Biography
James Cromitie was a Newburgh, New York Walmart employee and convicted petty criminal at the time he was approached in June 2008 by FBI informant Shahed Hussein — the same informant who had run the Albany pizzeria sting against Yassin Aref and Mohammed Mosharref Hossain. Hussein, posing as a Pakistani jihadist with access to weapons and money, offered Cromitie up to $250,000 to participate in a fictional plot to bomb Riverdale-area Bronx synagogues and shoot Stinger missiles at military aircraft. Over eight months Cromitie recruited three Newburgh acquaintances — Onta Williams, David Williams, and Laguerre Payen.
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon found at trial in 2010 that the entire plot had been provided by the FBI: Hussein chose the targets, paid for groceries, bought the (fake) bombs and missile, assembled the devices, and drove the defendants to and from the May 20, 2009 staged action in the Bronx. She nonetheless convicted under federal law and sentenced all four men to the 25-year mandatory minimum. In a 2023 ruling she granted compassionate release to three of the four, writing that the real lead conspirator was the United States. Cromitie completed his 25-year sentence and was released on April 17, 2024 from FCI Allenwood Medium.
