The New York City Subway Bombing That Almost Happened.

In September 2009, homegrown terrorists, that had linked with Al Qaeda foreign extremists, planned to walk onto New York City subway train station and into Grand Central Terminal with bombs in their backpacks. They wanted to explode themselves on the trains that were ridden by more than 5 million people each day. They wanted to accomplish this on or around the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. This would have turned out to be the biggest disaster New York had seen since those attacks.

New York has close to 9 million residents and and has the largest rapid transit system in the world. With thousands of entrances and exists, the New York subway is an easy target for terrorists.

On September 6th, 2009, a counter-terrorist agent at the United States National Security Agency saw an email from someone in the United States to an Al Qaeda courier, Rashid Rauf, using coded phrases and asking for what appeared to be the ingredients in how to make a bomb. 

The Agency discovered that these emails were coming from Najibullah Zazi in Aurora, Colorado. After Zazi got a reply from Rauf, Zazi hit the road on September 8th.  He was driving 90 miles an hour to New York. After his departure, investigators discovered that while in Colorado, Zazi had experimented and made TATP, also known as triacetone triperoxide,  a white, crystalline explosive. Investigators theorized that he probably was taking this to New York City.

Law enforcement began to reach out to sellers of potential bomb materials in Denver. They found surveillance video from a beauty supply store that showed Zazi buying several bottles of hydrogen peroxide, a core ingredient in TATP.

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force took up the case. The JTTF are locally-based multi-agency partnerships between various federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies tasked with investigating terrorism and terrorism-related crimes, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Department of Justice. While they were keeping track of Zazi's movements, they also researched Zazi's past.   

Zazi was born on August 10th, 1985, in a village in Paktia Province, Afghanistan. In 1992, he and his family moved to the city of Peshawar in Pakistan where they settled as Afghan refugees. 

In 1999, Zazi and his family left Pakistan and immigrated to New York City. They moved into a two-bedroom apartment in the Flushing, Queens section of the city. Mohammed Wali Zazi, Najibullah's father was now a naturalized U.S. citizen and he found work as a New York City taxi driver.

While he was a teenager, he and his family lived in the same apartment building and attended the same mosque as Saifur Rahman Halimi, a vocal pro-global-jihad imam. He was chief representative to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan warlord who was declared a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" by the U.S. in 2003. 

Zazi dropped out of Flushing Queen's High School and then he operated a coffee and pastries vending cart on Stone Street in Lower Manhattan's Financial District.

In 2006, he traveled to Pakistan and married his 19-year-old cousin in an arranged marriage. He claimed several trips he made to Pakistan between 2006 and 2008 were to visit his wife. In the course of his visits, Zazi and his wife had two children, whom he planned to move to the U.S.

On August 28th, 2008, Zazi and others flew from New York to Peshawar, Pakistan, a city just east of Pakistan's volatile Federally Administered Tribal Areas. It was in northwestern Pakistan that existed from 1947 until being merged with neighboring province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018. It is allegedly ground zero in the U.S. Jihadist war, and home to many al-Qaeda operatives. Numerous foreigners flock to this war zone for training indoctrination.

Within days of returning from Pakistan, Zazi moved to Aurora, Colorado and took a job as an airport shuttle bus driver in Denver.

Back to September of 2009. On the 10th, agents come up with a ruse to stop Zazi's car so they can get a better look at what he was carrying so they could determine if he should be left alone, or if he was really up to trouble. 

They decided to make the stop on the George Washington Bridge.

The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the New York City borough of Manhattan with the New Jersey borough of Fort Lee. It is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge.

So, they shut down the bridge and stopped Zazi under the guise of a routine traffic stop, possibly looking for drugs. Authorities had a police dog sniffing around his car. However, the dog wasn't a drug sniffing dog, it was there to try to sniff out explosives. The dog didn't alert to any threat and the Port Authority had to let him on through to Manhattan.

Multiple surveillance teams watched Zazi as he made his way through Manhattan. Zazi drove around for awhile, then went to Queens and then to a Mosque. He then drove around to the back of te Mosque and out of sight of the surveillance team. After a few hours, Zazi left the Mosque and headed back to Queens.

While all of this was going on analysts found phone, travel and communication records. In doing so they found out that Zazi wasn't working alone. 

He had two co-conspirators in New York, Zarein Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin. Both men were two of Zazi's high school classmates from Queens. They had traveled with him to Pakistan in 2008.

Ahmedzay, a New York City cab driver born in Afghanistan and lived in Flushing, Queens, tested to become a city firefighter in 2007.

Medunjanin,a Bosnian immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1994, and was naturalized in 2002, and lived in Flushing, Queens. He played on his high school football team and graduated from Queens College with a major in Economics in June 2009.

Motivated by the United States war in Afganastan and what they deemed a crusade against Islam by the west, in 2006, Zazi, Ahmedzay and Medunjanin began following the teachings of Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki.

Al-Awlaki's was a very good public speaker and command of the English language helped him attract followers who did not speak Arabic. He was describe as having an allure and being charming. He was a Yemeni-American imam. Imam is an Islamic leadership position and is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque and Muslim community and may lead Islamic worship services, serve as community leaders , and provide religious guidance. In Yemen, the title was formerly given to the king of the country.

U.S. government officials say that al-Awlaki was a senior recruiter and motivator and centrally involved in planning terrorist operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. 

He was born in 1971 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to parents from Yemen, while his father, Nasser al-Awlaki, was doing graduate work at U.S. universities. His father was a Fulbright Scholar who earned a master's degree in agricultural economics at New Mexico State University in 1971, received a doctorate at the University of Nebraska, and worked at the University of Minnesota from 1975 to 1977. Nasser al-Awlaki served as Agriculture Minister in Ali Abdullah Saleh's government. He was also President of Sana'a University and was related to Yemen's Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Mujur.

