The Debrief With MyronGainesX - 1st Terrorism Prosecution In The US! Operation Smokescreen! (Hezbollah Takedown)

00:00:01.000 And we are live. What's up, guys? Welcome to FedIt. Today, we're going to do a special episode.

00:00:05.280 It's going to be the first successful prosecution of terrorism in the United States.

00:00:09.000 This is going to be a wild one, guys. Let's get into it.

00:00:13.700 I was a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, okay, guys? HSI.

00:00:17.040 The cases that I did mostly were human smuggling and drug trafficking.

00:00:22.060 No one else has these documents, by the way.

00:00:24.440 Here's what FedIt covers.

00:00:25.560 Dr. Lafredo confirmed lacerations due to stepping on glass.

00:00:32.420 Murder investigations.

00:00:33.400 You can't reach him in his jacket. You don't know.

00:00:35.680 And he's positioning.

00:00:36.340 Been on February 13, 2019.

00:00:38.020 You're facing two counts of two meditative murder.

00:00:41.160 Racketeering and Rico conspiracies.

00:00:43.000 Young Slime Life here and after referred to as YSL.

00:00:45.560 This is 6'9", and then this is Billy Seiko right here.

00:00:49.020 Now, when they first started, guys, 6'9 ran with me.

00:00:51.660 I'm a Fed. I'm watching this music video.

00:00:53.120 You know, I'm Bob and Mahala.

00:00:55.200 Hey, this shit lit.

00:00:56.000 But at the same time, I'm pausing.

00:00:57.480 Oh, wait, who this?

00:00:58.700 Right?

00:00:59.260 Who's that in the back? 0.73

00:01:01.340 Firearms and violent crime.

00:01:02.660 A.K.A. Bush IC violated.

00:01:04.520 You're wanting to stay away from the victim.

00:01:06.160 Get rapper Bush IC arrested after shooting at King of Diamonds, Miami strip club.

00:01:09.380 This is the one that's going to fuck him up because this gun is not tracing.

00:01:13.780 Well, it happened at the gun range.

00:01:14.940 Here's your boy, 42 Doug, right here on the left.

00:01:17.200 Okay.

00:01:17.500 Sex trafficking and sex crimes.

00:01:18.920 They can effectively link him to paying an underage girl.

00:01:22.220 I'm going to look like 50 women, right?

00:01:23.700 Right.

00:01:24.000 And the first bomb went off right here.

00:01:26.740 Suspect 2 set down a backstack on the site of the second explosion inspired by Al-Qaeda.

00:01:31.800 Two terrorists, brothers, the Zokar Sarnab and Tamerlan Sarnab.

00:01:36.300 When the cartel shipped drugs into the country.

00:01:38.320 This guy got arrested for espionage, okay?

00:01:41.120 Trading secrets with the Russians for monetary compensation. 0.57

00:01:44.320 Compensation, the largest corrupt police bust in New Orleans history.

00:01:49.360 The days of the police are gone.

00:01:51.140 So he was in this bad boy.

00:01:52.520 We're going to go over his past, the gang guy, so that this all makes sense.

00:02:02.540 All right, guys.

00:02:03.880 I'm here with the special guests.

00:02:05.120 You guys have come to learn and love.

00:02:07.940 Hello.

00:02:08.260 And he's in the house.

00:02:08.640 It's me again.

00:02:10.500 I'm back.

00:02:12.200 And we're going to cover Terry's Zoom case.

00:02:15.080 Yes.

00:02:15.460 What?

00:02:16.060 This one's going to be.

00:02:16.960 Angie doesn't know too much about this, so I just kind of sprung it on her.

00:02:19.200 But real quick update.

00:02:20.960 We literally just got done searching everywhere for the BMF documentary that we have.

00:02:26.260 We went through it.

00:02:27.320 Literally everywhere.

00:02:28.380 Yeah.

00:02:29.020 It's a good documentary, but the quality of it sucks, guys.

00:02:31.460 And we don't want to dilute the quality.

00:02:33.100 So if any of you are able to get your hands, and the name of the documentary is BMF, The

00:02:38.620 Rise and Fall, okay, directed by Don Sikorski.

00:02:41.400 If any of you guys are able to get that to me in HD, let me know.

00:02:45.040 I will literally pay you for it.

00:02:46.480 I can't find it anywhere, dude.

00:02:48.640 And actually, you know what?

00:02:49.520 I'll go ahead and share a screen with y'all real quick so you guys know what it's called.

00:02:53.720 So BMF, Rise and Fall.

00:02:56.360 And it's a really good documentary.

00:02:59.240 Honestly, it's probably better than the Starz remake that's going on right now.

00:03:05.580 But this is it right now because the reason why I like this documentary so much is that

00:03:09.240 it covers the DEA investigators that actually did this investigation.

00:03:13.700 You get direct insight from them.

00:03:14.920 And I think that's very important from a knowledge standpoint to really understand

00:03:20.820 how they did this case.

00:03:21.600 This was a very complex drug investigation into the black mafia family.

00:03:27.200 So if anybody's able to get this documentary for me, it's on YouTube, but it's in crappy

00:03:30.580 quality, and I don't want to dilute the quality.

00:03:32.380 If any of you are able to find it for me, let me know.

00:03:34.860 I'll pay you for it.

00:03:35.960 Send it my way.

00:03:37.060 But yeah, I'm going to keep working and try to find a better version of it.

00:03:40.920 But in the meantime, guys, we are going to cover the first successful prosecution of terrorism

00:03:46.900 in the United States associated to Hezbollah, okay?

00:03:49.500 It's been a while since we've done a terrorism case.

00:03:51.600 So let's get right into Hezbollah. 0.81

00:03:53.700 Party of Allah or Party of God also transliterated Hezbollah or Hezbollah, among others, is the

00:04:00.040 Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group led by Secretary General Hassan

00:04:04.680 Nasrallah since 1992.

00:04:06.720 Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the loyalty

00:04:11.080 to the resistance bloc party in the Lebanese parliament.

00:04:14.780 That was a tongue twister right there. 0.75

00:04:16.380 So we're going to be covering, guys, a documentary.

00:04:20.600 You guys know I love this documentary.

00:04:22.080 It's called Declassified, okay?

00:04:23.660 And this is episode three, The Terrace Next Door.

00:04:26.940 And yeah, let's just get into it.

00:04:28.840 I'll kind of explain it as we go.

00:04:30.080 People on Donifield Drive may not have known who their neighbors were, but they knew something

00:04:41.260 wasn't right.

00:04:42.800 The scary part was to wake up in the morning and find out there was a terrorist cell operating

00:04:47.080 here in their own backyard.

00:04:48.500 Something illegal going on doesn't surprise me.

00:04:50.160 But when you mention the word terrorism, I'm going, Lord have mercy.

00:04:53.020 Hezbollah, prior to 9-11, killed more Americans than any terrorist organization.

00:04:57.780 As soon as I saw that house, I knew something had to be.

00:05:00.080 Yeah, after 9-11, Al-Qaeda took over.

00:05:01.940 But these were the real guys, really bad guys before the 9-11 situation.

00:05:06.900 And as you guys can see here, we got some history going on.

00:05:10.900 You can see here, INS special agent.

00:05:12.820 So guys, as you guys know from watching this podcast, INS Immigration Naturalization Service

00:05:18.200 existed prior to 9-11, right?

00:05:21.120 And what they did was they enforced immigration violations, which what ended up happening was

00:05:25.580 INS and the U.S. Customs Service combined to create one agency, which ended up becoming

00:05:29.880 ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with two different components in it.

00:05:33.600 One called Enforcement Removal Operations, ERO, who's responsible for deporting the actual

00:05:37.620 aliens.

00:05:38.240 Then you got the special agents who did criminal investigations.

00:05:41.780 So, well, you got HSI, right?

00:05:44.820 Sorry.

00:05:45.280 You have HSI that does the criminal cases nowadays.

00:05:47.360 So basically, an INS special agent and a Customs special agent were merged into one agency.

00:05:53.420 So that is the position I used to have when I was an agent myself.

00:05:56.280 So INS is what we call a legacy agency because they no longer exist prior post 9-11.

00:06:00.720 Then you can see here, obviously, FBI agent, DSS, Diplomatic Security Service.

00:06:05.380 I can't see what his rage act is says, but you guys can see this was a case that involved

00:06:08.760 several different agencies.

00:06:09.960 Typically, when terrorism is involved, you got people from all branches of government working

00:06:15.020 together, but this is pre-9-11, of course, shouting death to America and their scenes 0.54

00:06:21.800 of violence.

00:06:22.940 Their mission was to become a sleeper cell, to be activated if ordered to conduct an

00:06:27.260 attack.

00:06:28.440 We were sitting on a ticking bomb.

00:06:32.160 As a former FBI agent, it began its occupation of West Beirut early this morning, pushing rapidly

00:06:37.780 with tanks at APCs deep into the Western sector.

00:06:40.600 In 1982, in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, several militia groups formed together

00:06:47.120 with the support of Iran to establish a legitimate political party called the Party of God, Hezbollah.

00:06:55.080 They were able to bring water to the communities to establish hospitals and maintain some semblance

00:07:02.460 of education for the children during this war.

00:07:05.660 In some ways, they are viewed as the savior of Lebanon, but their armed wing, Ansar Allah,

00:07:14.420 the retainers of Allah, is an organized, disciplined, trained, and equipped fighting force.

00:07:21.760 All right.

00:07:21.960 So you got a retired assistant special agent in charge here, guys, which let me rewind it

00:07:26.720 back again.

00:07:27.180 I want to make sure I have his title right.

00:07:28.420 The retainers of Allah is an organized. 0.92

00:07:31.380 Okay.

00:07:31.720 Yeah.

00:07:31.900 So he's retired now, Robert Clifford.

00:07:33.920 This, I am almost certain this guy was a case agent on this investigation, but an assistant

00:07:38.960 special agent in charge, just so you guys understand the hierarchy, one more time for all the new

00:07:42.100 viewers, special agent carries cases.

00:07:44.780 It's at this level, right?

00:07:45.520 That's a GS-13 or government scale.

00:07:47.520 Then above that is something called a supervisory special agent.

00:07:50.080 That's a GS scale 14, typically.

00:07:51.460 Then above that is an assistant special agent in charge, which is what this guy ended up

00:07:55.120 being prior to retiring.

00:07:57.120 And then you go into special agent in charge or SAIC is what the FBI calls it.

00:08:04.700 At HSI, we call it SAC.

00:08:06.320 Same thing, though, pretty much.

00:08:07.720 So this guy was pretty much like two from the top when he retired, which is very high

00:08:11.880 level.

00:08:12.920 But obviously him talking about this investigation now, it was back when he was a regular agent

00:08:16.720 carrying cases, because once you become a supervisory special agent or above guys, you no longer

00:08:20.600 carry cases.

00:08:21.420 You're basically in a management slash support role for your agents.

00:08:27.240 Disciplined, trained and equipped fighting force.

00:08:31.080 We do first recognize that Hezbollah has a number of different dimensions to it.

00:08:36.680 But the United States continues to be concerned about terrorist activities that go well beyond

00:08:42.100 the borders of this country.

00:08:43.900 So on one hand, Hezbollah has a local identity as a legitimate political party in

00:08:50.400 Lebanon.

00:08:51.140 On the other hand, they're a proxy for the Iranian government.

00:08:54.560 They're engaged in terrorist organizations and act as a militia at the behest of Iran.

00:09:01.180 So as you guys can see, he was a retired special agent in charge.

00:09:04.500 So he finished pretty much one tier above the other guy before he retired.

00:09:09.380 Iran's sponsorship of Hezbollah is very comprehensive.

00:09:15.040 It's providing weapons, training, intelligence, different types of covers.

00:09:20.400 They view the United States as being the primary supporter of Israel and by extension, a legitimate

00:09:27.640 active target.

00:09:29.280 And this is, you know, a little bit understated here, guys.

00:09:32.620 This is a big problem why terrorists hate the United States in general.

00:09:35.980 Let's just not, let's just, you know, keep it all the way 1,000 here.

00:09:40.080 The United States support of Israel is a big reason why foreign terrorists from the Middle 1.00

00:09:45.860 East typically attack the United States. 1.00

00:09:47.540 If it weren't for the United States, Israel probably would have been taken over because 0.79

00:09:51.580 it's in such a hostile territory.

00:09:53.240 So the, that part of the world looks at the United States as an obstacle because they arm

00:09:59.360 Israelis and they're a very strong ally.

00:10:01.200 And they know that if they try to take back Israel, there's going to be some serious consequences 0.96

00:10:06.480 for the United States.

00:10:07.180 So this is why the United States and countries that support Israel typically come under attack

00:10:13.060 from extremist groups from the Middle East.

00:10:17.280 Prior to 9-11, no other terrorist group in the world killed more Americans than Hezbollah.

00:10:23.740 The Marine Corps barracks bombing, 246 men killed.

00:10:29.780 The American embassy bombing in Lebanon, a horrific, horrific attack.

