(25 Mar 2014) Five former employees of imprisoned US financier Bernard Madoff were convicted on Monday at the end of a six-month trial that cast them as the long arms of their boss, telling an elaborate web of lies to hide a fraud that enriched them and cheated investors out of (b) billions of (US) dollars.

The trial, one of the longest in the storied history of Manhattan federal court, was the first to result from the massive fraud revealed in December 2008 when Madoff ran out of money and was arrested.

When the fraud was revealed, Madoff admitted that the nearly 68 (b) billion US dollars he claimed existed in accounts was actually only a few hundred (m) million dollars.

He pleaded guilty and is serving a 150-year prison sentence.

The case focused on five people who prosecutors said helped him carry out the fraud.

Each was convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, falsifying the books and records of a broker dealer.

Prosecutors unveiled hundreds of exhibits and showcased dozens of witnesses to try to prove charges against Annette Bongiorno, Madoff's long-time secretary; Daniel Bonventre, his director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, computer programmers.

The maximum potential sentences range from 78 years to 220 years in prison when the charges for each defendant are stacked up, but the actual sentences are likely to be far below that once the judge takes into consideration prior records and other facts unique to each defendant.

After sentencings were set for the last week of July and US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain rejected requests that the defendants be immediately detained, the defendants emerged from court with their lawyers.

They declined to comment as they passed reporters.

Bongiorno's lawyer Roland Ripoelle said he was very disappointed with the outcome of the trial.

"I really felt that we made the most of the evidence that is in our favour at the trial and we were hoping for a much better outcome," he said.

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(12 Feb 2014) Twenty-four people allegedly belonging to two organised crime families, one based in New York, the other in Italy, have been arrested after a two year investigation with Italian police, the FBI confirmed on Tuesday.

An FBI assistant director said seven people belonged to New York family, and 17 from the Italian syndicate.

It's alleged reputed mobsters in New York City and Italy joined forces in a failed conspiracy to smuggle large amounts of heroin and cocaine, with one suspect suggesting that the drugs could be concealed in frozen fish bound for an Italian port, authorities said.

Law enforcement officials on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean said the scheme involved Italy's powerful `Ndrangheta organised crime syndicate and New York's Gambino organised crime family.

The investigation targeted a new cocaine trafficking route from South America to the southern Italian port of Gioia Tauro, Italian anti-Mafia police said.

In exchange, the Italians were allegedly to provide heroin to the American market.

Officials, using wiretaps and an undercover agent who infiltrated the Brooklyn-based mob, said they thwarted the delivery to Italy of about 500 kilograms (1102 pounds) of pure cocaine that was to have been hidden in shipments of canned coconuts, pineapples and frozen fish being shipped from Guyana to Gioia Tauro.

"The Italian organised crime family was trying to get involved in a New York family and at this point the Italian officials came to the New York office and we worked jointly with the Italian national police to prevent this family from getting ahold of New York City," FBI Assistant Director from the New York Field Office George Venizelos said.

The plot unfolded in 2012, when one of the `Ndrangheta suspects visited his son-in-law, Franco Lupoi, in Brooklyn.

The father-in-law claimed he knew a corrupt customs agent in Italy who "would guarantee the safe arrival of container ships containing contraband," court papers filed in New York said.

In a recorded meeting with the undercover agent, Lupoi later explained that he could have cocaine packed into frozen fish, the court papers said.

The papers also accuse Lupoi of travelling to Italy, where he sold the agent more than 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of heroin that he believed the agent planned to smuggle back to the United States for resale, the papers said.

Lupoi, alleged to be a Gambino associate, pleaded not guilty to international heroin conspiracy and other charges on Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn.

He was ordered held without bail.

Reputed `Ndrangheta member Raffaele Valente, an Italian citizen and US legal resident, also pleaded not guilty at the hearing and was jailed.

He was accused of plotting with Lupoi to sell 1 (m) million counterfeit US dollars.

The investigation underscored how `Ndrangheta is spreading its operations beyond Italy's borders as it consolidates its position as one of the world's most powerful drug traffickers, officials said.

The ... [truncated]

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(19 Mar 2014) In surprise testimony in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law recounted the night of the Sept. 11 attacks, when the al-Qaida leader sent a messenger to drive him into a mountainous area for a meeting inside a cave in Afghanistan.