The family returned to Yemen in 1978, when al-Awlaki was seven years old. He lived there for 11 years, and studied at Azal Modern School.

In 1991, al-Awlaki returned to the U.S. and earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University, where he was president of the Muslim Student Association. He attended the university on a foreign student visa and a government scholarship from Yemen, claiming to be born in that country.

In 1993, while still a college student al-Awlaki visited Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Soviet occupation. He spent some time training with the mujahideen who were fighting the Soviets. He was depressed by the country's poverty and hunger. 

Al-Awlaki studied Education Leadership at San Diego State University, but did not complete his degree. He worked on a doctorate in Human Resource Development at The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development in 2001.

In 1994, al-Awlaki married a cousin from Yemen, and began service as a part-time imam of the Denver Islamic Society. In 1996, he was chastised for encouraging a Saudi student to fight in Chechnya against the Russians. So he moved to San Diego soon after.

From 1996–2000, al-Awlaki was imam of the Masjid Ar-Ribat al-Islami mosque in San Diego, California, where he had a following of about 300 people.U.S. officials later alleged that two of the hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77 attended his sermons and personally met him during this period. The reportedly had high respect for him as a religious leader. One of the hijackers later lived in Northern Virginia and attended al-Awlaki's mosque there. While in San Diego, al-Awlaki volunteered with youth organizations and created a popular and lucrative series of recorded lectures.

In August 1996 and in April 1997, al-Awlaki was arrested in San Diego and charged with soliciting prostitutes. The first time, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was fined $400 and required to attend informational sessions about AIDS. The second time, he pleaded guilty and was fined $240, ordered to perform 12 days of community service, and received three years' probation. From November 2001 to January 2002 the FBI observed him visiting a number of prostitutes. They were interviewed and it was established that he had paid for sex acts, but no prosecution was brought during this time.

In 1998 and 1999, he served as vice-president for the Charitable Society for Social Welfare, which is a Yemen-based Non-governmental organization known for offering charitable and humanitarian services to the masses. It also is accredited by the United Nations World Food Program and is also a member of the United Nations Department of Public Information. In 2004, the FBI described this group as a "front organization to funnel money to terrorists", however, there was no solid proof of these allegations.

In January 2001 al-Awlaki returned to the U.S., settling in the Washington metropolitan area where he was imam at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque near Falls Church, Virginia. He led academic discussions frequented by FBI Director of Counter-Intelligence for the Middle East Gordon M. Snow. Al-Awlaki also served as the Muslim chaplain at George Washington University, where he was hired by Esam Omeish.

When police investigated the 9/11 attacks, they found the telephone number of al-Awlaki among Ramzi bin al-Shibh's personal contacts. The FBI interviewed al-Awlaki four times in the eight days following the 9/11 attacks. One detective believed al-Awlaki "was at the center of the 9/11 story". And an FBI agent said, "if anyone had knowledge of the plot, it would have been" him, since "someone had to be in the U.S. and keep the hijackers spiritually focused". One 9/11 Commission staff member said: "Do I think he played a role in helping the hijackers here, knowing they were up to something? Yes. Do I think he was sent here for that purpose? I have no evidence for it." A separate Congressional Joint Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks suggested that al-Awlaki may have been connected to the hijackers. Six days after the 9/11 attacks, al-Awlaki suggested in writing on and Islamic website that Israeli intelligence agents might have been responsible for the attacks, and that the FBI "went into the roster of the airplanes, and whoever has a Muslim or Arab name became the hijacker by default".

Al-Awlaki was sought in Washington, D.C. by the media to answer questions about Islam, its rituals, and its relation to the attacks. In interviews al-Awlaki condemned the attacks. To some he appeared to be a moderate who could bridge the gap between the United States and the worldwide community of Muslims. Some months after the 9/11 attacks, a Pentagon employee invited al-Awlaki to speak at a luncheon in the Secretary's Office of General Counsel.

In 2002, al-Awlaki was the first imam to conduct a prayer service for the Congressional Muslim Staffer Association at the U.S. Capitol. That year, Nidal Malik Hasan visited al-Awlaki's mosque for his mother's funeral, at which al-Awlaki presided. In November 2009 Hasan killed 13 and wounded 32 in the Fort Hood shooting.

Later in 2002, al-Awlaki posted an essay in Arabic on the Islam Today website titled "Why Muslims Love Death".  By July, al-Awlaki was under investigation in the United States for having received money from the subject of a U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation and his name was added to the list of terrorism suspects.

In June 2002, a Denver federal judge signed an arrest warrant for al-Awlaki for passport fraud. On October 9, the complaint was withdrew and the arrest warrant was vacated due to lack of sufficient evidence. Allegedly, the Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego disagreed with the decision to cancel the warrant. They were monitoring al-Awlaki and wanted to "look at him under a microscope".

While living in Northern Virginia, al-Awlaki visited Ali al-Timimi, later known as a radical Islamic cleric. Al-Timimi was convicted in 2005 and is now serving a life sentence for leading the Virginia Jihad Network, inciting Muslim followers to fight with the Taliban against the US. 

Al-Awlaki left the United States before the end of 2002 and lived in the UK for several months, where he gave talks urging young Muslim followers: "The important lesson to learn here is never, ever trust a kuffar [disbeliever]. Do not trust them! [Their leaders] are plotting to kill this religion. They're plotting night and day."

In a series of lectures he gave in December 2002 and January 2003 he described the rewards martyrs receive in paradise. He then undertook a lecture tour of England and Scotland in 2002 in conjunction with the Muslim Association of Britain. He also lectured at "ExpoIslamia", an event held by Islamic Forum Europe.  At one of his lectures, he told his audience: "A Muslim is a brother of a Muslim... he does not betray him, and he does not hand him over... You don't hand over a Muslim to the enemies."