00:10:34.620 The hijacking of TWH flight 847, where a U.S. Navy diver was singled out and tortured to death

00:10:42.560 by Hezbollah.

00:10:44.160 And countless other attacks in the world.

00:10:46.800 They have this global footprint.

00:10:52.020 They have established themselves on virtually every continent in the world.

00:10:57.100 In Africa, in Europe, in North America, in South America, in Southeast Asia.

00:11:02.260 Hezbollah, not being a nation, not being a state, has the ability to travel throughout the world 0.92

00:11:08.680 to embed themselves in different communities.

00:11:11.020 Gaining all this combat experience and being directed, in many cases, by a country that 0.95

00:11:17.480 has aspirations of becoming a nuclear power, it makes them extremely dangerous.

00:11:21.660 In 1992, the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was bombed by Hezbollah,

00:11:30.420 followed by another attack on the Argentine-Israeli mutual...

00:11:34.460 Yeah, they don't like them boys, if you know what I'm saying.

00:11:37.160 ...mutual association building.

00:11:38.560 I was on assignment in Latin America at the time.

00:11:42.580 Over 100 people had been killed by Hezbollah.

00:11:46.000 Children in the grade school next to the embassy were shredded with glass.

00:11:51.140 And I saw that there had been sleeper agents in those locations.

00:11:56.920 And so, when I became chief of the Hezbollah unit in the FBI, so I oversaw all counter-Hezbollah 1.00

00:12:02.360 operations worldwide.

00:12:03.560 My primary objective was to find out, are there Hezbollah sleeper cells in the United States?

00:12:12.000 Sleeper cells are so dangerous.

00:12:14.420 So, guys, sleeper cells are basically, you know, or a sleeper, in this case, would be

00:12:19.140 someone that's embedded in a community that is waiting for orders to be reactivated by

00:12:23.820 their original people from whatever foreign country or organization they're a part of to

00:12:28.680 conduct criminal activity, and in this case, terrorist activity, in furtherance of that

00:12:33.360 organization's ideals.

00:12:35.960 So, typically, they'll come into the United States, right, on a visa or come in legally

00:12:40.260 some way, live in the, you know, embed themselves in community, live a completely normal life,

00:12:45.340 don't put any suspicion on themselves, and then what they'll do is they'll get activated

00:12:49.540 once their people back where they're from, right, or their country or whatever it is,

00:12:54.320 organization, tells them you need to get active.

00:12:56.000 And there's another example of this, which is another case I'll do for y'all, where there

00:12:59.080 were sleeper cell spies in the United States from Russia.

00:13:02.820 For 10 years, the FBI followed them around and couldn't get evidence on them, but they

00:13:06.640 were able to eventually get it, and these people had dug their talons so deep in the

00:13:10.060 United States.

00:13:10.500 Like, they had driver's license, passports, they were naturalized citizens.

00:13:12.620 Like, they totally sold being Americans, even though they ended up getting found out later 0.96

00:13:18.200 on.

00:13:18.780 But that's how deep a lot of these sleeper cells go to penetrate the United States, blend

00:13:25.880 in, and then eventually carry out the attack when the time comes.

00:13:30.440 Dangerous because they're well-concealed, and they fly below law enforcement radar.

00:13:36.440 A sleeper cell is when foreign operators, could be a terrorist, it could be a spy, will embed

00:13:42.560 themselves into a community.

00:13:45.040 They will join clubs, they will go to school, they'll get a driver's license, they'll get

00:13:48.640 a job.

00:13:49.320 They take on all the appearances of being just another community member.

00:13:53.960 They're sleepers because they're not committing the type of illegal activities that draw the

00:14:00.160 attention of federal law enforcement.

00:14:02.760 When actually they're establishing, and a lot of the times, they don't break laws at all to

00:14:07.340 make sure law enforcement never sees them.

00:14:08.920 The capability to conduct espionage or conduct...

00:14:12.600 Okay, as you guys can see here, this clip right here is from that case I told you about

00:14:15.560 with the Russians.

00:14:17.520 This is two Russians meeting in the United States who are U.S. citizens, etc., but they

00:14:23.420 had been spying the entire time.

00:14:26.040 The FBI was watching them.

00:14:27.560 But this is a perfect example from that case I told you about before.

00:14:30.320 In early 1995, an individual had run afoul of Hezbollah and was afraid that he would be

00:14:41.120 killed.

00:14:42.080 And so he walked in an American embassy and said, listen, I need some protection.

00:14:46.500 And he reported that a dangerous Hezbollah operative was currently living in Charlotte,

00:14:52.340 North Carolina.

00:14:53.020 And that operative...

00:14:55.340 You would never think of a place like Charlotte for a sleeper cell to be operating.

00:15:01.260 But hey, that's how you fly under the radar.

00:15:03.820 It was Mohammed Hamoud.

00:15:06.060 Who gave you this guy?

00:15:07.560 We can't disclose that.

00:15:09.240 At this time, it's still...

00:15:10.700 Classified.

00:15:11.820 Yes!

00:15:12.660 Of course!

00:15:13.440 FBI classifies everything, man.

00:15:15.820 Classified.

00:15:16.260 Mind you, this case went down back in like the late 80s, 90s.

00:15:20.420 And this documentary, I think, came out like 2000...

00:15:23.140 I'm sorry, excuse me, like 2021 or something.

00:15:26.040 So the fact that it's still classified to this day speaks volumes.

00:15:29.940 With this information, I contacted the Charlotte office and they initiated an investigation on

00:15:35.780 this individual.

00:15:36.720 They started coming across more individuals in Charlotte working together.

00:15:41.460 They seemed to have some kind of group.

00:15:43.000 And as we got more intelligence from overseas, we started seeing that this could be a Hezbollah 0.59

00:15:47.960 cell.

00:15:48.860 No one would be looking for them here.

00:15:50.740 This is not New York.

00:15:52.200 This is not Los Angeles.

00:15:54.080 This is Charlotte, North Carolina.

00:15:56.280 Exactly.

00:15:58.120 You know, middle of the road American city that people don't really know about and or care

00:16:02.360 to go to.

00:16:03.420 The heart of America.

00:16:06.020 When the vacancy for the terrorism supervisor in North Carolina opened up, I applied for a

00:16:12.060 position and was selected.

00:16:13.620 There was skepticism on the part of our headquarters and everyone kind of chuckled because terrorism

00:16:18.920 was so far from the minds of the FBI.

00:16:23.000 They thought, there's Bob, you know.

00:16:24.760 Yep.

00:16:25.180 And hold on.

00:16:26.240 That's an understatement.

00:16:27.640 A big reason why, you know, 9-11 went down is because the FBI didn't take terrorism seriously.

00:16:32.820 OK.

00:16:33.040 And I know some of you guys out there that say, oh, 9-11 was an inside job, etc.

00:16:37.160 Here's the thing that I'm going to do a whole episode of Ryan Dawson on this about 9-11.

00:16:41.220 But what I will say is this.

00:16:42.900 The conclusion was, even though higher powers in the United States more than likely knew

00:16:46.860 what was going on and there was other people involved, which I can't talk about right now,

00:16:49.580 if y'all know what I'm saying.

00:16:50.460 Them boys.

00:16:52.080 And the FBI was actually trying to catch these guys.

00:16:55.820 The problem is that the CIA did not share the information.

00:16:57.640 And the Bureau didn't prioritize terrorism enough back then to, how do I say this, to

00:17:05.260 warrant CIA sharing information, if that makes sense.

00:17:07.880 Yes, they were the lead agency on terrorism back then, but it didn't become their top,

00:17:12.240 top priority where they drop everything else until after 9-11.

00:17:20.000 He used to be the Hezbollah chief, and now he's saying, oh, they're right here in my backyard.

00:17:24.520 Well, guess what?

00:17:26.160 They were.

00:17:27.640 Back then, the FBI was more concerned with the Mafia, the organized crime in La Cosa Nostra.

00:17:38.140 In early 1995, an individual reported that a dangerous and trained Hezbollah operative

00:17:47.240 was currently living in Charlotte, North Carolina.

00:17:50.720 And that operative was Mohammed Hamoud.

00:17:53.720 Mohammed Hamoud was young, handsome, charismatic.

00:17:57.180 He had a considerable combat experience.

00:18:00.040 His father had been killed by the Israeli Defense Force.

00:18:03.540 And he had familial connections with Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah.

00:18:09.100 The Charlotte office started looking at this individual to find out, did Hezbollah have sleeper

00:18:14.200 cells in the United States?

00:18:16.000 Were they collecting intelligence for an attack?

00:18:19.060 Did they pose a threat?

00:18:21.060 For many years, Mohammed Hamoud attempted to get a visa to travel from Lebanon to the United States.

00:18:28.680 The consular officer that took his request smelled a rat.

00:18:33.280 So, Hamoud and his two cousins, the Darwish's, travel to Venezuela and they spend about 40 days on Margarita Island. 0.91

00:18:44.140 And they obtained some really poor fake visas that they know when they get to JFK.

00:18:51.780 Common in Venezuela?

00:18:53.200 Not really.

00:18:53.640 People do that?

00:18:54.160 Not really.

00:18:54.720 Not anymore.

00:18:55.800 This is quite shocking now because visas are very difficult to get now.

00:19:00.500 And we don't even get it anymore in Venezuela.

00:19:03.040 You have to travel outside to get visas.

00:19:06.000 Interesting.

00:19:06.900 This is pre-9-11 though, so probably way, you know.

00:19:10.220 And asylum guys is pretty much, you know, when you say, oh, I fear for my life. 1.00

00:19:34.840 If I go back, I'm going to die, et cetera.

00:19:36.300 And it's pretty much a green ticket to stay in the United States, assuming you're able to prove that fear is legit.

00:19:42.660 But a lot of the times, people stay in asylum for a long period of time in the United States without ever really getting a decision.

00:19:49.880 So, it's very difficult for them to turn you back when you're able to show even just a little bit of evidence that you'll be killed if you're returned.

00:19:57.120 And they bought it.

00:19:58.560 Hook, line, and sinker.

00:19:59.480 So, that gave him status.

00:20:01.660 Catch and release.

00:20:02.440 He's out to do what he does as a Hezbollah operative here in the United States. 0.85

00:20:08.600 There's another Hezbollah member already in Charlotte, North Carolina, and his name, Saeed Harb.

00:20:15.360 He came to Charlotte from Lebanon in 1988, a wheeler, dealer, very astute with criminal activity. 1.00

00:20:24.280 If Harb could make a buck, he would.

00:20:26.300 And he was engaged in such a broad range of criminality.

00:20:30.320 Everything from visa fraud, marriage fraud, identity theft.

00:20:35.200 He could.

00:20:36.480 And these crimes, by the way, that they're mentioning right now, are all immigration crimes, which makes sense why that INS.

00:20:41.720 He was engaged in such.

00:20:42.580 Why that INS special agent was involved in this case that you guys saw from the beginning.

00:20:46.560 To broad range of criminality.

00:20:48.960 Everything from visa fraud, marriage.

00:20:51.140 These crimes right here.

00:20:52.220 This is why I used to investigate when I was an agent myself.

00:20:54.820 And look, you guys could see all the licenses, credit cards, etc.

00:20:57.980 He was scamming before it was cool to do.

00:21:02.460 My man was out here scamming in the 90s before that thing was cool to do, man.

00:21:08.240 Marriage fraud, identity theft.

00:21:11.140 He could talk a tin ear off a brass monkey.

00:21:14.000 Saeed Harb could.

00:21:16.060 So Hamoud and his cousins come down to Charlotte where they took jobs at dominance.

00:21:22.300 They wanted you to believe that they were here just looking for a better life.

00:21:26.380 And Saeed convinced each of them to pay an American woman to marry them so that they could obtain a green card.

00:21:32.300 Of course.

00:21:33.020 He went out and found exotic things.

00:21:34.780 And guys, the fastest path to getting a green card in the United States is by far marrying someone who's a USC or a U.S. citizen.

00:21:44.180 All you basically got to do is marry that individual, show proof of the marriage, and wait it out for two years.

00:21:49.160 And you'll pretty much get that green card.

00:21:50.860 And then from there, you can adjust your status and become a U.S. citizen.

00:21:56.420 Dancers in Charlotte area, strip clubs, and then their Domino's coworkers.

00:22:01.860 The concept here is that you think you're just dealing with an immigrant seeking residency.

00:22:07.540 You have no idea you're dealing with a terrorist.

00:22:09.680 You know, I come here to Charlotte looking at this cell.

00:22:14.480 Who were they speaking with?

00:22:15.860 What they were doing?

00:22:17.360 And we started getting a picture of eight core Hezbollah operatives.

00:22:22.860 Each one of these cell members was battle-hardened but engaging in low-level criminal activity.

00:22:30.200 You guys are going to notice it has those government exhibit pictures.

00:22:33.940 These pictures all demonstrate, guys, that these individuals were involved with a foreign paramilitary group

00:22:41.060 that doesn't necessarily see eye-to-eye with American policy and or laws,

00:22:46.040 which, you know, obviously adds to the charge of material support for a terrorist organization.

