Results tagged “zacariasmoussaoui”

1. WNBC has the only known video of September 11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui; it's taken as he is being transferred to to his maximum security prison in Colorado
2. A man was killed under an E train around 34th Street
3. The City still won't look for World Trade Center remains in the debris that was sent to Fresh Kills
4. A mistrial was ordered in a Colombo mob trial -- the jurors were deadlocked and three of the jurors cried!
5. Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn tackles Park Slope affairs; the Slope is moments from being the next setting of a Desperate Housewives-esque show
6. A NY1/Newsday poll shows, if they were to run, that Hillary Clinton leads over Barack Obama and Rudy Giuliani leads over John McCain
Continue reading "Extra, Extra"

Yesterday, the Fire Department released 1,613 phone calls made to fire and EMS dispatchers, and the calls are just heartbreaking. The Mayor explained why the calls had been withheld by the city - they were only released upon a lawsuit - saying, "The real issue here is to protect the families...[was it] really is worth putting the families through reliving the grief that I think none of the rest of us would possibly imagine." At any rate, he apologized for the delay in the tapes' release, which he blamed on a Fire Department manager (way to pass the buck). But the victims' families are listening to the tapes in hopes that lessons can be learned. The NY Times notes what the Sally Regenhard, mother of Christian Regenhard, a firefighter who was killed at the South Tower, said:

“It took five years to hear a scintilla of confirmed information,” Mrs. Regenhard said, adding that many public officials had demanded fast explanations for Con Edison’s performance during the recent blackout in Queens, but that few had broached the question of the emergency response on Sept. 11.

Melissa Doi, the 32 year old woman whose 911 call was played during Zacarias Moussaoui's trial, and the 911 operator who tried the comfort her are the subject of an editorial in the NY Sun: "Yesterday, [Doi's] voice testified to something else — to the way in which the unique spirit of New Yorkers allowed glimmers of light to shine through even on that darkest of sunny summer days...[T]he operator was New York at its best, both compassionate and pragmatic, and unwilling to give up so long as there was any hope onto which to hold." And Newsday has a transcript of her call. The NY Times has an extensive site about the 9/11 Records.

The city must have many storage closets that escape notice. The city will release 1,613 phone calls made on September 11 by emergency workers and trapped people at the World Trade Center. As Newsday explains it, "The fire department is releasing these recordings now because of an oversight that occurred after a March decision by the New York State Court of Appeals to release all calls, according to a statement. A personnel error led to the department overlooking another tape of phone calls made between 8:45 and 10:45 a.m. on Sept. 11, the statement said." An oversight of two hours of phone calls? That's some oversight.

Oh, Zacarias Moussaoui, you big kidder you! Yesterday, the alleged (and confessed!) September 11 conspirator claimed he lied about his involvement and wanted a new trial. Reading his affidavit seems to confirm the life sentence jurors agreed on:

I had thought that I would be sentenced to death based on the emotions and anger toward me for the deaths on Sept. 11, but after reviewing the jury verdict and reading how the jurors set aside their emotions and disgust for me and focused on the law and the evidence that was presented during the trial, I came to understand that the jury process was more complex than I had assumed...

Continue reading "Moussaoui Says He's a Big Liar"

With alleged terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui awaiting his formal sentencing this morning, the focus is on how the jurors decided to give him life in jail over the death penalty. The NY Times has a helpful graphic showing the mitigating factors that led the jury its sentence: The biggest factors seemed to be that he had a terrible childhood, with two abusive parents, and that he seemed to be, at best, a fringe member of Al Qaeda, one without any real knowledge; conversely, the jurors weren't as convinced by the defense's arguments that he was schizophrenic and wanted to be a martyr by dying. (All jurors need to agree on the death penalty.) While some September 11 victims' families accepted the verdict, many others had been hoping for the death penalty; even former mayor - and witness for the prosecution - Rudy Giuliani said he was "disappointed". President Bush took the time to remind America that the war on terror is still happening and "Evil will not have the final say."

Yesterday, during the trial of suspected subway bomb plotter Shahawar Matin Siraj continues, prosecutors played tapes of Siraj talking to the police's informant. Siraj explained why Bill Gates had to be killed, perhaps they should get uranium from Area 51 (though he says Area 52), and that various bridges had to be destroyed because they impact the economy. Here's a tidbit of the tapes, from the NY Times:

Speaking to his driver, he derides a passing policeman: "Hello, pig. Hi, pig. Bye, pig. Pig, you have a problem?" Then, "You, pig, will learn the lesson someday." And also sings — apparently mimicking a song. "Brooklyn Bridge is falling down. Falling down. Falling down. The black guys used to sing this song, remember?"