Al-Awlaki returned to Yemen in early 2004, where he lived in Shabwah Governorate with his wife and five children. He lectured at Iman University, headed by Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, who is on the UN 1267 Committee's list of individuals belonging to or associated with al-Qaeda.

On August 31st, 2006, al-Awlaki was arrested with four others on charges of kidnapping a Shiite teenager for ransom, and participating in an al-Qaeda plot to kidnap a U.S. military attaché. He was imprisoned in 2006 and 2007. He was interviewed around September 2007 by two FBI agents with regard to the 9/11 attacks and other subjects. He was also band from entering the U.K.

His name was on a list of 100 prisoners whose release was sought by al-Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen. Al-Awlaki was released on December 12th, 2007, following the intercession of his tribe. According to a Yemeni security official, he was released because he had repented. He moved to his family home in Saeed, a hamlet in the Shabwa mountains.

In December 2008, al-Awlaki sent a communique to the Somali terrorist group, al-Shabaab, congratulating them.

Al-Awlaki provided al-Qaeda members in Yemen with the protection of his tribe against the government. The tribal code required it to protect those who seek refuge and assistance.The tribe's motto is "We are the sparks of Hell; whomever interferes with us will be burned." 

Al-Awlaki went into hiding in March 2009.

Al-Awlaki wasn't the only one who Zazi and his two classmates looked to for inspiration.

Zakir Naik caught their eyes as well.  

Naik is an Indian Islamic televangelist and Islamic preacher. He publicly stated that Jews control the U.S. and that apostates(people that don't follow Islam) can be killed. 

He was born on October 18th, 1965 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. He attended Kishinchand Chellaram College and studied medicine at the Topiwala National Medical College & BYL Nair Charitable Hospital and later the University of Mumbai, where he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery.

In 1991 he started working in the field of Dawah, and founded the Islamic Research Foundation. Naik's wife, Farhat Naik, is the President of the women's section of the Islamic Research Foundation.

Naik lectures are given in English, not Urdu or Arabic, and he usually wears a suit and tie. He is said to "have delivered over 2000/4000 lectures around the world". He is extremely popular in Muslim circles. Many of his debates are recorded and widely distributed in video and DVD media and online. His talks have been recorded in English and broadcast on weekends on several cable networks in Mumbai's Muslim neighborhoods, and on the Peace TV channel, which he co-produces.

In 2004 Naik, at the invitation of the Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia, made an appearance at the University of Melbourne, where he said the more "revealing Western dress" makes women more susceptible to rape.

Naik states that it is permissible to beat one's wife "gently". He argues that a man is the leader, so he has the right. He also said that Muslims have the right to sex with their female slaves where he referred to slaves as "prisoners of war".

Naik says that music is as evil as alcohol and says that both are intoxicating in nature. He has condemned dancing and singing because he claims they are prohibited in Islam.

He also said that people guilty of stealing must be punished and says that their hands should be chopped off. He has recommended that the United States implements this logic in order to reduce criminality.

Naik referred to the LGBT community as "patients suffering from sinful mental problems" and said that "It's because they watch pornographic movies." He recommends the "death penalty" for homosexuals.

Naik Dismisses Darwin's Theory of Evolution. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.

According to Naik, most scientists "support the theory, because it went against the Bible – not because it was true."

Naik has claimed, western powers and media play a double-standard strategy, who describe Muslims as extremists and fundamentalists to defame Islam. 

Naik said about the September 11 attacks that "it is a blatant, open secret that this attack on the Twin Towers was done by George Bush himself".

He allegedly denounces terrorism. "I have always condemned terrorism, because according to the glorious Koran, if you kill one innocent person, then you have killed the whole of humanity."

Naik said that ISIS is "anti-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" and said that the enemies of Islam were promoting ISIS. He opposed the move by the United States government to launch an attack on ISIS in Syria and Iraq that, while strongly condemning the acts of the Islamic State group. 

Back to Zazi, Ahmedzay and Medunjanin. By 2008 they saw it as their duty to wage Jihad (a war against the enemies of Islam) in Afghanistan.

On August 28th, 2008, it was Ahmedzay and Medunjanin who flew from New York to Peshawar, Pakistam with Zazi. While there they were recruited by al-Qaeda and taken to a training camp in Waziristan, where they received training on several kinds of weapons. Allegedly, Al-Qaeda leaders asked them to return to the U.S. and conduct a suicide bombing martyrdom operation, and they agreed to do so. Zazi emailed himself lengthy notes he took, so he could access them upon his return to the U.S. Al-Qaeda leaders also discussed target locations with Zazi, such as New York City subways. He gave money and computers to al-Qaeda before leaving Pakistan.

Fast forward to September 10th, 2009. The authorities now had three potential  terrorists to keep an eye on. Agents followed Zazi's to a house in Queens where they believed that he was going to meet members of his cell, to connect the TATP detonator he already made to a main charge, which could be assembled into a suicide vest or backpack. There was around 15 people staying in that particular house. The authorities didn't know if they were a part of the terrorist plot or not, so they had to surveil them all. It it turned out that the other people staying there were innocent to the terrorist plot.

The next day, Zazi had left his car parked on a street and the Evidence Recovery Team checked it out while another team followed Zazi. They found his laptop in the car and mirrored it, before putting everything back together and leaving. "The Cookbook" for the bomb was found on Zazi's computer.

Before the JTTF made a move, they wanted to make sure they had enough to act on, so Zazi, Ahmedzay and Medunjanin were not immediately arrested.