00:22:51.580 So that's why you see these pictures being shown with government exhibit stickers on them.

00:22:55.400 And I knew that all it would take would be some action in the world against Iran. 0.98

00:23:01.700 It could be something that occurs in the Middle East or Asia.

00:23:04.560 But in order to retaliate, Hezbollah could order an attack in the United States.

00:23:11.280 Now you see why sleeper cells can be so dangerous.

00:23:14.920 One thing happens to their home country.

00:23:16.780 They could tell them, hey, we need you to, you know, go do X, Y, Z, blow this up, blah, blah, blah.

00:23:21.220 They're right in place and they have the ability to do so almost without being caught

00:23:25.060 because they pretty much acclimated to the society and they have status now in the U.S.

00:23:29.860 I bring it to my fellow supervisors in the office saying, can you help me investigate these crimes?

00:23:36.140 I want to be able to have some kind of leverage to arrest them, to put pressure on them.

00:23:40.960 I was initially skeptical that Charlotte, North Carolina, would be some hotbed for a terrorist organization like Hezbollah.

00:23:49.460 And I thought, well, maybe we're just trying to be relevant here.

00:23:51.880 Maybe we're trying too hard to be considered an important field office.

00:23:56.200 And they say, Bob, the FBI does not investigate or pursue such a low-level crime.

00:24:02.760 We'd like to, Bob, but we just can't.

00:24:06.000 Before 9-11 and before the Patriot Act, there was a strict wall between criminal and intelligence investigators.

00:24:14.040 Okay, and I've broken this down on other episodes, guys, real fast.

00:24:17.720 Intel is gathering information.

00:24:19.860 Criminal cases is building a case with evidence that you can actually use in court, not classified information, all right, to arrest someone.

00:24:27.860 They're two different things.

00:24:29.560 And this is why I've, you know, you guys know I've been fairly critical of the FBI.

00:24:32.900 It wears two hats.

00:24:33.780 It wears an intelligence hat while also being a law enforcement agency.

00:24:36.540 And that's very difficult to do because both missions are kind of productive against each other.

00:24:42.140 In the intel world, you're gathering information by any means necessary, whether it's waterboarding somebody or, you know, interviewing foreign contacts, whatever it is, right?

00:24:51.680 You're just trying to get evidence, not evidence, excuse me, information, regardless of how you get it, by the way, to put the United States in a better position to be able to deal with their adversaries with knowledge.

00:25:00.980 On the law enforcement side, you're gathering criminal, you're doing a criminal investigation and gathering evidence that's going to be shown in a courtroom, okay, that has to be obtained legally and be done in a certain procedure with the U.S. Attorney's Office co-signed.

00:25:16.380 So it's a lot stricter on this law enforcement side to build a case versus on the intel side, it's kind of the Wild West.

00:25:22.820 Gather the information however you need to.

00:25:24.160 It don't matter.

00:25:24.580 It's classified.

00:25:25.080 We're not prosecuting nobody.

00:25:26.320 We do what we need to do, okay?

00:25:27.820 So that's kind of the strange situation that FBI often finds itself in because you can't do both well because doing one of them, right, well, automatically impedes your ability to do the other better, if that makes sense.

00:25:45.120 Like the video, by the way, guys.

00:25:47.000 Ain't nobody going to be able to give you guys that type of breakdown when it comes to knowledge in law enforcement because I've done both.

00:25:51.840 Back in the 70s, the FBI had its wings clipped.

00:25:54.800 The legislature and the country said, we don't want you to be spying on people in the United States.

00:26:00.280 Intelligence cases are entirely separate from criminal cases.

00:26:04.520 The intelligence side was to gather information, not to gather evidence, not to put people in jail.

00:26:10.120 We were addressing terrorism like we did spies. 0.52

00:26:13.740 Identify them, monitor them.

00:26:15.880 There was no policy to break these cells up, but we had to find some way to pursue them.

00:26:21.920 And that's the issue because when you're dealing with spies, their job is to not bring any attention to themselves, gather information, give it back to their handler, and, you know, continue things going.

00:26:31.980 The last thing they want to do is, you know, do an attack and have everybody look at them.

00:26:35.980 However, with these terrorists, you have to be more aggressive because they are looking to do something if the time comes.

00:26:41.960 So this is why, right, this is kind of faulty from the Bureau, applying a spy investigation to a terrorist organization puts you in a very bad position and can compromise you because you're basically in the reaction phase where you're waiting for them to do an attack.

00:26:58.880 And that, we saw what ended up happening with that, with the terrorist attack that occurred, whether it's the Boston Marathon bombing, 9-11, et cetera.

00:27:06.300 One night, I was finishing up some work very late in the office.

00:27:11.540 Probably everyone was gone.

00:27:13.180 I went outside my office and saw an agent there doing some paperwork.

00:27:16.900 I introduced myself and we started speaking.

00:27:19.900 Bob caught me at a good time.

00:27:22.080 I'd spent the first 11 years of my FBI career working criminal cases.

00:27:26.080 Despite the fact that I'd been an intelligence officer in the Army, had traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, had Arabic language training, the Bureau put me to work on criminal squads.

00:27:35.360 Because Rick Schwein had just come off of a very successful motorcycle gang investigation and prosecution.

00:27:43.200 Which, by the way, I will be doing Hells Angels for you guys as well.

00:27:46.400 I've been researching the Hells Angels and the Banditos, et cetera.

00:27:49.840 So motorcycle gangs are definitely going to be featured on this podcast as well.

00:27:53.240 Stay tuned.

00:27:56.160 We don't sleep over here at FedEx, guys.

00:27:58.080 We are diversified.

00:27:59.300 We don't put our makeup on and talk about serial killers all day.

00:28:01.660 We talk about all different types of crimes for y'all.

00:28:05.360 This is exactly how I viewed this Hezbollah cell. 0.97

00:28:08.580 All the things we see in a terrorist cell, you see in an outlaw motorcycle gang.

00:28:13.220 And that's why I needed an agent who understood both worlds.

00:28:17.560 Right off the bat, it's like, you know what?

00:28:19.140 We've got a RICO case here.

00:28:20.260 These guys are committing all these different crimes and we can prove the enterprise.

00:28:24.540 His expertise was cases involving racketeering-influenced corrupt organizations.

00:28:28.760 It's called RICO cases in which you group together individuals and prosecute them in that manner.

00:28:34.680 These people were affiliated because of their membership in Hezbollah.

00:28:38.780 And because they were engaged in criminality, they were vulnerable to the use of criminal

00:28:44.240 statutes, too, including the racketeering statutes.

00:28:46.860 That was their kill.

00:28:47.680 And remember, guys, they were doing a whole bunch of crimes like marriage fraud, credit

00:28:52.080 card fraud, et cetera.

00:28:52.900 These are all crimes that could be constituted as racketeering activity within the confinements

00:28:58.360 of the RICO laws, which if you guys want more breakdown on RICO laws, watch the K-Flock 0.58

00:29:02.580 episode I did.

00:29:03.200 I go into real intimate detail with how RICO cases work and how they're able to prosecute

00:29:09.300 individuals as an organization.

00:29:11.020 The RICO law was like, it was made back in the 1970s.

00:29:15.760 Like in the 70s, yeah.

00:29:16.900 It was originally made for the mafia.

00:29:19.540 But it's interesting that they're actually trying to do it here on a terrorism case.

00:29:22.560 This is something you see often.

00:29:24.060 ...heal because in no other manner could we attack them except through criminal prosecution.

00:29:31.660 Also, I want to make a very important distinction here.

00:29:33.660 Guys, remember, at this point, there was no formal terrorism charge that had been actually

00:29:41.860 successfully prosecuted in the United States.

00:29:44.380 So that's why they're going the RICO route because prior to the whole 9-11 shebang, et

00:29:49.440 cetera, people didn't really normally charge material support for terrorism, which is the

00:29:53.820 main charge that the FBI goes for whenever they catch someone who's committing terrorist

00:29:58.940 acts.

00:30:01.300 That's their bread and butter right there. 0.50

00:30:02.960 ...heating them for racketeering.

00:30:04.520 They'll no longer ever have the chance to set that bomb off in the United States.

00:30:09.400 To investigate the breadth of their criminal activity, we put together what I call a de

00:30:13.980 facto joint terrorism task force.

00:30:16.580 Was it funded?

00:30:17.580 No.

00:30:18.320 Was it official?

00:30:19.200 No.

00:30:19.800 But it was our task force.

00:30:21.840 So we effectively developed this network to counter the Hezbollah network. 0.95

00:30:27.380 From the Diplomatic Security Service, from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, from

00:30:32.020 the Charlotte Police Department to all lend their jurisdiction into a common effort.

00:30:37.480 Our goal was to not only penetrate the cell, but to dismantle it and to tell Hezbollah, 0.99

00:30:42.800 we know who you are, we know who you are, and you will not be able to do that here.

00:30:53.820 The Charlotte-Hezbollah case began in earnest in March of 1997.

00:30:59.620 The Charlotte cell was made up of eight Hezbollah operatives sent here to support Hezbollah and

00:31:06.560 to be activated, if and when ordered to, to carry out a terrorist attack.

00:31:11.640 So we had assembled our de facto joint terrorism task force.

00:31:15.600 Everyone had their expertise.

00:31:16.820 We're working together to further develop this terrorism investigation.

00:31:21.120 And this case is called Operation Smokescreen.

00:31:23.940 It's a manpower-intensive effort to conduct a physical surveillance of a terrorism target.

00:31:29.740 A number of people doing different things in order to stay on a target and not get exposed.

00:31:36.960 One of the things we did was to rent the house across the street from Mohammed Hamoud.

00:31:42.920 We needed FBI agents portraying themselves as a young married couple to monitor that. 0.82

00:31:47.780 Yeah, when it comes to terrorism, yeah.

00:31:50.820 I'll tell you how this, man.

00:31:51.700 When it comes to terrorism, they spend money.

00:31:53.000 And remember, this is pre-9-11.

00:31:54.460 This is 97.

00:31:56.120 So, you know, they were still trying pretty hard.

00:31:58.080 But nowadays, if you had something like this today, the FBI would go be even more on it.

00:32:03.300 These are the super power puff guys of the FBI.

00:32:08.040 Yep.

00:32:08.720 It's 24 hours.

00:32:09.420 And it's Charlotte.

00:32:10.000 Let's be honest here.

00:32:10.680 This is probably the biggest case in the office.

00:32:12.380 So everyone is hands-on, you know?

00:32:14.680 Because this is a very small field office down there in Charlotte.

00:32:17.320 To find out who's coming in there, at what time, what's happening there.

00:32:22.860 Mohammed Hamoud was sort of the spiritual leader and had grown up in South Lebanon and knew the Hezbollah leadership.

00:32:30.360 So he was networked.

00:32:31.340 He knew the players.

00:32:33.120 And every Thursday night, he would have a gathering at his home.

00:32:36.320 These Thursday night meetings were not just core cell members, just like biker gangs, they had hangarounds. 0.97

00:32:42.300 And they would come and Mohammed Hamoud would preach to them.

00:32:45.800 And he was almost a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality.

00:32:49.720 He was a really low-key, polite young man on one hand.

00:32:54.660 And then at the prayer meetings, he would get fired up and he would be the motivational speaker.

00:32:59.480 He would show speeches by Hezbollah leadership.

00:33:03.260 He would show videos of Hezbollah operations overseas.

00:33:07.960 And they would cheer as these attacks were depicted on their propaganda videos, killing Americans, killing people.

00:33:15.320 And then he'd solicit donations for the cause.

00:33:17.620 Did you have someone on the inside of yourself?

00:33:20.340 I can never discuss sources or methods.

00:33:23.600 It's going to be...

00:33:24.540 After this hour had passed, of course, a lot of people would leave.

00:33:29.140 But there was a core group there.

00:33:30.960 And then they would start talking about their activities.

00:33:34.280 With Hezbollah, the marquee activities are bombing buildings and airplanes and high-profile attacks. 1.00

00:33:42.620 What we don't pay much attention to is how do they fund themselves?

00:33:45.840 How does ISIS fund itself?

00:33:47.120 How does al-Qaeda fund itself?

00:33:48.640 They're generating income, operating businesses, blending in.

00:33:52.240 And they use that money to finance terrorism against us.

00:33:54.700 Mohammed Amoud was the cell leader.

00:33:59.140 But the brains behind this entire conspiracy, this entire operation, it's Saeed Harb.

00:34:05.780 So Saeed Harb, one of the things that he really got good at was adopting people's identities.

00:34:12.040 He would make friends with people in the community in Charlotte.

00:34:15.600 And they would go back to their country of origin. 1.00

00:34:18.400 And before they went back, he'd say, hey, can I get your driver's license?

00:34:21.000 And then he would basically adopt that identity and get a North Carolina driver's license in that name.

00:34:26.540 And he had, you know, seven or eight identities like that.

00:34:29.420 His phone would ring different ways depending on which identity he was being called on.

00:34:34.420 So he could keep his identity straight.

00:34:36.780 Almost all of them had an alternate identity.

