| A defence lawyer says two Guyanese men accused of plotting to blow up the fuel tanks at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport here three years ago were just boastful losers who lied to each other to make themselves seem important.
“This talk is the kind of trash you hear in a barbershop,” Mildred Whalen, lawyer for Russell DeFreitas, said during closing arguments at her client's trial at Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday.
“It's pretty clear that these guys have seen too many Bruce Willis movies and don't have enough to fill up their time,” she added, describing DeFreitas as a “weak-minded, foolish man with a big mouth.”
But prosecutors claim that DeFreitas, 66, and Abdul Kadir, 58, a former Member of Parliament in Guyanese, meant to wreak havoc.
The two men, accused in the terrorist plot, hoped to cause a massive explosion that would kill thousands at JFK and avenge US oppression of Muslims, said Assistant US Attorney Zainab Ahmad in closing arguments earlier during the week.
She charged that the defendants wanted to blow up jet fuel tanks at the sprawling airport, causing an explosion “so massive that it could be seen from far, far away.”
Their vision prompted them to code name the plot “The Shining Light,” Ahmad said.
Prosecutors say DeFreitas did reconnaissance on the airport, sought the help of a militant Muslim group in Trinidad and Tobago along with Kadir, and dreamt of delivering a devastating economic blow to the United States.
Ahmad said that DeFreitas, a naturalised US citizen, “is a classic homegrown extremist.”
At trial, the government’s evidence included tapes of |