Zazi purchased a plane ticked back to Denver and agents believed that he found out somehow about the surveillance on him on him. The agents' theory turned out to be  correct. A man named Ahmad Wais Afzali was their leak. 

Afzali was a resident of Flushing, Queens, and legal permanent resident of the U.S., born in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was an imam at a Queens mosque, and ran the Islamic Burial Funeral Service, a Queens funeral parlor.

Afzali was one of the NYPD's sources and they had previously had went to Afzali and asked him about Zazi, Ahmedzay and Medunjain. After telling the NYPD what he knew, he called Zazi's father and then talked to Zazi's himself and warned Zazi that the authorities were looking into him. 

After Zazi talked to Afzali, Zazi picked up Ahmedzay and went to a mosque and destroyed some evidence that helped him make the bomb. 

Later, Ahmedzay went back to his house where Zazi had given him a jar full of TATP and he flushed it down the toilet. While Ahmedzay was getting rid of the explosive, Zazi saw Medunjain at the Mosque and took out his cell phone and wrote a text message which he showed to Medunjain. The text message said that the police were onto them. Medunjain saw it and then Zazi's erased it, so that there would be no record.

Zazi then went back to Denver. Meanwhile, authorities in New York were still continuing their investigation and still surveilling  Ahmedzay and Medunjain.

On September 16th agents in Denver brought Zazi in for an interview and asked him about his travel to Pakistan and what he was doing in New York around September 11th. They also asked him why he had a scale in his luggage. Zazi told the agents he didn't know how the scale ended up in there. The agents then showed Zazi's a copy of the bomb notes and told him that they had found it on his computer. Zazi then took full credit for planning to explode bombs on the New York subway system. He said that he had changed his mind at the last minute and couldn't go through with it. The FBI then arrested Zazi and took him into custody.

The agents then executed a search warrant at Medunjain's home. When he saw the search warrant, Medunjain ran out of the house, jumped in his car and started racing down the crowded Northern Boulevard in Queens. Agents follow him as he weaves in and out of traffic. He then got on the Whitestone Expressway and as he does this, he picked up his cellphone and called 9-1-1 and said, "My name is Adis. I love death more than you love life. I love death more than you love life. Allah Akbar."

It is said that on the 9-1-1 tape you can then hear Medunjain accelerating and then crashing into the car in front of him. 

An off duty police officer witnessed the crash and yelled. "Hey Buddy, why are you leaving a fender bender?" at Medunjain as he is running away. 

Medunjain came back and told the officer, "The reason i'm running is because the FBI is after me. They think i'm a terrorist."

That is when the surveillance team came running towards Medunjain. The officer then pulled out his gun and pointed at Medunjain and held him there for the JTT.

When Medunjain was taken into custody, he waived his right to an attorney and confessed to everything.

Now the JTT needs to bring Ahmedzay in. At this point, he was in Times Square driving his cab.

At the time, Times Square was one of the world's busiest pedestrian areas. It was one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people passed through Times Square daily, many of them tourists, while over 460,000 pedestrians walked through Times Square on its busiest days.

Ahmedzay was pulled over and brought to the JTT. He was also arrested.

After Zazi, Ahmedzay and Medunjain were interview, the whole story of their terrorism plot was unfolded.  The trio planned to arm themselves with suicide vests, jump on multiple trains on the New York subway during rush hour and blow themselves up.

On September 19th, 2009, authorities arrested Zazi, and on September 21st they charged him in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado with making false statements in a matter involving international and domestic terrorism. New charges and allegations were filed against him in the Eastern District of New York on September 23 and the prior charges dropped. A federal grand jury there returned an indictment charging him with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.

Zazi cooperated after being told that his parents could be charged with immigration fraud.

On February 22nd, 2010, Zazi pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a terrorist organization. His guilty plea was the result of a plea bargain with the prosecution.

He refused to name which subway line was the target of the plot. He said the intent of his suicide mission was to draw the attention to activities of the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

Zazi faces a possible life sentence without possibility of parole for the first two counts, and an additional sentence of 15 years for the third count. Sentencing was initially scheduled to take place on June 24, 2011, but he was moved to a secret location and his sentencing was said to be scheduled for September 2013. As of May 2017, Zazi has still yet to be sentenced, as his cooperation was still considered to be helpful to authorities. 

He testified against fellow American al-Qaeda recruit Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh at his trial in 2017.

Medunjain was indicted for receiving military-type training from al-Qaeda. He pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and receiving military-style training from al-Qaeda. On February 25th, 2010, Medunjain pleaded not guilty to additional charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to al-Qaeda. 

On May 21st, 2012, Medunjanin was found guilty of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder of U.S. military personnel abroad, providing and conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaeda, receiving military training from al-Qaeda, conspiring and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, and using firearms and destructive devices in relation to these offenses.

On November 16th, 2012, United States federal judge John Gleeson sentenced him to life imprisonment. When asked if he had anything to say, Medunjanin responded by reciting several verses from the Quran.

Ahmedzay initially pleaded not guilty to a charge of making false statements to the FBI about his activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. On February 25, 2010, he also pleaded not guilty to additional charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to al-Qaida. However, on April 23, he pleaded guilty to the charges. He said his motive was to end alleged wars against Islam. At one point he had doubts, but later resolved to carry out the plot. He then claimed "the real enemies of this country are the ones destroying this country from within. And I believe these are the special group, the Zionist Jews, I believe, who want a permanent shadow government within the government of the United States of America." On December 14th, 2018, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

On September 19th, 2009, authorities also arrested Zazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, for destroying evidence. He was released on $50,000 bond and was placed under house arrest. He was convicted in July 2011 of destroying evidence and lying to investigators to cover up his son's plot. On Friday, February 10th, 2012, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for obstructing the federal investigation of his son.