00:34:39.020 Mohammed Amoud hit them.

00:34:40.000 Crazy, right?

00:34:40.980 Went to crack, man.

00:34:42.180 Yeah, man.

00:34:42.860 This dude was scamming before.

00:34:43.900 It was cool.

00:34:44.720 Alternate identity using the same methodology.

00:34:47.280 With that identity, they would apply and obtain credit cards.

00:34:52.180 They would then charge each one of these to its maximum amount, purchasing cigarettes at one of the warehouses here.

00:35:00.720 North Carolina is a tobacco producing state.

00:35:03.980 Cigarettes are taxed at a very low rate.

00:35:06.120 I think it was 50 cents a carton.

00:35:08.600 Whereas in the northern states, they were taxed at up to $13 a carton.

00:35:13.140 They would drive these cigarettes, a complete truckload, to Detroit or New York where they would sell them to these small mom-and-pop shops.

00:35:21.560 They would resell them.

00:35:22.920 Now, this is a crime and a scheme, guys, that not many people do anymore.

00:35:26.640 But it's extremely lucrative if you can pull it off.

00:35:30.360 And law enforcement doesn't really care about it.

00:35:32.080 So cigarette smuggling, as you guys are seeing right here, is actually fairly popular.

00:35:38.840 But the thing is, is that it goes under the radar most of the time because most agencies don't want to spend their time working it.

00:35:44.200 You know, they don't do much time.

00:35:45.420 They don't get, you know, big, long, sexy sentences that prosecutors like.

00:35:49.540 So this is a crime that kind of flies under the radar.

00:35:51.760 But then again, that's why these guys are smart.

00:35:54.360 They were involved in crimes that people don't really care.

00:35:57.020 Like these federal agencies don't really care about like that.

00:35:59.580 And undercut their competition.

00:36:01.060 Exactly. Very low-key crimes.

00:36:02.600 I mean, hell, cigarette smuggling, like most people don't even know if that's really illegal.

00:36:06.620 But these guys, yeah, it's smart.

00:36:09.320 Yeah.

00:36:10.180 ...because they weren't paying the taxes.

00:36:13.260 So there were a number of traffic stops where police officers in different states would stop these people with a van load of cigarettes.

00:36:22.540 The cell members were afraid they were being profiled as Arab males.

00:36:26.100 So then what did they do?

00:36:27.100 They hired females to drive these cigarettes up to Michigan. 1.00

00:36:31.060 We're to New York.

00:36:32.520 Saeed Harb was very good at recruiting females to drive for the group because he's just a charismatic guy.

00:36:38.620 They all met and worked together at Domino's.

00:36:41.580 That was the public facade.

00:36:43.580 Hey, he's pimping Domino's.

00:36:45.120 Hey, I need you to drive these cigarettes to New York, bitch. 1.00

00:36:47.220 And that's how a lot of women got sucked into making the smuggling runs. 1.00

00:36:53.320 Could you imagine?

00:36:54.240 Like, you're sitting there working at fucking Domino's or something.

00:36:57.120 You're like spinning the pizza.

00:36:58.700 And then some Arab guy comes up.

00:37:00.060 Hey, I need you to help me out here, okay?

00:37:01.740 Hello, my friend!

00:37:02.680 I need you to go ahead and get these cigarettes, all right?

00:37:05.380 Move them up to New York, bitch, all right? 1.00

00:37:07.560 But wait, why?

00:37:08.560 It wouldn't be like that, man.

00:37:09.820 Actually, yeah, he wouldn't even say that.

00:37:11.020 He would just be like, yo, I need you to drive this truck to XYZ.

00:37:13.540 Can you please?

00:37:14.520 They'd be charming.

00:37:15.600 They'd be like, yo, I can pay you this, man.

00:37:17.900 You know, to drive to New York, whatever, with this, like...

00:37:20.680 Then he's like, oh, wait, no.

00:37:21.820 Hold on.

00:37:22.240 A woman driving? 0.99

00:37:23.120 Ah, no!

00:37:24.140 Nope.

00:37:26.480 Okay.

00:37:27.960 All right, I'll take the L on that one.

00:37:29.500 Let's get back to it.

00:37:32.960 We estimate that every truckload of...

00:37:35.720 Facts.

00:37:37.140 Misogony.

00:37:38.160 ...of cigarettes netted about $30,000.

00:37:41.580 Oh, wow.

00:37:42.140 And making four or five trips a week.

00:37:43.700 How long did they do that?

00:37:45.400 For several years.

00:37:46.800 So how much did they do?

00:37:47.900 Over $8 million.

00:37:49.220 Holy shit!

00:37:50.140 And this is just one of their criminal schemes.

00:37:51.960 Yo! 1.00

00:37:53.760 They'll get $30,000 a trip?

00:37:57.060 They then use this money to purchase a pizza franchise, a house painting business, a used

00:38:03.180 car lot, a gas station, where they can launder these funds.

00:38:07.680 Not only that, if they need more money, they commit insurance fraud.

00:38:11.540 We know that they intentionally set fire to a pizza business they had for more money.

00:38:17.180 So when you look at this case in its pieces, it's cigarette smuggling, so what?

00:38:22.380 The credit card fraud and the identity fraud.

00:38:25.000 Yawn.

00:38:25.980 And that's...

00:38:26.760 $30,000, guys, in 97 is the equivalent purchasing power.

00:38:30.320 It's about $55,919 today.

00:38:34.480 Yeah.

00:38:35.100 That's quite a bit.

00:38:36.140 So they were doing this three to four times a week.

00:38:39.100 So they're making...

00:38:40.380 Damn.

00:38:41.780 They're making...

00:38:42.680 Let's say they do it four times a week.

00:38:44.600 A quarter million?

00:38:45.220 That's $120,000 a month.

00:38:47.560 $120,000 a month is...

00:38:49.880 Back then...

00:38:52.880 Yeah.

00:38:53.480 That's...

00:38:53.900 A quarter million.

00:38:54.680 Yeah.

00:38:54.960 Almost...

00:38:55.320 It's $223,000.

00:38:56.620 Holy shit.

00:38:57.360 So yeah.

00:38:57.820 That's wild, man.

00:38:58.800 I'll show y'all this real quick.

00:39:01.720 I'm in the wrong business, man.

00:39:03.580 Yeah, dude.

00:39:04.240 These guys right here are smuggling cigarettes and using chicks to do it. 1.00

00:39:08.600 That's spin pizzas.

00:39:09.720 It's by design.

00:39:10.480 It allows this organization to fly below the radar.

00:39:15.120 But when you realize that you're dealing with terrorists, that they're going to exploit

00:39:19.360 this innocuous criminal activity with lethal effectiveness, it changes the entire perspective

00:39:25.580 of this.

00:39:26.100 They're taking the proceeds from these crimes and sending it to a terrorist organization

00:39:30.280 that prior to 9-11 killed more Americans than any terrorist organization.

00:39:35.740 We continued to watch them for a long period of time without moving against them to ensure

00:39:40.700 that this case was successful.

00:39:42.960 My concern was that sleeper cells could be activated to conduct an attack based on something

00:39:48.200 totally unrelated to where they are.

00:39:50.780 When you're trained to think in terms of worst case, worst case is an attack in the homeland.

00:39:56.100 We knew that this cell had weapons, and they were conducting firearms practice with handguns

00:40:01.660 and long rifles on the outskirts of Charlotte.

00:40:04.420 These people had military training.

00:40:06.520 They'd been to camps in the Bakah.

00:40:08.360 They'd been trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

00:40:11.900 They'd served in militias where they got combat experience.

00:40:15.260 They didn't leave all that behind.

00:40:17.120 They were keeping their skills sharp.

00:40:19.100 In any criminal investigation, you're investigating a bike.

00:40:21.720 If these guys were studying these people, they were living in front of their house, and they

00:40:29.880 were researching and doing all the investigation, why?

00:40:34.220 They'd be knowing that they'd be doing these things, these trips and everything, and it's

00:40:38.280 illegal.

00:40:38.760 Everything they're doing is illegal.

00:40:40.120 Why wouldn't they prosecute them?

00:40:42.800 That's a really good question.

00:40:43.980 The reason why is because they wanted to build up the terrorism charge first so that they

00:40:48.740 can...

00:40:49.040 So they will let them do it until they get worse and worse and worse?

00:40:52.140 Yeah.

00:40:52.440 So this is the thing.

00:40:53.780 That's a really good question because I've been in a situation like this where you're

00:40:56.760 investigating an individual, and you know he's involved in more serious crimes, but

00:41:02.020 the only thing you know that you can prove right now is a very lesser crime.

00:41:05.660 But you don't want him to stop doing the big crime so that you can actually prosecute

00:41:09.560 him on that big crime.

00:41:10.480 Because if they take him down for the cigarettes, dude, they might get a year probation.

00:41:14.440 They might not even get jail time for that.

00:41:15.640 Oh, I see.

00:41:16.300 Okay.

00:41:16.820 So they're looking at it like, yeah, we could take him down.

00:41:19.160 Yeah, we can seize a little bit of money.

00:41:20.760 Yeah, we could kind of dismantle it for now.

00:41:22.980 But what's the caveat?

00:41:24.500 They're going to know that the FBI is looking at them, so they're going to stop talking to

00:41:27.460 their Hezbollah members all around the world.

00:41:31.240 They were trying to get the whole RICO...

00:41:33.240 Exactly.

00:41:33.780 They're trying to build an investigation.

00:41:35.380 So like when you got petty crimes like this, it's okay to let it kind of keep going.

00:41:38.720 As long as like no one's in danger, it is what it is.

00:41:41.700 So you can build a bigger case.

00:41:43.220 Right.

00:41:43.600 Okay.

00:41:46.640 They could kill somebody tomorrow.

00:41:48.900 In federal investigations, you have to be patient.

00:41:51.320 If you step...

00:41:51.960 Look at that.

00:41:52.360 There you go.

00:41:52.860 Yeah.

00:41:54.460 Ben, and you don't dig it up by the roots.

00:41:56.960 The weeds just come right back.

00:41:59.240 I see.

00:41:59.660 And this is something that I noticed when I was a Fed, guys.

00:42:02.040 This is something that state and locals don't really understand like that.

00:42:04.760 So when the Fed's coming, we're trying to do big, complex investigations.

00:42:07.620 A lot of the times, like the state and locals, you know, they'll want to just take them down

00:42:10.560 on a one-off.

00:42:11.180 Oh, we caught them with a gun.

00:42:11.960 Let's put them in jail now. 1.00

00:42:12.960 Oh, we caught them with like, you know, an ounce of dope.

00:42:15.340 Let's put them in jail now. 1.00

00:42:16.300 It's better to let them walk, figure out where they're going to go next after the criminal

00:42:19.820 activity, identify the organization, and then take everyone down in one hole.

00:42:23.580 But a lot of the times, it'll occur where state and locals want to take it down early.

00:42:28.320 And that's why I told you all before, it's so important to work with the state and locals

00:42:30.840 and have a good relationship.

00:42:31.800 Because let's say you're looking at a guy that they're also looking at.

00:42:35.000 And that guy, to their knowledge, only sells gram levels of, you know, drugs.

00:42:39.180 However, you meet with those state and locals, you share information with them, and you tell

00:42:42.620 them, hey, listen, bro.

00:42:43.200 I know you guys are looking to arrest him, but let's hold off because I know he's tied

00:42:47.140 into these other guys.

00:42:48.620 So let's work this investigation together.

00:42:50.260 And then bam, nine out of 10 times when you work with the state agency and tell them, hey,

00:42:53.560 I want to bring y'all on board, let's work this together, they'll forego whatever they

00:42:57.840 got going on and help you with your case.

00:42:59.700 The worst thing you could do is say, yo, don't take it down.

00:43:02.260 This is my target.

00:43:03.380 Don't take it down, blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:43:04.920 Then they're going to take it down and say, screw you.

00:43:06.540 You know what I mean?

00:43:06.840 You don't tell us what to do.

00:43:08.020 So this is the importance of having state and locals on your team, working with them.

00:43:11.720 And if you do identify the same target through something called deconfliction, right, there's

00:43:15.840 a whole database where, you know, you call in, oh, this is my guy.

00:43:18.300 And then they, that's a whole other story for y'all.

00:43:20.600 If y'all guys want me to break a deconfliction another day, I can.

00:43:23.960 But for the purposes of this podcast, it's very important to build a case, work with the

00:43:30.220 state and locals so that they don't prematurely stop the case and you all work together and

00:43:35.100 get the arrest at the end and get a, you know, a big roundup.

00:43:39.000 Because that's a win for the state and locals too.

00:43:40.620 You know, they like being involved in big federal cases.

00:43:42.820 It's just that they might not know all the time.

00:43:46.200 When we investigated this case, we started talking to other agencies and I found out that

00:43:51.080 ATF had this ready to go cigarette smuggling case.

00:43:54.360 Alcohol took, oh, hold up.

00:43:56.780 So this is different.

00:43:58.520 You got a federal agency looking at these guys for the cigarettes.

