Would be Al-Qaeda NYC subway bomber sent to same prison as Vinny Gorgeous
Subway plotter Adis Medunjanin will be imprisoned with the worst of the
worst. The 2009 attack, planned to coincide with the Sept. 11, 2001,
anniversary, was disrupted days before its execution.
The newest resident in Colorado’s bombers row is an Al Qaeda-trained
terrorist who hoped to blow up a New York subway station, the Daily News
has learned.
Adis Medunjanin, once of Queens, joins a rogues’ gallery of criminals as he serves his life sentence in the Florence supermax — the last stop for the nation’s most dangerous evildoers.
Eric Rudolph, the 1996 Olympics bomber, is there, as is Faisal Shahzad,
who in 2010 planted a homemade bomb in an SUV parked in Times Square.
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, too, will live out his life in the maximum-security federal jail, which a former warden dubbed a “cleaner version of hell.”
There’s also Bonnano crime boss Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, who
planned to kill a federal judge and prosecutor; 1993 World Trade Center
bomber Ramzi Yousef; and Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker
of the 9/11 terrorist attack.
They are each locked down 23 hours a day in a 7-by-11-foot cell that features a sink, bunk and shower made of immovable poured concrete.
They eat their meals in the cement tomb, which has a small window with a
view only of the sky. There is no physical contact with other inmates,
and their communications are closely monitored.
Medunjanin is only 29, so he’ll be in almost total isolation for decades.
Brooklyn Federal Judge John Gleeson had recommended to the U.S. Bureau
of Prisons that Medunjanin be placed in a penitentiary “as close as
possible” to New York so his “loving family” could visit him more
easily.
But the Bureau of Prisons didn’t agree.
“Putting him there is their decision,” Medunjanin’s lawyer Robert Gottlieb told The News.
“We are very disappointed,” Gottlieb added. “There is no reason to throw him away without the ability to communicate with his attorneys. He is absolutely not a threat while he is in prison.”
According to the Bureau of Prisons policy manual, the level of security
that an inmate requires is determined by a number of factors, including
the severity of the crime, length of sentence and the danger he may
pose to other inmates, prison staff or the public.
Medunjanin was convicted of participating in a scheme with two pals from Flushing High School to join the Taliban so they could kill servicemen in Afghanistan. But as their plans evolved, the radicalized trio traveled to Pakistan, where all three were recruited by Al Qaeda, received paramilitary training and got assigned to carry out the subway bombing.
The attack was days from being carried out — potentially killing scores of innocent straphangers during the week of the Sept. 11 anniversary in 2009 — before the FBI and NYPD interrupted the plot.
Attorney General Eric Holder called the plot the most serious terrorist threat against New York City since 9/11.
Medunjanin’s co-conspirators, Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay, testified against their fellow jihadist. They have not been sentenced.
Not every terrorist gets a one-way ticket to the Colorado supermax. Shahawar Matin Siraj of Brooklyn, who was convicted of plotting to blow up the Herald Square subway station, is doing time in upstate Otisville, while four men nabbed for plotting to blow up fuel lines at Kennedy Airport are also scattered in other federal prisons.
Medunjanin may have helped the Bureau of Prisons make its decision with his bizarre behavior at sentencing last November in Brooklyn Federal Court, when he ranted about the abuse of detainees at notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He also declined to express remorse, choosing instead to recite verses from the Koran, condemn the U.S. and ask Allah “to release me from prison.”
He claimed to the end he was innocent.
Adis Medunjanin, once of Queens, joins a rogues’ gallery of criminals as he serves his life sentence in the Florence supermax — the last stop for the nation’s most dangerous evildoers.
Guard towers at the
maximum-security prison in Florence, Colo., which a former warden dubbed
a 'cleaner version of hell.' Inmates live in near-total isolation,
locked down 23 hours a day in a 7-by-11-foot cell. There is no physical
contact with other inmates, and communication is closely monitored.
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, too, will live out his life in the maximum-security federal jail, which a former warden dubbed a “cleaner version of hell.”
Eric Rudolph bombed the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
They are each locked down 23 hours a day in a 7-by-11-foot cell that features a sink, bunk and shower made of immovable poured concrete.
Zacarias Moussaoui was the so-called 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Medunjanin is only 29, so he’ll be in almost total isolation for decades.
Ted J. Kaczynski aka 'The Unabomber' went on a bombing spree killing 3 and injuring 23.
But the Bureau of Prisons didn’t agree.
In 2010, Faisal Shahzad planted a homemade bomb in an SUV parked in Times Square.
“We are very disappointed,” Gottlieb added. “There is no reason to throw him away without the ability to communicate with his attorneys. He is absolutely not a threat while he is in prison.”
Richard C. Reid attempted to ignite explosives in his sneakers aboard an American Airlines flight.
Medunjanin was convicted of participating in a scheme with two pals from Flushing High School to join the Taliban so they could kill servicemen in Afghanistan. But as their plans evolved, the radicalized trio traveled to Pakistan, where all three were recruited by Al Qaeda, received paramilitary training and got assigned to carry out the subway bombing.
The attack was days from being carried out — potentially killing scores of innocent straphangers during the week of the Sept. 11 anniversary in 2009 — before the FBI and NYPD interrupted the plot.
Attorney General Eric Holder called the plot the most serious terrorist threat against New York City since 9/11.
Medunjanin’s co-conspirators, Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay, testified against their fellow jihadist. They have not been sentenced.
Not every terrorist gets a one-way ticket to the Colorado supermax. Shahawar Matin Siraj of Brooklyn, who was convicted of plotting to blow up the Herald Square subway station, is doing time in upstate Otisville, while four men nabbed for plotting to blow up fuel lines at Kennedy Airport are also scattered in other federal prisons.
Medunjanin may have helped the Bureau of Prisons make its decision with his bizarre behavior at sentencing last November in Brooklyn Federal Court, when he ranted about the abuse of detainees at notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He also declined to express remorse, choosing instead to recite verses from the Koran, condemn the U.S. and ask Allah “to release me from prison.”
He claimed to the end he was innocent.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/foiled-terrorist-serve-life-notorious-colo-prison-article-1.1355289#ixzz2UVz5ABJ6
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