Ahmad Wais Afzali was also arrested. He was charged with and convicted of lying to the FBI about a conversation in which Afzali informed Zazi he was under surveillance. He was charged with having told Zazi that he was being watched, and lying to the FBI in a matter involving terrorism. He initially pleaded not guilty, faced up to eight years in prison and deportation if convicted, and was freed on $1.5 million bail.

In a plea bargain he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of lying to U.S. federal agents, and said he was sorry. Afzali faced up to six months in prison, and as part of the plea arrangement the government agreed not to request any jail time. As part of his plea agreement, Afzali voluntarily left the U.S. in July 2010, within 90 days of his conviction.As a felon and under the terms of his plea bargain Afzali may not return to the U.S. unless given special permission.

Afzali denied any intention of aiding terrorism or misleading authorities, and according to his lawyer he was "caught in a turf war between the NYPD and the FBI." 

Zazi's uncle by marriage, Naqib Jaji, had lived in Queens before moving to Colorado. He was also arrested. Jaji was brought before a judge in closed proceedings on January 14th, 2010. He was released on January 22nd.

On April 12th, 2010, it was reported that a fourth suspect was arrested in Pakistan. One or two more suspects are being sought outside the U.S.

The Billionaire Boy's Club: Winner Take All

In 1980, in Los Angels, California, a group of men in their 20's, led by a con man named Joseph Henry Gamsky, set out on a get rich quick scheme that turned deadly.

Joe Hunt was born Joseph Henry Gamsky. He was a charismatic and very ambitious guy. He was raised in a family with not a lot of money, and he went to one of the most affluent private schools in Los Angels. He was a very bright kid and a very good student. He got into Harvard School For Boys through a scholarship. He was said to be a sore loser as a debating star for the school in the 1970's. 

Joe changed his last name to Hunt because he wanted people to think he was related to the Hunt brothers, the most notorious billionaires in the country at the time. Joe spent a little time at USC and then went of to Chicago to try and make it as a commodities trader. He did poorly at his job and got suspended from trading.

He then met up with a former classmate, Dean Karny, and other affluent friends from Harvard. His friends got their parents and the friends of their parents to invest in Joe's visionary plan for a new kind of company--an organization that would combine business and pleasure, run by men who shared ideas, profits and even living quarters. 

It would be governed by something Joe called “paradox philosophy,” in which good and evil are interchangeable realities depending on the circumstances and one’s perspective, and people are classified as either “shadings” or “normies.”

The resulting company took its initials from the Bombay Bicycle Club in Chicago, a bar frequented by Joe and his friends, but its members jokingly referred to it as the Billionaire Boys Club. Over time, about 30 young men joined the group.

The business operated in the offices on 3rd Street in West Hollywood. The business was struggling and had spent hundreds of thousands of investor money without showing any returns. This is when Joe thought that maybe Ron Levin could help him.

Ron Levin was brillant. You could ask him about anything. He seemed to know everything and have unlimited wealth. He had a lot of nervous energy. He talked and worked fast. Levin was a scrupulous conman with a great sense of humor. He managed to scam camera and editing equipment from Panasonic, Thomson CSF, and even a remote news van from ENG Corporation claiming that he was producing a movie about “stringers.” He also had done time for mail fraud.

Eventually Levin decided to invest $5 million in a trading company and Joe was to be the manager of that money. He told Joe that he could invest the money however he saw fit and that Levin would split the profits with Joe. In a few months Joe made a $9 million profit or so he thought. You see, it turns out that Levin had went to the trading company and told them that he was making a film about commodities trading. Levin then told them that "Joe Hunt, he is going to trade this account that we're going to say has $5 million in it, and Joe can't know that there's really not $5 million in there." Levin told the company that if Joe knew that the money wasn't real, he wouldn't be as motivated. The company went along with Levin. 

After the fake money made that $9 million profit, Levin told Joe to stop trading because he wanted to liquidate it. Joe kept bugging Levin for his share of the profits. Then one day Joe happened to go into the trading company. One of the traders went up to him and asked, "So when did you know that the money was not real?"

When confronted by Joe about the fake money, Levin told him that he took the fake profit statement to another broker and used it as leverage to secure a $1 million line of credit, which he promised to share with Joe.

Then, on June 7th, 1984, at 6:45 a.m., Levin's friends 19 year old Dean Factor, great grandson of cosmetics icon Max Factor, along with mutual friend Michael Brodeur, went to Levin's Beverley Hills Duplex to catch a flight for a weekend of partying.When Factor and Brodeur knocked, there was no answer at the door. That is when they noticed that the burglar alarm, that Levin always had set before he went to bed, was disabled. More of Levin's friends, Mark Geller and his wife, showed up to Levin's house soon after. Factor was sitting on the steps. They called the housekeeper and at 7:15 a.m., she let everyone inside. Levin wasn't there, but all of his clothes, except for his grey jogging suit and his grey robe. The black bag he always took with him on trips was still there as well. However, his big white comforter that he always had on his bed and the one that his housekeeper had put on his bed the night before was missing and in it's place was a blanket reserved for guests. The remote to his TV was also missing. In the kitchen there was two unfinished salads.

Levin's father was frantic. Now way would Levin leave without telling him or contacting him in some way. Levin was very close to his mother as well and the two would talk to each other everyday. She hadn't heard from Levin either.

At 9 a.m., Levin's mother called the police to report him missing, but they told her she had to wait two days before he can be reported missing. 