The Daily News emphasizes that Siraj's lawyers are trying to spin him as a "harmless, easily led dimwit." Siraj is on trial for an elaborate scheme to blow up the Herald Square subway station, among other landmarks and police precincts.

- Cool pictures of skateboarders in Tompkins Square Park, via city rag

Ah, there is nothing like a seemingly unhinged would-be terrorist taking the stand in his own death penalty trial. Zacarias Moussaoui testified during the sentencing part of his trial, and, like his first trip to the witness stand where he "confessed" to being one of hijackers planning the September 11 attacks, he gave plenty for the prosecution to savor. Like saying how happy he was that people died on September 11, mentioning that he would kill Americans as soon as possible, complaining that his defense lawyer is American and Jewish, criticizing the victims' families' testimony and saying that President Bush would pardon him. For example: "I just wish it had happened on [Sept.] 12th, the 13th, the 14th, the 15th, the 16th and the 17th. We have to destroy you." We can't tell who Moussaoui is trying to work with more - the prosecution or defense, because even though he hates his defense team, he's making a compelling case for mental illness.

The cockpit recording from United Flight 93 on September 11 was played in the courtroom of Zacarias Moussaoui's death penalty trial. The 31 minute tape details, as the Daily News puts it, "the charge toward the cockpit, yelps of pain, groans, crashing sounds and the panic of the hijackers as the Americans tried to shove their way in," as well as hijackers yelling "Sit down!" and someone saying, "I don't want to die." The hijackers also repeatedly said, "In the name of Allah. I bear witness that there is no other God but Allah," (the NY Times says Moussaoui smiled "broadly" when that was played). The prosecution rested, and the defense will attempt to show the jury that Moussaoui does not deserve the death penalty, the strategy being to show that he was actually a fringe member of Al Qaeda and that he's mentally ill, deluding himself into thinking he's a mastermind of the plot.

Coroners have concluded that an NYPD detective ultimately died from his cleanup work at Ground Zero. James Zadroga's death is considered to be the first cleanup worker whose death is "directly related" to the World Trade Center's dust and debris (there have been a couple deaths of workers who have developed respiratory problems after working at the site). Zadroga's family is hoping that the NYPD will consider his death an "in the line of duty" death, in order to ensure higher benefits; Zadroga's wife died in 2004, so his parents are raising the four year old daughter.

Yesterday, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani testified at the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, telling jurors about what he saw, thought and felt on September 11, 2001. He described seeing people jump from the World Trade Center towers and said, "By the time the second plane hit, we knew it was a terrorist attack. This was war. This was a battle." Giuliani didn't look at Moussaoui much, but Moussaoui did watch Giuliani. Family members of September 11 victims also spoke during the day. Moussaoui's lawyer described his client as a minor player in Al Qaeda suffering from mental illness; Moussaoui did yell, "Burn in the USA!" during a break.

If there was one thing the sentencing trial of Zacarias Moussaoui needed, it's having Rudy Giuliani testifying about the horrors of September 11. The NY Post practically makes it a marquee event, saying that Giuliani will go "eyeball to eyeball" with the "Evil Zac." If only the trial were broadcast on Court TV - this would be some fascinating TV, with Moussaoui's glowering and Giuliani's dramatic retelling of the events of the day. The federal prosecutors are also expected to play the cockpit recording of Flight 93 for jurors - and the recording may finally be released to the public after that. Most victims' families want Moussaoui to die, but the Daily News has a quote from one Flight 93 victim's mother, Alice Hoglan: "I believe he's a filthy and despicable human being, but he shouldn't be executed. We in America should ... demonstrate mercy toward this man who failed so miserably to demonstrate his humanity toward us." She adds she doesn't want him to become a martyr, and will be testifying for the defense.

Zacarias Moussaoui, the man authorities allege would have one of the terrorist hijackers in the September 11 attacks, was found eligible for the death penalty in a phase of the government's trial against him. Moussaoui had been in custody before the attacks, and the government claimed that he lied in order while being interrogated, thus allowing the attacks to occur. His defense lawyers had claimed he was never a major player in Al-Qaeda scheme, but the defense was even caught off guard when last week Moussaoui claimed he and would-be shoebomber Richard Reid were supposed to fly another plane into a White House, making some wonder if he was just acting crazy. Family members of September 11 victims are reportedly pleased by the verdict thus far, but now the jurors must decide whether or not Moussaoui should actually die (can you imagine being picked for this jury pool?). And in keeping with some of his outbursts, the Daily News points out that Moussaoui yelled, "Never get my blood! God curse you all!"