Cleveland Plain Dealer : Conspiracy: Prosecutors' tool in fight against terror

Conspiracy: Prosecutors' tool in fight against terror

Mark Rollenhagen and Amanda Garrett | Plain Dealer Reporters | Monday, July 31, 2006

Narseal Batiste often carried a long, crooked cane through his Miami neighborhood while wearing a bathrobe and a cape.

Many wrote him off as a harmless eccentric who looked like Moses, but federal investigators say Batiste is a terrorist, the leader of a cell bent on toppling Chicago's soaring Sears tower.

Prosecutors used a conspiracy law to pluck Batiste and his followers off the streets last month, long before their plans turned to action.

It was the same ap proach prosecutors used in Toledo, where three men were indicted earlier this year on charges they conspired to kill and maim U.S. troops in Iraq.

While the Patriot Act has gotten much press since its passage after the 9/11 attacks, prosecutors rely on federal conspiracy laws to make terror cases.

They've used conspiracy prosecutions for decades to bring down mobsters, drug lords and white-collar criminals.

The plot doesn't have to unfold as intended -- or at all -- to convict someone of conspiracy. The crime is the plot. It doesn't even need to be viable. No weapons or explosives were found in the Toledo and Miami cases.

"This group was more aspirational than operational," John Pistole, the FBI's deputy director, said after the Miami group's arrest.

The Miami men, if convicted of the conspiracy charge alone, face up to 20 years in prison. The Toledo trio could face up to life behind bars.

To reach these Plain Dealer reporters:

mrollenhagen@plaind.com, 216-999-6326

agarrett@plaind.com, 216-999-4814