At 11 p.m., a man checked into the Plaza Hotel in New York City under the name "Ron Levin." By the morning of June 9th, that man ran out of hotel credit and the hotel staff  tried to contact him to no avail. The hotel staff then went to the room and inside they found a metallic attache case, but no Levin. They then put a double lock was put on the room that he was staying in so he would have to come to the front desk if he wanted to get inside. By that evening, the hotel security supervisor went up the back staircase just as a unknown man was coming down carrying a Metallic attache case. The supervisor identified himself and asked the man what he was doing on the staircase. The man told him that the elevators were out of order. The supervisor then asked the man if he was staying at the hotel. The man told him yes, but that he couldn't stop because he had a limo waiting. The supervisor radioed for back up and the man was surrounded by hotel staff. The man then dropped the case and stood in a karate stance and yelled. The guy then said, "OK, i don't want any trouble." He then agreed to go with them to talk to the manager. As he was walking with the staff, the guy ran through the revolving glass door with the staff chasing him. In the process the glass door was broken. The manager was outside the hotel and asked Levin how he got the case out of the room. Levin said that he kicked the door down. 

The manager then called the police and had Levin arrested. Some time later the the hotel attorney called the manager and told him that that man wasn't Levin after all, his name was James Pittman. The New York police thought that Pittman was Levin as well.

On the morning of June 12th, lawyer Robert Ferraro was standing outside criminal court when he was approached by a tall young man claiming that his friend was incarcerated and a agent for Michael Jackson. The man then payed Ferraro to bail out Pittman. It turned out that that man was Joe Hunt and that Pittman was the BBC's bodyguard.

On June 22nd, a missing person's report was filed for Levin. The next day, Detective Les Zoeller called Levin's parents who said that they would contact Levin's lawyer to get permission for the police to search his house. Levin's lawyer said no, so nothing really happened with Levin's case for awhile. 

Not until an attorney for Tom and Dave May contacted Zoeller two months after Levin disappeared saying that they had information about his disappearance.

Tom and Dave where two of the initial investors of the BBC and their father was a department store heir. They were beginning to fear what Joe.

Zoeller and his partner when over to the attorney's office and sat down with the May brothers. They told Zoeller that they had a meeting at the Wilshire Manning in Los Angeles that was called by Joe. At the meeting Joe allegedly told the brothers that with Pitman's help "knocked off" Levin. Joe had known that Levin had a trip planned for June 7th and so he wanted to do "it" the night before. Joe said that he had went over to Levin's house at 9 p.m. on June 6th and ate a salad with him. A half an hour later or so, there was a knock on Levin's door. When Levin opened the door, Pittman was on the other side. Joe told Levin that Pittman was ok, he was his friend, so Levin let Pittman in. Pittman came in and pretended to be an enforcer for the Mafia wanting money from Joe. Joe then pointed the finger at Levin saying that he owed him money and that is why he couldn't pay. Pittman then allegedly pointed a gun at Levin and had him sign papers, including a check for $1.5 million. Then Pittman and Joe allegedly made Levin lay on his bed face down while Pittman held a gun to Levin. Joe then allegedly gave Pittman the go a head to kill Levin, so Pittman pulled the trigger and shot Levin in the head. Joe and Pittman then wrapped Levin's body in his comforter, took him out the back door and put him in the trunk of a BMW they had parked outside. They then took his body up to Soledad Canyon and shot the body up with shotgun shells in attempts to make him unidentifiable. It had allegedly had amused Joe at his recollection of the sight of Levin's brain popping out of his head and onto his chest. Joe said that they then buried him "way up on the top."

Zoeller contacted Levin's father, who this time was able to get Levin's attorney the permission to search his missing son's place. Levin's father assisted in the search, who found a handwritten, seven page "to do list." 

In the margin of one of the pages had Joe Hunt's signature.

It turns out that on June 8th, Joe deposited the the $1 million check that he and Pitman allegedly forced Levin to sign. The check bounced because there was only $40 in Levin's account.

On July 7th, BBC member, Ben Dosti brought his friend, Reza Eslaminia to a BBC party. Reza bragged to Joe about his father's $30 million fortune from being a high ranking official under the last Shah of Iran, Mohammed Riza Pahlevi.

Hedayat Eslaminia had been living in exile in the San Francisco Bay area, since the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when the Shah was overthrown and the Ayatollah Khomeini became the supreme leader of Iran. Mr. Eslaminia was allegedly working from the United States to overthrow Khomeini and often flew to Washington D.C.  at the expense of the state department. 

Reza hated his father and wanted money that he was allegedly hiding from him. He wanted the BBC's help to get it. Allegedly, Joe, Dosti, Dean Kearny, Reza and Jim Pittman  came up with a plan to kidnap Mr. Eslaminia and torture him into signing over his assets and then kill him.

On July 30th,1984, Joe and Dosti dressed up as UPS men and lugged a big blue trunk up to the front door of Mr. Eslaminia's condominium. When Mr. Eslaminia in, they jumped him. Joe chloroformed Mr. Eslaminia and then with Pittman's help, put him in the trunk and carried it back out to the truck that Kearny was driving. Reza was in a Mercedes across the street watching everything unfold.

As Joe, Dosti and Kearny were traveling, Mr. Eslaminia woke up and was freaking out and screaming. After a while he went quiet. This when the group realized that Mr Eslaminia was probably suffocating to death, so Kearny poked holes in the trunk with a screw driver. Mr. Eslaminia woke up and began screaming again. Kearny was afraid that people would hear the cries for help so he put tape over the air holes. By the time the group got to the Bel-Air house where they were going to torture Mr, Eslaminia, he had already been dead a while. They then drove up Soledad Canyon to dump the body.

The death of Mr. Eslaminia didn't detour Joe, and he decided to try to get a conservatorship for Reza so he could get the money that way.