"Did you learn what happened? We are the ones who did it," the son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, recalled bin Laden telling him.

"Mr. Abu Ghaith has decided to use his right to testify in his own defense and he is telling his side of the story to the jury," said defense attorney Zoe Dolan.

When bin Laden asked what he thought would happen next, Abu Ghaith testified that he responded by predicting America "will not settle until it kills you and topples the state of the Taliban."

Bin Laden told the onetime imam, "I want to deliver a message to the world. ... I want you to deliver the message," he said.

The testimony came at Abu Ghaith's trial on charges he conspired to kill Americans and aid al-Qaida as a spokesman for the terrorist group. His decision to take the witness stand was announced by his lawyer, Stanley Cohen, who surprised a nearly empty courtroom that quickly filled with spectators as word spread.

Testifying through an Arabic interpreter, the 48-year-old Kuwaiti-born defendant said he went to Afghanistan for the first time in June 2001 because he had a "serious desire to get to know the new Islamic government in Afghanistan."

He said he met bin Laden when the al-Qaida leader, who was living in Kandahar, Afghanistan, summoned him after hearing that he was a preacher from Kuwait.

Abu Ghaith said bin Laden explained that the al-Qaida training camps involved so much weapons training and a rough, hard life that he wanted him to change that, to reach the hearts of recruits and show them another side of life.

Abu Ghaith said he knew bin Laden was suspected in terrorist attacks but still "wanted to get to know that person."

The defendant testified that videos he made warning that there would be more attacks on Americans and trying to inspire others to join al-Qaida's cause were based on "quotes and points by Sheik Osama," including at threat in one video that "the storm of airplanes will not abate." He also denied allegations by the government that he had prior knowledge of the failed shoe-bomb airline attack by Richard Reid in December 2001.

He testified that his videotaped sermons were religious in nature, and meant to encourage Muslims to fight oppression.

Abu Ghaith said his intention was not to recruit.

"My intention was to deliver a message, a message I believed in," he said. "I was hoping the United States would say, 'Let's sit down and talk and solve these problems,' but America was going on and doing what I expected them to do."

Abu Ghaith is married to bin Laden's eldest daughter, Fatima. According to Cohen, they were married in 2008 or 2009.

The defendant looked relaxed on the witness stand, wearing a blue shirt, open at the collar, beneath a charcoal-col... [truncated]

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(19 Mar 2014) Osama bin Laden's son-in-law decided to take the witness stand and recounted the night of the September 11, 2001, attacks, when the al-Qaida leader sent a messenger to drive him into a mountainous area for a meeting inside a cave in Afghanistan, in surprise testimony in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday.

The testimony came at Sulaiman Abu Ghaith's trial on charges he conspired to kill Americans and aid al-Qaida as a spokesman for the group.

"Mr. Abu Ghaith has decided to use his right to testify in his own defence and he is telling his side of the story to the jury," defence lawyer Zoe Dolan told journalists outside the courtroom.

Abu Ghaith's decision to take the witness stand surprised a nearly empty courtroom that quickly filled with spectators as word spread.

He told the court that al-Qaida leader bin Laden told him on the night of the Sept. 11 attacks: "We are the ones who did it."

The 48-year-old Kuwaiti-born defendant testified through an Arabic interpreter, and told of how he first went to Afghanistan in June 2001. He said he met bin Laden when the al-Qaida leader, who was living in Kandahar, Afghanistan, summoned him after hearing that he was a preacher from Kuwait.

"Mr. Abu Ghaith has testified about why and when he went to Afghanistan, he has testified about meeting Osama Bin Laden, and he has testified about giving speeches on videos, and he has testified about why he did those things," Zoe Dolan said.

The defendant testified that videos he made warning that there would be more attacks on Americans and trying to inspire others to join al-Qaida's cause were religious in nature, and meant to encourage Muslims to fight oppression.

Abu Ghaith said his intention was not to recruit.

He also denied allegations by the government that he had prior knowledge of the failed shoe-bomb airline attack by Richard Reid in December 2001.

Abu Ghaith is married to bin Laden's eldest daughter, Fatima. According to defence lawyers, they were married in 2008 or 2009.

The defendant looked relaxed on the witness stand, wearing a blue shirt, open at the collar, beneath a charcoal-coloured jacket. His hands were sometimes folded before him, though sometimes he waved or pointed them for emphasis.

