Kansas Man Pleads Guilty In Plot To Explode Car Bomb At Fort Riley In Manhattan, Kansas

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

John T. Booker Jr., 21, of Topeka, Kansas, pleaded guilty today to attempting to detonate a vehicle bomb on the Fort Riley military base in Manhattan, Kansas.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin and U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom of the District of Kansas made the announcement.

Booker pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Carlos Murguia of the District of Kansas to one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of attempted destruction of government property by fire or explosion.  Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.  The parties have stipulated to a sentence of 30 years in federal prison.

“John Booker admitted that he intended to kill U.S. military personnel on American soil in the name of ISIL,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin.  “Thankfully, law enforcement was able to safely identify and disrupt this threat to the brave men and women who risk their lives to defend our country.  The National Security Division’s highest priority is countering terrorist threats and protecting American lives by holding accountable those who plot to attack us.”

“If this defendant had succeeded, American soldiers would have died,” said U.S. Attorney Grissom.  “The investigators and the attorneys who worked on this case were our line of defense against terrorism.  They kept us safe.”

In his guilty plea, Booker admitted he intended to kill American soldiers and to assist ISIL’s fight against the United States.  His plan called for constructing a bomb containing 1,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate.  Booker intended to trigger the bomb himself and die in the process, and filmed a video he intended Americans to see after his death.

“You sit in your homes and think this war is just over in Iraq,” he said in the video.  “Today we will bring the Islamic State straight to your doorstep.”

Unbeknownst to Booker, the bomb that he constructed was made with inert materials, and the two men working with him were undercover informants for the FBI.

The FBI began investigating Booker in March 2014 after he posted on his Facebook page that he wanted to commit jihad.  Booker admitted that he tried to enlist in the U.S. Army in order to commit an insider attack against American soldiers like the one at Fort Hood in Texas, but his deadly plans were thwarted when he was denied entry into the Army.  In October 2014, Booker began communicating with an undercover FBI informant.  He told the undercover FBI informant that he dreamed of being a fighter in the Middle East, and proposed capturing and killing an American soldier.

In March 2015, Booker was introduced to another FBI informant who he believed would help him plan an attack.  Booker said he wanted to detonate a suicide bomb because he couldn’t be captured, all the evidence would be destroyed, and he would be guaranteed to hit his target.  On March 10, 2015, Booker made a video filmed at Freedom Park near Marshall Army Airfield at Fort Riley in which he pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader of ISIL.  That month, he rented a storage unit in Topeka where the bomb would be assembled.

On April 10, 2015, Booker and the informants drove to an area near Fort Riley that Booker believed to be a little-used utility gate where they could enter Fort Riley undetected.  He was arrested when he made the final connections on the device that he believed would arm the bomb.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Mattivi and David Smith of the District of Kansas, and Trial Attorneys Josh Parecki and Rebecca Magnone of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

Member and Associate of Lucchese Organized Crime Family Convicted of Racketeering and Other Crimes

While I was in the hospital the U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

A member and an associate of the Lucchese organized crime family and two Texas brothers were convicted today of racketeering and other charges after a six-month trial.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman for the District of New Jersey made the announcement.

Nicodemo S. Scarfo, 49, of Galloway, N.J., a member of the Lucchese organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra (LCN) and Salvatore Pelullo, 47, of Philadelphia, an associate of the Lucchese and Philadelphia LCN families, were convicted of all the counts against them, including racketeering conspiracy and related offenses, including securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice.  Two other defendants, William and John Maxwell, were also convicted. Co-defendants David Adler, Gary McCarthy and Donald Manno were acquitted on all counts.

“Nicodemo Scarfo, Salvatore Pellulo and their cohorts used threats of physical and economic harm to take over a publicly-traded financial firm, then callously and systematically looted the company out of millions of dollars to buy luxury items for themselves,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell.   “As a result of today’s guilty verdict, this mafia member and his conspirators now face substantial prison sentences.”