A conservatorship is where guardian or a protector is appointed by a judge to manage the financial affairs and/or daily life of another due to physical or mental limitations, or old age. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Eslaminia reported him as missing. When Reza went to talk to the girlfriend, during the conversation he said, "I know my father loved you."  She replied, "Loved?" Then she asked Reza if Mr. Eslaminia was dead. This is when she became suspicious of Reza. Before she was thinking that maybe it was Khomeini that had kidnapped him. The girlfriend then told her encounter with Reza to the police who told the FBI. The FBI still thought that it was probably Khomeini behind Mr. Eslaminia's disappearance, but they started looking into Reza and the BBC to cover all their bases. Then Pittman told the BBC lawyer that, "We knocked off Eslaminia." After hearing this, the lawyer called the FBI.

Ultimately Reza was denied conservativeship, which wouldn't have mattered any way because Mr. Eslaminia's fortune didn't exist. He lost everything when he was exiled 5 years earlier.

On September 28th, 1984, Joe Hunt, Jim Pittman and Dean Kearny for conspiracy, robbery and first degree murder of Ron Levin and for conspiracy, kidnapping and murder of Mr. Eslaminia. Later, Ben Dosti and Reza Eslaminia were also arrested and charged for conspiracy, kidnapping and murder of Mr. Eslaminia. Kearny ended up striking a deal. He was given full immunity in exchange for his testimony, and entered the Witness Protection Program. One of the things that Kearny did was show the authorities where he had help dump Mr. Eslaminia's body. And in November of 1984 his skeletal remains were found and identified. Kearny also told them that when they were dumping Mr. Eslaminia's body Joe made a comment about being where he and Pittman had dumped Levin's body.

On February 3rd, 1987, Joe stood trial for Levin's murder and the members of the BBC testified against him. Joe's defense attorney claimed that there was no proof that Levin was dead, especially without a body, And that it was a "last hoax" by Levin to frame Joe for his murder. Carmen Canchola and Jesus Lopez, who testified that they saw Levin after his alleged murder, in September, 1986 at a gas station in Tucson, Arizona. Canchola and Lopez identified pictures of Levin from multiple photographic lineups as the same man they had seen at the gas station. This didn't sway the jury and Joe was found guilty of Levin's murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Pittman was also tried for Levin's murder. He couldn't make bail, so he was stuck in jail throughout his trial, which resulted in a hung jury. In October of 1987 he was retried and that ended in a hung jury again, but both Pittman was close to being acquitted both times. In 1988, before a third trial, prosecutors offered Pittman a deal, whereby he pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact and possession of a concealed weapon, and was sentenced to time served, being the 3 1/2 years he was incarcerated since his 1984 arrest.

In the trial for the murder of Hedayat Eslaminia, Joe decided to represent himself. His trial began on April 14th, 1992. He was almost acquitted, but the jury was deadlocked. The prosecution decided to dismiss the charges against Joe. He did such a great job, that the charges against Pittman were dropped also. However, Ben Dosti and Reza Eslaminia were both convicted of kidnapping and murder of Hedayat Eslaminia and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After serving ten years, their convictions were overturned when it was discovered that the jury accidentally heard a prejudicial tape recording that had never been admitted into evidence. They could not be retried, because key witness Dean Kearny was still in the witness protection program and didn't want to reveal his new identity. Kearny is allegedly an attorney now.

On May 20th, 1993, a married and free Jim Pittman gave a television interview he bragged about what he had done to Levin. He confessed that one Joe's orders he shot Levin in the back of the head and help bury him up Soledad Cayon. He said that Joe wanted Levin dead because he had made him look foolish to the BBC. Pittman tried to help the police find Levin's body but they searched to no avail.

In 1997, Pittman died of kidney failure in Los Angeles.

#WinnerTakesAll

Snitches Get Stitches: The Murder Of Jam Master Jay: UPDATED ON 8/17/2020 Arrests Made!

UPDATE:Ronald “Tinard” Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. were charged with murdering Jam Mastery Jay during a drug deal at the studio that ended with the turntable wizard being shot at point-blank range. 

Court papers said Washington and Jordan were involved in “a conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing cocaine,” and “did knowingly and intentionally kill” Jay.

Washington was convicted in 2007 in a string of armed robberies in New York City and on Long Island and is currently serving a more than 17-year prison sentence. He was due to be released in April 2021.

Jordan is charged with being the trigger man and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Brooklyn federal court Monday afternoon. Washington is set to be arraigned later in the week.

"Back in the day, if someone said that hip hop and rap was a fad, that was a joke to me because they just didn't know what they were talking about."-Jason Mizell

He was the kind of guy that would help friends and strangers alike if they were in need. He single-handedly helped to commercialize rap music.

Jam Master Jay was born as Jason William Mizell on January 21st, 1965 in Brooklyn, New York to  Jesse Mizell and a school teacher named Connie Thompson Mizell. He was the youngest of three siblings. He  always loved music and would often make music out of ordinary objects. At age 3, Jason began playing trumpet. He learned to play bass, guitar, and drums. He performed at his church and in various bands. After he and his family moved to Hollis, Queens, New York City in 1975 at the age of 10, he discovered the turntables.

Hollis was a lower middle class neighborhood. People had moved there from the hoods to seek a better life. All the kids that hung out on Hollis Avenue were called the "Hollis Crew". Jason, Randy Allen and Darren Jordan aka "Big D", who lived across the street from Jason and DJ Hurricane, were some members of the Hollis Crew. The Hollis Crew protected the neighborhood from outsiders who would come around and try to cause trouble. Jason was the peacekeeper of the neighborhood and people always felt safe when he was around.

At 13 years old Jason felt like he was good enough to play in front of people. He attended Andrew Jackson High School and started calling himself Jazzy Jase. Jason started playing in parks, local parties and bars. He became a DJ because he just wanted to be a part of the band. He played bass and drums in several garage bands. In 1982, he joined Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels just after they graduated from high school and agreed to DJ for them. Run And D.M.C. also adopted Jason's wardrobe.