00:44:02.620 The backhoe and firearms had expended several years doing traffic stops and gathering evidence.

00:44:08.460 This is much bigger than a cigarette smuggling case.

00:44:11.840 Okay.

00:44:12.260 You know what?

00:44:12.680 I should talk about deconfliction.

00:44:13.920 All right.

00:44:14.300 So guys, deconfliction is basically when, when I was in Texas, the way it works is, and I'm

00:44:20.360 not going to go into super, super detail because this is somewhat law enforcement sensitive.

00:44:23.620 So I'm just going to give y'all the general of it.

00:44:26.500 So let's say I'm working a case as a federal agent, someone else working a case as a state

00:44:31.380 officer.

00:44:31.680 Another guy's working a case for FBI, blah, blah, blah.

00:44:33.340 And we're all looking at the same guy.

00:44:34.940 You would call this intermediary service and put your guy in the database, right?

00:44:41.900 And they just stormed there, et cetera. 0.68

00:44:44.520 Then another agency, because all the agencies use this same one intermediary, calls this

00:44:49.540 person and says, yo, I want to put this guy in the database.

00:44:52.320 If there's a match, like you put them in and then two days later, someone else puts them

00:44:55.780 in, what ends up happening is you get an email.

00:44:58.740 Such and such individual queried your target through this intermediary service, right?

00:45:04.120 And they'll put his number and his email there, right?

00:45:08.020 And his name.

00:45:08.780 So then if someone queries one of your guys and you get that deconfliction hit, the thing

00:45:13.240 you should do immediately is call that guy and be like, hey, listen, bro, I work for

00:45:18.100 such and such agency.

00:45:19.060 I saw that there was an overlap.

00:45:21.020 You know, what do you got, blah, blah, blah.

00:45:22.540 And then at that point, right, depending on how forthcoming the agent is or whatever it

00:45:25.820 may be, and you always have to be super plain cordial when you do this, they'll disclose

00:45:29.200 something.

00:45:30.140 And I'll be like, hey, is that guy a source?

00:45:31.780 He's the informant for y'all?

00:45:32.940 Because a lot of times people put their informants in there to protect them, to make sure no law

00:45:36.000 enforcement agents are looking at their sources or to target that they're trying

00:45:38.680 to investigate.

00:45:39.440 And that's where you, hey, is this your source?

00:45:41.220 I don't want to mess anything up.

00:45:42.400 Is this the case you're working?

00:45:43.460 Blah, blah, blah.

00:45:43.820 They're like, yeah, no, we're working this guy.

00:45:45.100 We're looking at him for, you know, selling drugs.

00:45:48.160 And then you're like, oh, well, we're looking at him for fraud, actually.

00:45:50.880 Y'all want to get together, do a meeting?

00:45:52.560 And yeah, like the video.

00:45:54.860 Shout out to Angie, by the way, in the back.

00:45:57.340 Because you ain't going to get this information anywhere else, right?

00:46:00.080 You know, you guys want to work together.

00:46:01.260 Let's, you know, have a meeting and kind of deconflict and work the case together.

00:46:04.600 And that's a lot of times how partnerships are made.

00:46:07.480 Now, back in 1997, I doubt that they had something like this back then.

00:46:12.740 So that is why they didn't find out till way later on that the ATF had already had a case

00:46:17.780 on these guys.

00:46:18.840 Okay.

00:46:19.020 And remember, this is pre-9-11.

00:46:21.240 Agencies did not work together like that, the same way they do today.

00:46:25.940 So it's very common in the government for people to be like, no, it's my case.

00:46:29.560 And they'll share information.

00:46:33.140 It was a terrorism case.

00:46:34.760 And they didn't understand what they had.

00:46:37.380 I find out that the ATF is about to make arrests, which would completely destroy what

00:46:42.620 we have been doing for over a year.

00:46:45.740 And the ATF has no idea that these guys are terrorists.

00:46:48.540 I found out about the ATF case.

00:46:58.300 And I went to Bob and I said, hey, they're getting ready to indict this.

00:47:01.660 We need to go.

00:47:02.320 When he says indict, that means they're going to get ready to charge and arrest the guys,

00:47:05.720 which would destroy their investigation.

00:47:07.920 Guys, I go lie to y'all.

00:47:10.680 Right now, listening to this documentary and watching it brings back so many memories, man.

00:47:18.560 I can't tell you guys how many times I've been investigating an individual.

00:47:24.020 I get that email, such and such query to your target, or you're at the U.S. attorney's

00:47:28.340 office and they're like, wait, you're investigating this guy?

00:47:30.060 Hold on.

00:47:30.800 This agent from this other agency is investigating this guy too, blah, blah, blah.

00:47:33.740 And then it's that back and forth like, yo, please don't indict your case.

00:47:37.820 We got him on this.

00:47:38.960 And then y'all work together.

00:47:39.900 Most of the time, people were always cool to me.

00:47:43.140 I was always very polite.

00:47:44.100 Hey, dude, I know you got your case going, blah, blah, blah.

00:47:45.960 But let's meet and talk about this.

00:47:47.460 I guarantee you we can build a way bigger and better case if we share our information.

00:47:52.600 And nine out of 10 times, they'll want to cooperate.

00:47:54.760 But I've been in this situation right now where these agents are talking about where

00:47:59.120 another agency is about to indict your guy.

00:48:00.960 You got to run to the U.S. attorney's office.

00:48:02.540 You guys are going to see what they end up doing here.

00:48:03.980 It's actually really cool what they did.

00:48:06.140 And the U.S. attorney's office, guys, is the federal prosecutor.

00:48:10.620 The U.S. attorney's office.

00:48:13.080 The ATF had this cigarette smuggling investigation in our office.

00:48:16.760 Okay.

00:48:17.000 That guy that just spoke was the U.S. attorney on this case or the AUSA.

00:48:20.640 And it had been there a year or two.

00:48:22.600 And they see me come in the door.

00:48:24.060 And right away, it's like, oh, here comes the FBI swooping in to take our case.

00:48:27.880 And I say, stop.

00:48:29.280 Before I say anything more, everyone in this room is going to sign a nondisclosure agreement.

00:48:33.500 Oh, shit's about to get real.

00:48:39.660 You're like, what?

00:48:41.440 I think that's the first time in my then 15 years of being a prosecutor that I'd ever had to do that.

00:48:46.600 It was very dramatic.

00:48:47.740 Bob had him sign nondisclosure agreements because we were going to brief him on the intelligence case.

00:48:52.740 Bro, literally, just put this in your head, guys.

00:48:55.060 All right.

00:48:55.940 You find out that your targets, who you think are terrorists, are about to meet with the U.S. attorney

00:49:00.260 and start the indictment paperwork to arrest them.

00:49:03.360 Next thing you know, you got like three ATF agents in there and the prosecutor.

00:49:07.120 Okay, so we're thinking about indicting this on Thursday.

00:49:09.800 All right, cool.

00:49:10.480 Who's going to come in and, you know, provide the testimony, blah, blah, blah.

00:49:12.960 Yeah, well, we could, you know, schedule the arrest for like a week or two from now.

00:49:16.460 You know, Christmas around the corner or whatever.

00:49:17.920 Next thing you know, fucking FBI, open up!

00:49:21.020 And they break it to the U.S. attorney's office.

00:49:23.680 Hey, all of you, okay?

00:49:26.420 All of you are going to sign a nondisclosure agreement right now.

00:49:29.400 Yeah.

00:49:30.000 Y'all are all going to indict this, man.

00:49:33.080 You're going to sign this nondisclosure agreement right now.

00:49:35.160 Do all of you guys have a top secret clearance?

00:49:36.760 Yes?

00:49:37.100 Okay, cool.

00:49:37.840 All right.

00:49:38.320 Sign this thing or we're going to brief y'all.

00:49:41.380 I can only imagine like the look on the ATF agents' faces and the U.S.

00:49:45.240 starting like, who are these guys?

00:49:47.680 So, yeah.

00:49:49.740 Case and the ties to Hezbollah.

00:49:51.820 So they started walking us through essentially the case that the ATF had been working on with the cigarette smuggling.

00:49:57.780 Several slides of surveillance and some of the evidence had been gathered.

00:50:00.920 And the U.S. attorney and I were both, you know, where is this going?

00:50:03.620 And I say, this is not a tobacco tax evasion scheme.

00:50:07.060 They put a slide up on the screen of eight men and said there's a Hezbollah sale in Charlotte.

00:50:14.480 And the room goes quiet.

00:50:15.960 And Bob's a really good briefer.

00:50:18.580 So when he gave that presentation to Ken and the U.S. attorney, it was compelling.

00:50:24.400 It was compelling.

00:50:25.980 Man, I'm getting goosebumps right now.

00:50:27.920 I remember this shit.

00:50:29.200 So anytime you got a big case, guys, it's about selling the case to the prosecutor's office.

00:50:36.640 And 99% of the time, if your case isn't spoken about in a certain way, they don't see that passion.

00:50:43.660 They don't see that you really know what the hell you're talking about, that you're not squared away.

00:50:46.520 You're not able to cross T's and dot I's and know what's going on.

00:50:49.720 They're not going to take you seriously.

00:50:51.300 So a lot of you guys ask me, Martin, how do you have such like good public speaking skills?

00:50:55.980 How are you able to think on your feet?

00:50:57.260 It's because of this right here, guys.

00:50:59.400 I can't tell you how many times I went to U.S. attorney's office, got to present my case because I need funding or I need more help.

00:51:04.620 I need more assistance. Investigations are very expensive.

00:51:07.320 You need to be able to articulate why you need the resources, the money, the manager backing, the travel money, whatever it is to get this investigation done.

00:51:16.340 So if you're able to present a case properly, you're going to get the resources you need.

00:51:22.100 So shout out to the other agent for being able to go in there and give a presentation to kind of put everyone on notice that, yo, this is bigger than all of us.

00:51:29.900 Let's work together.

00:51:30.440 I leaned over to the U.S. attorney and I said, I think I'll take this one.

00:51:36.640 Yeah, of course, that's a career maker case, man.

00:51:40.500 Kenville was the chief of prosecuting criminal investigations in the Western District of North Carolina.

00:51:46.240 I met with the ATF agents and said, we're going to have to slow down indictments in this case.

00:51:50.280 And I can't tell you why right now, but they were unaware that the people they were investigating were Hezbollah.

00:51:55.660 Ken, as the lead prosecutor.

00:51:58.000 Oh, so ATF didn't even know.

00:51:59.620 OK, so they kicked those ATF agents out now then.

00:52:02.280 Or maybe they showed up when the ATF agents weren't there and told them what was really going on.

00:52:06.800 Immediately established liaison with the Department of Justice.

00:52:09.840 We had meetings in D.C. to discuss the investigation.

00:52:13.180 And I think it was at one of those meetings that somebody just said to me, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has an investigation related to this.

00:52:20.280 And they have information that would be of great interest to you.

00:52:25.080 That's when you know shit is serious.

00:52:26.360 When other country intelligence agencies come and give you information, that's when you know you're on the right track.

00:52:33.660 I said, well, what would that be?

00:52:34.860 I said, we can't tell you.

00:52:37.280 And so I said, well, I guess we should go to Ottawa and meet with them and ask them what they have that would be of interest to me.

00:52:42.160 So several of us, including Rick Schwein, took that trip to Ottawa to meet with CSIS, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which is sort of there at CIA.

00:52:52.180 That began a very long dance with Canadian authorities at very high levels.

00:52:57.840 It was like, yeah, we're willing to listen to you, but we don't want to give up our sources and methods.

00:53:02.600 They had a guy, their head legal guy, his name was Mike, and he's this big, burly Canadian guy.

00:53:07.640 And he's a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police, just a bearer of a man.

00:53:12.800 So we're Royal Canadian Mounted Police guys is the RCMP.

00:53:16.160 That is Canada's equivalent of the FBI.

00:53:18.060 It's their national police.

00:53:19.520 Sitting at this big conference table.

00:53:22.000 We've been at it all day.

00:53:24.280 I'm tired.

00:53:25.600 You know, I'm not going to lie to you.

00:53:27.460 I was tired.

00:53:28.880 Mike out of nowhere goes, I'm going to get a smoke.

00:53:32.020 Anybody want to go?

00:53:33.420 I think it was January or February in Ottawa.

00:53:35.980 It was cold as hell.

00:53:38.260 It's probably like 20 below.

00:53:39.800 I mean, it's freaking cold.

00:53:41.580 And Ken Bell was sitting across the table from me.

00:53:44.180 And I kicked him under the table and I said, Ken, go smoke with him.

00:53:48.600 I wasn't really much of a smoker, but I said, OK, I'll go.

00:53:51.900 I don't know what they said.

00:53:52.920 You'll have to ask Ken.

00:53:54.140 But they had a rooftop conversation and things changed right after that.

00:54:00.020 Hey, the one time that smoking a cigarette actually goes to your benefit.

00:54:02.980 He said, Ken, what do you fuckers really want?

00:54:06.640 And I said, well, Mike, we want to take CSIS's holdings and take them into a federal courtroom

00:54:13.100 and use them to convict a bunch of terrorists.