“Today, four people stand convicted  for giving new meaning to ‘corporate takeover’ – looting a publicly traded company to benefit their criminal enterprise,” U.S. Attorney

Fishman said.  “The defendants stole more than $12 million from shareholders through rampant self-dealing, fraudulent SEC filings and intimidation. The public should not have to worry that the interests of shareholders are being subverted to benefit organized crime or for other corrupt ends.”

The jury deliberated two weeks before delivering its verdicts following a six-month trial before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden federal court.   The defendants were charged in an indictment returned in 2011 by a federal grand jury in Camden.  It named Nicodemo D. Scarfo (Scarfo Sr.) – Nicodemo S. Scarfo’s father and the imprisoned former boss of the Philadelphia LCN family – and Vittorio Amuso, the imprisoned boss of the Lucchese family, as conspirators.

Five other defendants – Cory Leshner, Howard Drossner, John Parisi, Todd Stark, and Scarfo’s wife, Lisa Murray-Scarfo – have previously pleaded guilty to various charges related to their roles in the criminal scheme.

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

Scarfo is a made member of the Lucchese family, having become a member after an attempt on his life in 1989 following an internal struggle for control of the Philadelphia family.    In the mid-1990s, while Scarfo Sr. and Amuso were in federal prison in Atlanta, Ga., Amuso arranged for Scarfo to become a member of the Lucchese family as a favor to Scarfo Sr.  As a member of the Lucchese family, Scarfo was required to earn money and participate in the affairs of the Lucchese family.

In April 2007, Scarfo, Pelullo and others devised a scheme to take over FirstPlus Financial Group Inc. (FPFG), a publicly-held company in Texas.  Scarfo and Pelullo used threats of economic harm to intimidate and remove the prior management and board of directors of replaced those officers with individuals beholden to Scarfo and Pelullo, including William Maxwell, an attorney from Houston, Texas, and his brother, John Maxwell, of Irving, Texas, who acted as the company’s CEO.

Once the takeover was completed, the figurehead board named William Maxwell as “special counsel” to FPFG, a position that he used to funnel approximately $12 million to himself, Scarfo and Pelullo through fraudulent legal services and consulting agreements.  The agreements, as well as FPFG’s fraudulent acquisitions of companies controlled by Scarfo and Pelullo, were designed to mask the true identity and nature of the control exerted over FPFG and to conceal the source of the money fraudulently conveyed to Scarfo and Pelullo.

In a telephone call intercepted by law enforcement, Pelullo called Scarfo to tell him about the sudden death of a former FPFG executive.  This former executive had provided information to Pelullo and Maxwell that they used to extort control of FPFG.  At the time of his death, he was employed by FPFG as a member of its “compliance team.” During the conversation, Scarfo and Pelullo expressed relief regarding his death. After laughing about how he was “crushed” that “the rat is dead,” Pelullo acknowledged that the executive was “the only connection, the only tie to anything.”  Scarfo replied: “Oh boy.  Yeah, Sal, you wanna know something though?  That’s one that I know you can’t take credit for . . . [laughter] . . . and that’s the natural best thing.  You know what I mean?  That is so like Enron-ish.  You know what I mean?   Kenneth Lay, he bailed out and took a heart attack."

Scarfo and Pelullo used their illicit gains to fund extravagant purchases, including an $850,000 yacht for both defendants, a luxury home for Scarfo, a Bentley automobile for Pelullo, and thousands of dollars in jewelry for Scarfo’s wife.  As a direct result of the enterprise’s criminal activity, FPFG and its shareholders suffered a loss of at least $12 million.

Sentencing for Scarfo is scheduled for Oct. 22, 2014; for Pelullo, Oct. 21, 2014, and for both Maxwell brothers, Oct. 23, 2014.

This case was investigated by the FBI, Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.   The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Adam L. Small of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven D’Aguanno and Howard Wiener of the District of New Jersey’s Organized Crime/Gangs Unit.