Around 1984 Howard "Happy" Mason and Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nicolas formed and ran a drug smuggling gang called the Bebos.  They began selling drugs in Hollis and netted as much as $200,000 per month in profit.

On Run-D.M.C's album Raising Hell, they covered rock band Aerosmith's song  "Walk this way." Jason also played keyboards, bass, and live drums in addition to his turntable work. After the release of this album, Run-D.M.C was rocketed to superstardom.

Jason made a lot of money and he would share his wealth. He wanted everyone to do well and would help those out that he could. During Christmas time he'd give out gifts in his neighborhood. That is what Run-DMC's song "Christmas at Hollis" is about. 

The Hollis Crew would would travel with Jason and Run-DMC and work for them as security. Jason tremendously helped Randy Allen and Big D and their families.

In 1989, the popularity of Run-D.M.C. started to fade and Jason established Jam Master Jay Records. The label is most known for signing 50 Cent and Onyx. During this time, gangster rap was introduced to the music scene and the world as Jason knew it became more violent. On consecutive Christmas holidays, he survived a car accident and a gunshot wound to the leg, respectively.He also had been receiving threatening, anonymous phone calls. Jason started carrying a gun for protection.

On October 30th, 2002, Bonita, had a funny feeling as the cold rain poured down. 

Bonita's brother, Jason, was in his recording studio five minutes from where he grew up. It was about 7:30 p.m. and Jason's group "Rusty Waters" was in the studio with him preparing to go on tour. Rusty Waters consisted of Jason's nephew Rodney Jones and Randy Allen. 

Rodney Jones wasn't there at the time, but Mike B., Urieco Rincon and an aspiring female artist were in the studio. Mike B. was a rapper and Rincon was a car sitter. There was a buzz at the door. Receptionist and Randy Allen's sister, Lydia Hyde, let two people in brandishing guns as Jason and Rincon were playing video games. Hyde ran for the door as the first gunman entered, but was stopped by the second gunman and told to get on her hands and knees on the floor. Jason couldn't reach for his gun fast enough and was shot once in the head, execution style, and killed. Rincon, was sitting right next to Jason and claims he was reaching for his phone and was shot in the ankle but survived.

As Rodney came out of the barber shop that was close by, Mike B. ran up to him and told him that there was shooting in the studio. When Rodney got inside the studio, Hyde was on the floor screaming and Jason was also on the floor with his feet to the door. He wasn't moving so Rodney nudged him with his foot, trying to wake him up. Rodney then turned around and went back out of the studio and down the stairs. That is when the police showed up.

There had been surveillance cameras in the studio at the time of the shooting, but someone had stolen the tape. There was also a police station right across the street..

Jason's business partner, Randy Allen was a suspect. Allegedly on that fateful day, Allen saw what happened, ran out and may have fired his gun at the fleeing perpetrators. It turned out that Allen had a big life insurance policy out on Jason. Allegedly, Jason had previously told a friend that Allen was stealing money from him. Allen denied having anything to do with Jason's murder or stealing money from him.

Curtis Scoon was another person that was looked into. Allegedly, Scoon and Jason had beef with each other over a drug deal gone bad. Many people think that this is ridiculous because Jason never sold drugs. But, investigating this hypothesis, authorities found out that Jason was terribly in debt. He had been trying to take care of so many people for so long. And that he in fact tried to purchase some cocaine, but the deal went bad. Some say that Scoon did blame him for losing a whole lot of money. Allegedly, Randy Allen had told some people that Scoon was the one who killed Jason and that his is the one who told him that it was Scoon who pulled the trigger.

Executive at Def Jam Records,"Big D." Jordan and his son knew Jason from the neighborhood and became suspects in his murder. Jason introduced Big D's son to the rap game, by using his connections at Rush Management to get a job in the office.  There was a theory that Jason owed a debt that he couldn't pay and that is why he was killed. Big D and his son deny any involvement with Jason's murder. Big D also said that, "Everybody in the studio that day is a culprit and should be arrested or buried."

In 2003, Kenneth McGriff, a convicted drug dealer and longtime friend of Murder Inc. founders Irving "Irv Gotti" Lorenzo and his older brother Christopher, were investigated for targeting Jason because the DJ defied an industry blacklist of rapper 50 Cent that was imposed because of "Ghetto Qu'ran", a song 50 Cent wrote about McGriff's drug history. 50 Cent was seen as a snitch. 50 Cent had also been picking on Ja Rule who was a "henchman" for Murder Inc.

In April 2007, federal prosecutors named Ronald Washington as an accomplice in Jason's murder. According to court papers filed by the prosecution, Washington "pointed his gun at those present in the studio, ordered them to get on the ground and provided cover for his associate to shoot and kill Jason Mizell."

Washington was a guy from the neighborhood and was allegedly staying with Jason's mother back in October of 2002. He claimed that on the night of Jason's murder, Jason had given Washington his gun and $200 and told him to go buy some bullets. Washington said that Jason was scared and wanted protection. Washington also claimed that he saw Big D and his son run into Jason's studio around the time of the murder. Washington had been a suspect from the beginning and police originally thought that he was a possible lookout. He also is a suspect in the 1995 murder of Randy "Stretch" Walker, a former close associate of the late rapper Tupac Shakur. 

Jason's case is still open and unsolved.

The Scratch DJ Academy in Manhattan was founded in 2002, the year of his death. The academy was created to "provide unparalleled education and access to the art form of the DJ and producer."

Jason was the father of three sons: Jason Mizell Jr., Jesse Mizell, and T.J. Mizell who are all DJ's. He also had a daughter, Tyra Myricks. 

#SnitchesGetStitches