00:54:16.040 And he said, I think we can help.

00:54:19.460 The Canadian Security Intelligence Service had been.

00:54:22.120 This is the importance, guys.

00:54:23.180 They shaked hands right there.

00:54:25.060 Yeah.

00:54:25.260 Like this is the importance, guys, of building relationships, whether it's law enforcement,

00:54:29.620 it's freaking YouTube, whatever it is.

00:54:31.940 It's not what you know.

00:54:33.120 It truly is who you know and how polite you are and being able to give people something of

00:54:38.780 value to get things done.

00:54:39.960 And this is, you know, the epitome of working together with other agencies and making sure

00:54:44.760 you take care of them.

00:54:46.500 They take care of you.

00:54:47.280 I'm sure that the U.S. gave them a bunch of information on individuals that could be

00:54:51.460 of a threat to Canada.

00:54:53.040 So this is the game when you're playing at this level.

00:54:55.100 I've been conducting surveillance on Saeed Harb and watched him cross into Canada because

00:55:01.780 the Canadians had this other cell in Vancouver.

00:55:05.140 Saeed's best friend, Mohamed Dabouk, was the leader of the Canadian cell.

00:55:09.520 They'd grown up together.

00:55:11.100 And Dabouk had volunteered to be a suicide bomber several times.

00:55:14.920 And he had produced all these combat videos of martyrdom operations.

00:55:19.440 The Canadians had surveilled Harb in Canada, and he had provided Dabouk with alias identifications

00:55:26.820 and counterfeit credit cards.

00:55:28.360 They had him in a cigarette pack.

00:55:29.720 And that was to help facilitate the purchase of dual-use equipment that they couldn't get

00:55:34.140 access to or weren't being given access to in Lebanon and Iran.

00:55:38.980 Dual-use equipment is not illegal to possess.

00:55:41.840 Things like night vision goggles, they can be used for benign purposes.

00:55:45.260 They can be used for military purposes to kill people.

00:55:48.240 You can possess a stun gun.

00:55:50.140 You can possess GPS.

00:55:51.580 But you know what they're using that for?

00:55:53.200 Mortar rounds to create fields of fire.

00:55:55.800 Stun guns?

00:55:56.540 What are you going to do with a stun gun?

00:55:57.720 You're going to torture somebody.

00:55:59.140 Some of the stuff that they were getting looked like they were trying to build a remotely piloted

00:56:03.420 vehicle or drone.

00:56:04.680 And then ultimately, we know, in 2006, Hezbollah successfully used drones against the Israelis.

00:56:11.300 Once the Canadians agreed to share their information, it completely changed the dynamic of the case.

00:56:16.640 And the reason for that is it really paints the global reach of Hezbollah.

00:56:21.560 Yeah, that's a big find for the FBI because now they can articulate that they got a transnational

00:56:27.240 terrorist organization operating in Charlotte.

00:56:30.740 So tell me that's not going to make headlines and put the U.S.

00:56:33.480 attorney's office on notice to take this thing to the furthest level.

00:56:36.160 The cell in North Carolina would send money to Canada.

00:56:41.120 The Hezbollah cell there would purchase these items and then transship them to Hezbollah in 0.95

00:56:46.280 Lebanon and throughout the world.

00:56:47.760 And Canadian surveillance picked up Hassan Halou Lakis, the head of Hezbollah's procurement 0.63

00:56:52.960 operations globally, directing the boot to obtain this equipment.

00:56:57.340 You've got a cell in North Carolina, a cell in Canada.

00:57:00.700 You've got key players in Hezbollah and Lebanon directing these activities.

00:57:05.140 It's a global operation.

00:57:07.140 Bam.

00:57:08.920 And there's the conspiracy, my friends.

00:57:11.760 So you had this statute that was on the books that gave you a tool to go after these

00:57:17.220 organizations nobody had really used yet.

00:57:20.240 This statute called a material support statute makes it illegal to assist a designated terrorist

00:57:27.560 group with something of a material nature of money, weapons, dual use equipment.

00:57:33.680 Providing support to a terrorist organization is the same as being a terrorist.

00:57:38.020 And in this case in particular, this eight member terrorism financing cell could become

00:57:42.880 a bomb throwing terrorist cell with the flip of a switch.

00:57:46.600 So one of the things that became very apparent was a desire by the United States government

00:57:52.800 to test the statute, to make a material support case against a terrorist organization.

00:57:57.600 And headquarters wanted the material support statute to be used as a vital tool in our fight

00:58:03.500 against terrorism, but they had to show it to work.

00:58:06.380 The case progresses and I was constantly getting communications from the highest loves of the

00:58:10.640 FBI.

00:58:11.400 Bob, when are we going to take this down?

00:58:13.860 When are we going to make it?

00:58:14.860 Because there was a concern that even if a small attack took place, are you telling me

00:58:20.200 that the FBI knew a Hezbollah cell was operating for four years and you did nothing?

00:58:25.820 And I felt, just like any other criminal enterprise case, that you had to have an insider.

00:58:32.340 We needed somebody that could talk about the dynamics within the group.

00:58:37.440 And we needed somebody that could definitively say that money was going to Hezbollah.

00:58:41.900 I found out that the core group got together on Sunday afternoons and played soccer in a

00:58:47.240 park in Charlotte.

00:58:48.100 So I went to the park and they were some players short and I managed to get an invitation to play.

00:58:55.820 And I spent the afternoon kicking a soccer ball and playing in a pickup game with the people that

00:58:59.960 we had under investigation with the core Hezbollah cell.

00:59:03.040 The Darwishes, the Hamoud, Saeed Arb.

00:59:05.560 And it was interesting because you can tell a lot about somebody on a soccer pitch.

00:59:09.440 Hamoud was quiet and hard.

00:59:11.820 This is crazy that he did this.

00:59:14.080 This is, this would never fly to in today's day and age, guys.

00:59:16.980 If you want to do something undercover like this, like you need approvals up the wooza. 0.99

00:59:22.000 You need a million people involved.

00:59:23.420 And nowadays, guys, little secret that you guys aren't going to find anywhere else here,

00:59:27.280 but fed it.

00:59:28.000 If the FBI is doing a terrorist case, the case agent can't even make contact and do an interview

00:59:36.700 without like HQ approval.

00:59:40.460 So that just shows you guys how much times have changed to now.

00:59:45.640 The FBI has their hands tied a lot.

00:59:47.200 They can't do as much as they used to be able to do.

00:59:48.840 Um, but yeah, the fact that he's out here playing soccer with a terrorist, like in a

00:59:54.920 non-undercover capacity is wild.

00:59:56.520 You can take that out.

00:59:57.320 Yeah.

00:59:57.820 Like the 90s were different, bro.

01:00:00.000 I played soccer with a terrorist.

01:00:01.680 Yeah.

01:00:02.100 You can say that.

01:00:02.840 That would never fly today, man.

01:00:04.280 Because I know the FBI policies because I got to, um, I've worked with them so much.

01:00:07.660 So I know for a fact when they do terrorism cases, like just to interview your suspect,

01:00:11.760 you got to go through a million chains, you know, and it's your case.

01:00:14.980 So this, this is wild.

01:00:17.380 Harb was one of these bigger than life guys, very skilled player, very selfish player.

01:00:23.600 The game ended and the core group, the cousins and the brothers went off to eat together.

01:00:30.400 Harb didn't go with him.

01:00:31.840 And he went to a bar, watched a football game, ordered some alcohol.

01:00:36.760 And I thought, you know what?

01:00:38.160 This is somebody that's going to become our insider down the road.

01:00:42.080 You thought you could flip him?

01:00:43.100 I thought I could flip him.

01:00:47.380 Interesting case, right, Angie?

01:00:50.220 It is.

01:00:50.760 Yeah, it is.

01:00:51.680 Yeah.

01:00:51.900 I knew you'd enjoy this one.

01:00:53.360 I think the audience, guys, if you liked the video, give me a like.

01:00:55.840 Yes, people, like the video.

01:00:57.640 Like I said before, um, we're going to definitely cover BMF guys, but I like to keep the cases

01:01:02.700 diversified.

01:01:03.280 It's been a while since we did a terrorism case.

01:01:04.660 So let's, uh, let's keep going.

01:01:11.120 Anytime you're dealing with a terrorist organization, which we considered the Charlotte Hezbollah

01:01:15.680 cell to be, you run the risk they're going to commit some violent act.

01:01:20.680 And so you hold the safety of the American people in your hands.

01:01:24.600 It was my decision.

01:01:25.660 At a very specific time, I thought we have enough criminal information to dismantle this

01:01:32.020 Hezbollah cell.

01:01:32.680 At that time, I said, let's take it down.

01:01:37.100 So Rick Schwein begins preparing an affidavit for searches.

01:01:40.700 We drafted a hundred plus page affidavit.

01:01:43.420 It's one of the longest affidavits I've ever written.

01:01:45.600 Like myself, we both were biker gangs.

01:01:48.260 We were killing the biker gangs with the RICO statue. 1.00

01:01:51.420 And one of the things we would do before we indicted a RICO case was go hit their clubhouses 0.97

01:01:55.880 and find indicia of an organization doing things together to commit criminal acts.

01:02:01.960 So we fashioned the search warrant so that we...

01:02:05.760 Okay, hold on.

01:02:07.020 So they got this search warrant here.

01:02:08.440 Let's go ahead and have fun with this, guys.

01:02:10.420 So you see here, 300M16.

01:02:14.460 So that means that a magistrate judge signed off on this.

01:02:16.660 And it was the fiscal year 2000.

01:02:19.260 So what we'll do is I'm going to go on Pacer real fast for you guys.

01:02:26.260 And I'll show you all how to do this real quick as well.

01:02:29.600 So open up Chrome.

01:02:30.980 And what we're going to do is we're going to go on Pacer, right?

01:02:39.860 Like the video, guys, because ain't nobody going to teach you guys this, how to look up cases.

01:02:45.500 Right?

01:02:48.140 Let's see here again.

01:02:49.120 Actually, this was, what was this, the Western District of...

01:02:58.360 What was the district again?

01:03:00.000 Let me look here.

01:03:04.780 Edition of an organization doing things together to commit criminal acts.

01:03:09.040 So...

01:03:11.040 God damn it.

01:03:11.900 All right.

01:03:12.280 I'm, uh...

01:03:13.160 We fashioned this...

01:03:16.160 Search warrant.

01:03:19.000 Uh, okay.

01:03:19.780 So what I'm looking for at North Carolina, which district?

01:03:21.720 So that we could...

01:03:22.840 District of...

01:03:23.560 Oh, my God.

01:03:24.600 Boom, man.

01:03:25.620 Boom, my God.

01:03:27.060 Because it's supposed to be...

01:03:28.060 Oh, Western.

01:03:28.700 Okay, bam.

01:03:29.380 See how I can see it right here in the corner?

01:03:30.880 Western District of North Carolina.

01:03:32.640 All right.

01:03:32.940 So now that we know that...

01:03:33.720 Shit.

01:03:34.480 Yeah, I got that eye, huh?

01:03:36.100 Man.

01:03:36.380 Because I know how these affidavits are written.

01:03:38.500 So, uh...

01:03:39.500 So you're going to go ahead, uh...

01:03:41.140 And go...

01:03:42.340 Western District...

01:03:46.500 Of...

01:03:47.500 North Carolina.

01:03:50.740 Right?

01:03:52.660 And you're going to go here.

01:03:55.820 Oh, no.

01:03:56.680 Hold on.

01:03:58.120 It's going to be...

01:04:01.020 Case.

01:04:03.400 So...

01:04:03.500 I'm going to come here.

01:04:07.620 All right.

01:04:08.100 It's not there?

01:04:11.900 No, it's here.

01:04:13.000 It's just that...

01:04:13.500 Is it not here?

01:04:14.300 Case locator pacer?

01:04:15.660 This right here?

01:04:16.560 No, no, no.

01:04:17.300 Press the...

01:04:18.040 Go back.

01:04:19.280 Oh, no.

01:04:19.560 This is right here.

01:04:20.660 So you know you're on the right page, guys, when it's all white like this, right? 1.00

01:04:24.200 And I'll enlarge you so I can see it.

01:04:25.340 So you go ahead and click Western District of North Carolina.

01:04:28.000 You're going to hit query, right?

01:04:29.960 And then what you're going to do is type that match number in.

01:04:32.820 So it was three...

01:04:34.540 Three...

01:04:35.540 Three...

01:04:39.540 Polon... 0.99

01:04:40.540 Zero, zero...

01:04:42.360 Or actually...

01:04:43.420 Zero, zero...

01:04:45.100 M...

01:04:46.540 I think that's...

01:04:47.880 One, six, one.

01:04:51.420 Or they might have sealed it.

01:04:55.920 Let me see here.

01:04:58.920 M1.

01:04:59.900 Yeah, it's one, six, one.

01:05:01.500 Yeah.

01:05:01.740 You got it right.

01:05:03.380 Hmm.

01:05:05.740 Are you sure it's just two dots, though?

