpatrick was 61 years old and Senior Structural Maintenance Supervisor of the World Trade Center. He was a master craftsman, plumber, carpenter, locksmith, and mechanic. There wasn't anything he couldn't build or repair. A few minutes with Bob and you felt you knew him. He made you feel relaxed and he made you laugh. Bob was always available to give advice and lend a helping hand. He lived with his wife in Suffern, New York.
Additionally, 1,042 people were injured, most during the evacuation that followed the blast.
Stephen Knapp was 47 years old and Chief Maintenance Supervisor in the Mechanical Section of the World Trade Center. He lived in Stanton Island, New York. He loved his family, friends and fishing. He would often be seen playing with his kids and their friends and he would be having just as good a time as them. Stephen enjoyed his job and if he got calls in the middle of the night, he knew the Trade Center so well he would be able to answer the questions in his sleep. He enjoyed life. His grandchildren will grow up with happy, fun-filled stories of the grandfather they will never get to meet.
Bill Macko he was 57 years old and the General Maintenance Supervisor of the Mechanical Section of The World Trade Center. He was from Bayonne, New Jersey. He was a husband, grandfather, great Grandfather, a builder, a fisherman, a mechanic, a cook, and most of all a Great Dad.
Wilfredo Mercado he was 37 years old and a receiving agent for Windows on the World restaurant. He was born in Lima, Peru, and lived in East New York, Brooklyn, with his wife, Olga, and their two daughters. Wilfredo worked two jobs at the World Trade Center: weekdays as Windows on the World’s purchasing agent and weekends as a security guard. On Feb. 26, 1993, he was receiving food deliveries in the complex’s basement when a bomb exploded in the nearby parking garage.
Monica Rodriguez Smith was 35 years old and was seven months pregnant with her first child, Eddie. She was born on January 4, 1958 in Ecuador and came to the United States as a teenager with her parents and four brothers. She got a job right out of college working at the World Trade Center for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. She worked in the Operations Department as an administrator. Monica worked there for 11 years and never missed a day of work. The Port Authority gave her an award for achieving this very milestone shortly before she was killed. She loved her job and the people she worked with there. She got married on August 31, 1990 and moved into the house in Seaford, Long Island. Monica was a vivacious, outgoing person who was full of energy, she was the life of the party. At the same time, she was a natural mom to the people around her. February 26, 1993 was going to be her last day of work before going on maternity leave and she was in the World Trade Center to train the person who would be her replacement.
Did you know that if the van had been parked a few feet closer to one of the pillars, it could have collapsed an entire tower of the Trade Center, killing tens of thousands?
"And the first thing that really jumps out at you is that Yasin, the other sophisticated plotter besides Ramzi Yousef, is an Iraqi-American who fled to Iraq, had conversations with the FBI from Iraq, as far as we know, still lives in Iraq.
Now, I don't think the United States government has ever asked for his extradition."
Woolesy also claims that,
"It's entirely possible for Yousef to have been involved with an intelligence service as well, maybe, with bin Laden's organization."
Woolsey was asked,
"Other than Mr. Yasin, who goes to Iraq, and the suspicion that Ramzi Yousef may be connected to a state intelligence operation, what else is there that makes you say that Saddam may be involved in this?"
Woolsey answered,
"Well, it depends what you mean by 'this.' If 'this' is terrorism against the United States, I think it's pretty clear that we have him dead to rights on trying to assassinate former President Bush in the spring of 1993.
President Clinton believed that.
That's why he launched the 24 cruise missiles at the empty building in the middle of the night in the summer of 1993, after Saddam tried to assassinate former President Bush and the bomb didn't go off.
The CIA looked into the forensics of the bomb and told President Clinton that it was an Iraqi government bomb.
He then asked the FBI to double-check and sent an FBI forensics team over; they did the same thing.
We both said, 'Yes, this is an Iraqi government plot.' That was the occasion for the launching of the cruise missiles against the empty [Iraqi security service] building in the middle of the night.
Now, I think that anybody who's looked at the 1993 plot to try to assassinate former President Bush believes that it was an Iraqi government plot.
I don't think that President Clinton's response was anywhere nearly as forceful as that terrible plan of Saddam's that happily didn't come off."
Soon following investigation of the attack on February 26, 1993, Yasin was picked up by the FBI on March 4, 1993, the same day as the arrest of Mohammed A. Salameh, in a sweep of sites associated with Salameh. Yasin was found in the apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey, that he was sharing with his mother.
Yasin was taken to New Jersey FBI where he was reportedly very cooperative. Agents had Yasin retrace where and how the WTC bomb had been built in New York and New Jersey.
Yasin said he was released after giving agents names and addresses, and went to Iraq.
Yasin's current whereabouts are known.
Yasin was taken to New Jersey FBI where he was reportedly very cooperative. Agents had Yasin retrace where and how the WTC bomb had been built in New York and New Jersey.
Yasin said he was released after giving agents names and addresses, and went to Iraq.
Yasin's current whereabouts are known.
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