01:05:07.980 You know what I might be able to do?

01:05:09.500 I just don't put...

01:05:15.000 All right.

01:05:15.520 I'm going to find this on the side for y'all, guys.

01:05:17.420 Search warrants are tricky to find.

01:05:19.340 Affidavits for, like, arrest warrants are easier.

01:05:22.140 But I'm going to find this for y'all.

01:05:23.960 We fashioned the search warrant so that we could seize evidence that would support a RICO prosecution and also support a material support prosecution.

01:05:34.100 Rick assured me that, Bob, we can make this RICO case.

01:05:39.280 We're not sure about material support, but this was the very best opportunity that the FBI, that the United States had to successfully prosecute them in that manner with a law that's never been tried before.

01:05:51.680 And there was a lot of pressure not to fail.

01:05:53.800 And there were a lot of people who questioned whether it could be done.

01:05:56.900 All right.

01:05:59.800 So I found it, guys.

01:06:02.180 These are the cases right here when I searched his name.

01:06:06.780 Mohamed Arb, right?

01:06:08.100 And you guys can see all the different dockets here.

01:06:10.500 But for some odd reason, 161 is not in here.

01:06:13.200 161 is a search warrant.

01:06:15.080 These are probably the criminal complaints.

01:06:17.420 So if I click this one and run report, since this is an old case, it probably won't show.

01:06:25.880 Let's see here.

01:06:27.440 Seizure warrant issued.

01:06:29.400 Hmm.

01:06:30.700 Let's see if we can look at it.

01:06:32.320 All right.

01:06:32.580 View all.

01:06:39.380 What the hell?

01:06:41.240 Yeah.

01:06:43.080 They won't show it.

01:06:44.680 What the hell?

01:06:45.480 All right.

01:06:46.400 Pacer is acting funny.

01:06:47.420 It's an old case, too.

01:06:49.700 I called together a team of 250 officers.

01:06:53.120 Of course, it's a freaking government website that always craps up.

01:06:55.560 So hundreds of agents from all different agencies, state, local, and federal,

01:07:00.800 gathered together at the command post to get their briefing,

01:07:03.600 to fan out and conduct searches and arrests across Charlotte.

01:07:07.040 This is a massive operation.

01:07:09.500 They all had to happen exactly at the same time.

01:07:11.880 The word would get around and you'd lose defendants and you'd lose evidence.

01:07:15.120 Remember, Chris Wecker tapped me on the shoulder while I'm briefing all of our agents.

01:07:18.740 They're getting their search packages.

01:07:20.080 I'm talking about the case, giving them a complete view.

01:07:23.360 And Chris taps.

01:07:24.280 All right.

01:07:24.620 Never mind.

01:07:25.020 I found it, guys.

01:07:27.860 Did a little bit of digging.

01:07:29.980 And here it is.

01:07:30.460 This is the actual search warrant, guys.

01:07:32.020 It looks like.

01:07:36.640 So you guys can see here's the affidavit, right?

01:07:40.400 All the facts involved in the case.

01:07:42.260 And they just outline and outline it.

01:07:43.560 They show money.

01:07:46.640 And then you can see here at the bottom.

01:07:48.420 Yeah, he did say it was a hundred page affidavit.

01:07:56.100 Yeah.

01:07:56.480 Look at all the.

01:07:57.120 Look at how long this thing is, man.

01:07:58.660 He wasn't kidding when he said he wrote almost a hundred page affidavit.

01:08:01.880 Here he is.

01:08:02.240 Boom.

01:08:02.780 Richard D.

01:08:03.200 Schwein.

01:08:03.600 David Howell.

01:08:05.360 Oh, it looks like two agents signed this.

01:08:06.980 That's strange.

01:08:08.040 And then even ATF.

01:08:10.120 This is uncommon.

01:08:11.340 But this is 2000.

01:08:12.080 It's probably a while ago.

01:08:12.780 But yeah, it's not normal to have three affiants on one document.

01:08:16.640 I've never seen that before.

01:08:18.300 But every district is different.

01:08:19.580 And then you can see here Appendix A, what they're going to search, right?

01:08:22.600 This is a monster affidavit because what they want to take.

01:08:26.700 Oh, there it is.

01:08:27.460 The names of everyone.

01:08:28.840 Yeah.

01:08:29.060 Look at the list.

01:08:30.620 So he wants, he wants, no, but he wants records or documents concerning the following individuals,

01:08:34.660 including known analysis.

01:08:35.860 So basically what he's doing here, guys, with the search warrant is he's writing the problem

01:08:41.600 cause up to justify what he wants us to search, which is all these different addresses.

01:08:47.260 And what he intends to take pertaining to these individuals.

01:08:51.520 So it's very detailed what he wants.

01:08:53.960 Currency, photographs, all this stuff is in here of what he wants.

01:08:57.200 And it's normal for you to go ahead and like put things as fairly open, open.

01:09:03.360 So it gives you a little bit more leeway to get what you want.

01:09:05.900 Now, with that said, the judge has still got to sign on it.

01:09:07.580 Some judge might say, oh, this is too broad.

01:09:09.020 I'm not going to give you the warrant, but as you guys can see, he has 84 pages justifying

01:09:14.440 why he needs to search the properties, et cetera.

01:09:19.040 And he goes over all the facts.

01:09:20.440 And the way I found this, guys, just to backtrack our work here, is you put the name in, right?

01:09:28.360 Going back to that original thing.

01:09:30.840 You put the backwards. 0.90

01:09:32.060 Back again.

01:09:35.520 Back again.

01:09:40.400 So, yeah, I just put in his last name, first name, and then I hit run query.

01:09:44.660 And that's what brought me up all this stuff.

01:09:46.140 And the only difference, guys, between these MJs and the CR, the CR means it was indicted formally.

01:09:51.180 The MJ means that these were documents signed in relation to a magistrate judge.

01:09:55.080 And when it says GCM, right, that just means the whole squad.

01:10:01.920 Versus when it's just dash seven, that means that's the defendant.

01:10:05.360 You always want to click the one that's like without a number because then it will give you

01:10:09.600 the entire case because it says at all.

01:10:11.560 That's what you typically want to search.

01:10:14.060 Like the video, guys.

01:10:15.020 You ain't going to get a sauce like this anywhere else.

01:10:17.840 On the shoulder, he says, it's been put on hold.

01:10:20.180 I have to go up to Washington.

01:10:22.860 All right, so let's rewind that real quick.

01:10:25.100 Exactly.

01:10:25.900 Gathered together at the...

01:10:27.160 I called together...

01:10:28.400 So they're talking about doing a search warrant.

01:10:29.960 They're a team of 250 officers.

01:10:32.540 So hundreds of agents from all different agencies, state, local, and federal,

01:10:38.080 gathered together at the command post to get their briefing to fan out and conduct searches

01:10:42.600 and arrests across Charlotte.

01:10:43.840 This is a massive operation.

01:10:46.660 They all had to happen exactly at the same time.

01:10:49.420 The reward would get around and you'd lose defendants and you'd lose evidence.

01:10:52.620 I remember Chris Wecker tapped me on the shoulder while I'm briefing all of our agents.

01:10:56.000 They're getting their search packages.

01:10:57.360 I'm talking about the case, giving them a complete view.

01:11:00.380 And Chris taps me on the shoulder and says, it's been put on hold.

01:11:03.840 I have to go up to Washington.

01:11:04.780 That is the worst.

01:11:08.700 You got 200 agents in town ready to do these warrants and now they're telling you you freaking

01:11:12.240 got to hold it back?

01:11:13.440 Dude.

01:11:13.640 There was a huge backlash from the Justice Department, starting with Janet Reno.

01:11:21.420 So the operation was halted in its tracks.

01:11:24.080 200 officers, 18 search sites, massive operation by one person, the Attorney General.

01:11:29.300 I felt like, oh no.

01:11:32.480 Al Attorney General.

01:11:33.380 We could lose this case.

01:11:34.580 I mean, I had all these people standing by ready to go.

01:11:37.920 The op orders had been written.

01:11:39.680 You know, I'm the criminal case agent.

01:11:41.000 This is why I exist.

01:11:42.580 To go kick doors down and put people in handcuffs and gather evidence.

01:11:46.580 Rick Schwein being passionate and emotional.

01:11:49.260 We had to peel him off the ceiling.

01:11:50.740 And I have no idea if we're going to be able to execute tomorrow or never.

01:11:55.080 Ken and I decided we had to get to D.C. as quickly as we could.

01:11:58.700 We needed to convince her in a very compelling way that this needed to go forward.

01:12:03.380 So a lot was riding on that trip to D.C.

01:12:06.660 So we went and had a meeting with the Attorney General, sitting at the head of a long conference table.

01:12:11.080 And this is a big deal, guys.

01:12:12.300 The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer in the United States, presidentially appointed.

01:12:18.560 Okay?

01:12:19.640 A woman.

01:12:20.560 Yeah.

01:12:21.080 So this is a big deal that they're going to meet with her.

01:12:23.500 But again, she is a woman, so that's why she's messing this case up. 1.00

01:12:26.280 And this is why women deserve less, guys. 1.00

01:12:28.260 No way.

01:12:29.260 Book in stores right now so you don't end up like this bimbo here, 1.00

01:12:32.300 trying to stop a terrorism investigation of one of the most dangerous cells.

01:12:37.400 Freaking terrible.

01:12:38.880 L.

01:12:39.520 Attorney General.

01:12:41.240 Get the book, guys.

01:12:42.380 Why women deserve less. 1.00

01:12:43.560 You know, it was a stressful setting because, all right, so we spent years not doing this.

01:12:48.480 We're ready to go.

01:12:49.720 And Attorney General Reno started asking questions about, in this search warrant affidavit,

01:12:54.560 it says, hezbollah terrorists.

01:12:56.440 The Attorney General was very hypersensitive about calling people terrorists

01:13:01.180 when you're not arresting them for terrorism itself.

01:13:04.600 Instead, you're arresting them.

01:13:06.140 Bruh.

01:13:07.080 Boom, mocha! 0.99

01:13:07.800 That's the point.

01:13:08.960 You don't want them to go ahead and commit a terrorist attack, man.

01:13:12.760 Oh, man.

01:13:14.080 See, stuff like this is political.

01:13:16.020 These are stupid technicalisms.

01:13:17.940 Yeah.

01:13:18.320 And the reason why is because when you mention that word terrorism, the country panics.

01:13:23.520 Yeah.

01:13:23.860 You know?

01:13:24.320 Of course.

01:13:24.840 And this was way before 9-11.

01:13:26.680 And, yeah, and this crazy part is this is before 9-11.

01:13:28.780 Sorry, but you know after.

01:13:29.840 Yeah.

01:13:30.780 For racketeering, credit card fraud, cigarette smuggling, money laundering,

01:13:36.380 and you're calling them terrorists in this affidavit, that needs to come out.

01:13:40.340 The Attorney General looked over at one of her subordinates and said,

01:13:43.820 you and Ken and Chris, go in the other room and work through this.

01:13:47.000 Long story short, we had to rewrite the search warrant affidavit to take out every word

01:13:51.420 that the Department of Justice found offensive.

01:13:53.700 102 pages.

01:13:55.160 Bruh.

01:13:56.680 Bruh.

01:13:57.500 Gay. 0.98

01:13:58.900 And we went through it line by line with a ruler.

01:14:02.900 So we fixed the affidavit to their satisfaction.

01:14:06.280 We caught the next plane out.

01:14:07.460 We called Bob Clifford.

01:14:08.780 We said verbally over the phone, get ready to go.

01:14:11.740 And so on July 21st, 2000, at 6 o'clock in the morning, with 250 agents,

01:14:18.920 three SWAT teams spread out in various locations, I give the order.

01:14:23.800 Execute.

01:14:24.320 A three-and-a-half-year investigation of cigarette smuggling and terrorism came to a blaring climax today.

01:14:31.580 ATF SWAT team did the entry at Mohamed Hamoud's house.

01:14:36.200 Hamoud grabbed a handgun as the team was making entry, and he dropped it as the entry team was coming up the hallway.

01:14:42.800 Oh, yeah.

01:14:43.100 He gave up these force.

01:14:44.420 He gave up these force.

01:14:44.480 40 people arrested, and soon residents amazed to discover that their neighbors are actually suspected of supporting a notorious Middle Eastern terrorist organization.

01:14:53.960 The arrests of 17 individuals and the searches of 19 locations happen at the same time.

01:15:00.340 So I was on the team that was going to Saeed Harb's house, and they bring Saeed and his family out.

01:15:06.940 I had been focused on Harb because I really felt we needed that inside view.

01:15:11.320 I introduced myself and told him I'm with the FBI.

01:15:15.160 I'm obviously wearing a raid jacket, and the first thing he says to me is, hey, why the SWAT team?

01:15:23.460 It's not like I'm a terrorist or anything.

01:15:25.240 And I just said, well, we're going to talk about that.

01:15:29.620 So he says, you look familiar.

01:15:31.500 And I said, well, I played soccer with you one Sunday.

01:15:35.720 I guess he figured out that if I was playing soccer with him, I really knew everything I needed to know about his life.

01:15:41.860 He had this recognition on his face that he was in big trouble.

01:15:46.660 We had a staging area at the National Guard Armory where we processed, fingerprinted all these guys.

01:15:51.120 We took him to a room, we Mirandized him, and he re-entered.

01:15:55.460 So he talked about the cigarette smuggling and the credit card fraud and the alias identifications.

01:16:01.880 And he really just talked and talked and talked.

01:16:05.760 And after several hours, we got him something to eat.

01:16:09.000 He finally looked at me and he said, put your pen down and stop writing.

01:16:13.280 Here we go.

01:16:15.340 And I said, OK.

01:16:17.480 Put my pen aside.

01:16:18.560 He said, I know why you're doing this to me.

01:16:22.720 You want the book.

01:16:23.920 You want Hezbollah. 1.00

01:16:29.360 He instantly knew, bro.

01:16:31.980 Because he knows that's the whole reason they did the cigarette smuggling, because they knew no one would care.

01:16:36.900 So for the FBI and all these guys to hit their houses the way they did, raids, you know, with SWAT teams, et cetera, for cigarette smuggling.

01:16:44.000 He's not stupid.

01:16:45.260 He knows why the FBI is involved.

01:16:46.940 So let's see what happens next.

01:16:50.500 I remember Rick and Bob coming to me and saying, we need a live witness to testify about material support or we won't be able to make the case.

01:17:07.220 We mirandized Saeed Harbaugh and we interviewed and we talked to him for several hours.

01:17:13.740 He finally looked at me and he said, you want the book.

01:17:16.780 You want Hezbollah. 1.00

01:17:17.660 It was one of those great moments that you live for as an investigator, right?

01:17:24.180 He knows, I know what this is about.

01:17:26.420 And that's the opening.

01:17:28.820 And he said, I can't talk to you about that right now.

01:17:31.320 And I need to think about this.

01:17:32.840 And that's when the Canadian information became critical.

01:17:38.400 That Canadian evidence showed that he had direct contact with Muhammad Dabouk in Vancouver.

01:17:43.760 We had surveillance photographs of Dabouk and Harb together, photographs of them together with fraudulent credit cards, meeting at times and places required dual use military equipment for Hezbollah.

01:17:57.880 Once he knew he was going to be charged with material support to terrorism, that's when he knew he had to strike a deal.

01:18:05.240 The negotiation turned to, I will cooperate with you, but I've got concerns about my family in Lebanon.

01:18:12.400 His view was, and I expect he's right, that if it came to be known that he was cooperating in our prosecution, his family would be dead.

01:18:19.780 Oh, yeah, that's a no brainer.

01:18:21.420 So Ken was the guy that was taking the point on moving the family to the U.S.

01:18:27.240 And this guy was smart.

01:18:29.600 He didn't start talking until the government can guarantee his family's safety.

01:18:33.780 You know, and this is what, you know, if you're ever arrested by the police guys, God forbid that ever happens to you or by the feds or whatever, and you have information that they want, you want to make sure you say, yo, I want a lawyer.

01:18:43.500 If you guys want me to cooperate, I'm not doing it without a lawyer.

01:18:45.980 And then what you do is you get your lawyer involved from the beginning.

01:18:48.360 You don't say a fucking word and you let the lawyer know, hey, I'm willing to cooperate, negotiate something on my behalf.

01:18:53.980 Because until you have a lawyer, you can't really do anything.

01:18:56.100 And what it does is it puts the power on your side as a defendant, right, to say, I need something before I cooperate with y'all.

01:19:03.740 And typically, that's the best way to go about it through a defense counselor.

01:19:09.100 My first idea of how to get CARP's cooperation.

01:19:15.380 Like the video.

01:19:16.320 You're not going to get advice like that anywhere else, bro.

01:19:18.320 If you get arrested by the feds, don't say shit.

01:19:21.000 But it was a necessary thing.

01:19:22.900 We wanted his cooperation.

01:19:24.080 We wanted to be able to tell the story fully.

01:19:25.540 And to do that, that was his condition.

01:19:27.100 The full power of the United States government was put into play to make that happen.

01:19:32.200 See, that's what happens when you leverage correctly, especially with a high-stakes case like this.

01:19:37.960 They were thoroughly vet.

01:19:38.860 I mean, these were like children, women, grandparents.

01:19:41.780 We flew them out and brought them en masse to Washington to a hotel. 0.89

01:19:47.360 And that happened over.

01:19:48.340 I've done that plenty of times.

01:19:49.500 Perled in witnesses for a case.

01:19:51.540 You can do that.

01:19:52.660 You can absolutely do it.

01:19:53.780 I did it before.

01:19:54.600 Right before I left HSI, I perled in like 12.

01:19:57.100 I didn't know it was that easy, man.

01:19:59.020 Like somewhere between 6 to 12 witnesses for my case.

01:20:02.940 So, yeah, it can absolutely be done.

01:20:05.760 Easter weekend of 2002, I think.

01:20:08.380 Was it a secret?

01:20:09.460 I mean, it's pretty ineffective trying to get.

01:20:11.360 Well, it's not really the FBI that does it.

01:20:12.800 It's the INS that did it for them.

01:20:14.440 And if you guys look at this affidavit I showed you all before, I think there's the reason why, which I thought was weird, but it kind of makes sense now.

01:20:20.920 You see here that there's three case agents that signed this affidavit.

01:20:24.660 Kent, which is from the ATF.

01:20:26.160 David from INS.

01:20:27.640 Then you got, obviously, Schwein, the guy that's involved in this documentary from the FBI.

01:20:32.580 So this was a joint case because I've never seen it before where three different agents signed an affidavit.

01:20:38.640 That was probably some, you know, political BS where it's like, yo, we want all of our agencies involved in this affidavit.

01:20:44.440 You know, it's a big case, blah, blah, blah.

01:20:46.300 Because that's not usual at all where there's multiple affidavits.

01:20:49.780 Smuggle people out of the country. 1.00

01:20:50.960 People know you're trying to smuggle them out of the country.

01:20:52.900 We didn't want Hezbollah to know. 0.99

01:20:54.100 That's for sure.

01:20:54.580 And as soon as his family was spirited out of Lebanon, he signed the plea agreement and agreed to testify.

01:21:00.780 We went to trial in June of 2002.

01:21:18.760 There was a lot of security in place.

01:21:21.380 There were counter snipers on rooftops and helicopter patrols and a lot of security with the movement of the defendants in the case.

01:21:29.660 Yeah, first successful terrorism charge in the U.S. history.

01:21:34.680 And the courthouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, became just a big circus.

01:21:39.360 Harb cooperated completely.

01:21:41.040 Testified not only to what was going on out of Canada with the dual-use equipment and Muhammad Dabuk's role.

01:21:46.680 He confirmed force that Muhammad Hamoud was raising money for criminal conduct.

01:21:51.340 One by one, the cell members were pleading guilty and 24 individuals fled guilty to marriage fraud, document fraud, RICO.

01:22:01.000 Only two left standing were Hamoud and his brother.

01:22:04.860 They went to trial.

01:22:07.240 Stupid.

01:22:07.680 It's nerve-wracking.

01:22:12.500 Everybody expects the Perry Mason moment, right?

01:22:14.620 You get the defendant on the stand and he admits that he's guilty.

01:22:17.800 And he admitted that he supported Hezbollah, but only the charitable wing of it.

01:22:22.080 But they engage in violent acts and sponsor violent acts all over the world.

01:22:27.280 Hezbollah paid very close attention to this.

01:22:29.180 They followed the trial closely.

01:22:31.820 I just know.

01:22:33.160 The FBI had an informant in the county jail where Muhammad Hamoud was being held, who told

01:22:40.580 them that Hamoud had put out a contract to first blow up the evidence at the courthouse

01:22:46.620 and that he also wanted two bullets in the brain of that arrogant bastard prosecutor. 0.74

01:22:51.600 Holy shit.

01:22:53.520 Talk about, bro, how do you all get arrested for being a terrorist and make another terrorist

01:22:58.040 threat?

01:22:58.580 Like, that doesn't help while you're in jail.

01:23:00.700 Is that you?

01:23:01.440 Apparently, yeah.

01:23:02.420 We acted on that very quickly.

01:23:04.940 You know, we were able to take some steps to protect Ken and his family.

01:23:08.000 There was law enforcement all over my house.

01:23:09.780 The FBI wanted to send.

01:23:11.580 Remember, guys, AUSAs don't have guns.

01:23:13.580 There are prosecutors.

01:23:14.680 It's the law enforcement that has the weapons, of course.

01:23:17.760 Agents to my kids' schools picked them up.

01:23:20.120 They wanted my wife and sons to leave the area and go into protective custody. 0.96

01:23:24.320 The FBI put a remote starter on my car and started carrying a weapon.

01:23:28.080 And I was thinking, if they want me dead, I will be dead.

01:23:31.080 We confronted Hamoud about it.

01:23:33.600 And of course, he denied it.

01:23:35.260 And to clarify, him saying, I'm carrying that weapon, that was his personal use weapon.

01:23:39.180 And we polygraphed the source.

01:23:41.180 We learned that Hamoud was open to the idea of the prosecutor being killed.

01:23:46.780 My wife thought, when it came out, because it was in the Charlotte Observer front page, arrogant bastard prosecutor.

01:23:59.500 She said, you know, what wife gets to see confirmation of what she's known for years right in the newspaper that her husband's an arrogant bastard?

01:24:06.420 The jury went out, and the jury stayed out for three days to come back with the verdict of guilty.

01:24:14.740 We immediately notified headquarters.

01:24:17.500 We have got the first material support conviction in the country.

01:24:21.300 Originally, Mohamed Hamoud was sentenced to 155 years in prison.

01:24:27.040 There was an appeal that went up to the Supreme Court, and he was sentenced to 30 years.

01:24:33.100 How many sentences?

01:24:34.360 He was sentenced.

01:24:35.820 What was that?

01:24:36.440 How many sentences?

01:24:37.820 I think it was one.

01:24:39.080 It was 155, then brought down to 30.

01:24:41.140 The prison term, he's out of prison now and has been for some time.

01:24:44.460 Smoke screen broke up what federal prosecutors say was a ring.

01:24:48.340 Smoke screen still is the most important terrorism case, talking about terrorist organizations and how they fund themselves.

01:24:56.060 It was a benchmark case for the first use of the material support statute.

01:25:01.040 It was the first conviction at trial in American history.

01:25:04.280 Hey.

01:25:06.580 Which laid the groundwork for all the future terrorism investigations that you guys know now.

01:25:11.560 The proof now is the fact that it's been used over 100 times since this case came about.

01:25:16.720 It is the primary tool to address ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

01:25:20.120 Every single indictment of an ISIS or Al-Qaeda person has included material support.

01:25:26.640 Are there some of the people involved in the United States today?

01:25:30.200 Absolutely.

01:25:31.600 They do low-level criminal activity that generates a lot of money.

01:25:34.740 So it's hard to picture them as this thoroughly dangerous organization that they are.

01:25:40.560 It's not a leap that this cell could have become operational if it was in the best interest of Hezbollah or Iran. 0.86

01:25:48.500 I would submit that Hezbollah represents a clear and present danger to the United States right now. 1.00

01:25:54.300 Because with all the attention paid to ISIL, just in the corners, just under the radar, is Hezbollah.

01:26:02.220 As a matter of fact, Hezbollah is stronger than ever. 0.78

01:26:05.180 Bam. And there it is, guys.

01:26:09.520 W documentary. Angie, you like that one?

01:26:12.060 Yes.

01:26:12.620 Yeah, I knew you would enjoy it.

01:26:14.740 Guys, that's actually one of my favorite episodes on Declassified.

01:26:18.960 Angie, what are your thoughts on that?

01:26:20.100 I really like that. It's quite interesting.

01:26:22.120 I mean, I didn't know that much about terrorism here in America.

01:26:25.580 But that's crazy. I mean, how they managed to build something so big from nothing.

01:26:32.720 Yeah. From like one source coming in and saying, yo, there's this guy in the U.S. doing this stuff.

01:26:36.460 And they were able to like identify an entire network, you know, into Canada, selling weapons illegally.

01:26:42.400 Like it was a really good case and, you know, brought me back a lot of memories as an agent myself.

01:26:46.800 So I hope you guys enjoyed that one.

01:26:49.120 Like the video. Follow Angelica, guys, at So and Helica, as she would say, with two A's at the end.

01:26:54.180 Don't forget to send her a dick pic as well. 1.00

01:26:55.780 No.

01:26:56.860 I'll catch you guys on the next episode of Fed It.

01:26:59.100 Peace.

01:26:59.520 Peace.

01:27:02.380 I was a special agent with Homelands Investigations.

01:27:04.300 Okay, guys?

01:27:04.820 H-S-I. 0.99

01:27:05.640 The cases that I did mostly were human smuggling.

The Debrief With MyronGainesX - April 19, 2023

1st Terrorism Prosecution In The US! Operation Smokescreen! (Hezbollah Takedown)

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