The U.S. District judge did not immediately rule on the defence's request that the defence be permitted to call Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed architect of the September 11 attacks, as a witness via a video link from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he is imprisoned.

"It is our understanding, that is the defence's understanding, that Mr. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is in fact available and willing to testify about Mr. Abu Ghaith and other subjects that are important in this trial," Dolan said.

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(9 Oct 2012) SHOTLIST

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of the federal courthouse in Manhattan

AP TELEVISION

++MANDATORY CREDIT FOR COURT SKETCHES - Elizabeth Williams++

2. Wide of sketch of Mustafa Kamel Mustafa

3. Close sketch of Mustafa Kamel Mustafa

AP TELEVISION

4. SOUNDBITE (English): Jeremy Schneider, Defence Attorney for Mustafa Kamel Mustafa:

"Because he's presumed innocent. He entered a plea of not guilty to the indictment. If at some point there's a change, you'll find out about it, but right now we are proceeding to prepare the case for trial and see what kind of evidence they have against him and prepare the case."

5. Medium of security around courthouse

6. SOUNDBITE (English): Jeremy Schneider, Defence Attorney for Mustafa Kamel Mustafa:

Reporter: Is your client a terrorist?

Schneider: "That's a silly question. Do you think I'm going to answer that question?"

7. Medium of Seton Hall Law School professor Bernard Freamon

8. SOUNDBITE (English): Bernard Freamon, Seton Hall Law School professor:

"Because two Americans were among those taken hostage and the statute having to do with hostage taking gives the US courts jurisdiction in any case where an American is taken hostage, whether they are injured or not."

9. Various of Homeland Security police vehicle

10. Close of officer inside police vehicle

11. SOUNDBITE (English): Bernard Freamon, Seton Hall Law School professor:

"He's accused of three things. One is conspiracy to take hostages in Yemen, and the problem with the conspiracy charge even though he's in the UK and never went to Yemen is that if you get involved in a conspiracy and somebody dies in that conspiracy than you are liable also for that death. If it's part of the conspiracy. He's secondly charged with sending intermediaries into the U.S. to organise a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon. And the third thing he's charged with is giving material support to people who were involved with the Taliban who is a recognised enemy of the United States."

12. Wide of federal courthouse in Manhattan

STORYLINE:

An Egyptian-born preacher pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to conspiring with Seattle men to set up a training camp in Oregon, three days after he and four others were extradited to the United States from England.

Mustafa Kamel Mustafa entered the plea shortly before U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest set an August 26 trial date.

Mustafa, widely known by the name Abu Hamza al-Masri, is also accused of helping abduct 16 hostages, two of them American tourists, in Yemen in 1998.

"He's presumed innocent," his court-appointed lawyer, Jeremy Schneider, said outside court afterward. When someone asked Schneider whether he thought his client was a "terrorist", he snapped: "That's a silly question."

Schneider said his client prefers to be known as Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, the name listed first on his indictment.

Abu Hamza and Abu Hamza al-Masri are listed as aliases.

Earlier Tuesday, two men brought from England to... [truncated]

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(8 Mar 2013)

Elizabeth Williams - Non AP Television News material

New York City - 8 March 2013

1. Wide court sketch of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, son-in-law of Osama bin Laden

2. Tight sketch of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith

AP Television

New York City - 8 March 2013

3. Wide of US Federal Court in New York

4. Mid of security in front of court

AP Television

Washington, DC - 8 March 2013

5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sterling DeRamus, lawyer at Tully Rinckey:

"The government feels it has overwhelming evidence and obviously it does, it's got videos of this person, you know, encouraging Muslims to rise up and kill Americans. It obviously feels very confident that it can get a conviction in the southern district of New York, which of course was the site of the World Trade Center attacks."

AP Television

New York City - 8 March 2013

6. Wide of security in front of court

7. Tight of court

8. Pan from security to court

Elizabeth Williams - Non AP Television News material

New York City - 8 March 2013

9. Wide court sketch of Abu Ghaith in court

AP Television

Washington, DC - 8 March 2013

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sterling DeRamus, lawyer at Tully Rinckey:

"I'm sure that they could get quite a bit of valuable intelligence out of him if he were to be cooperative, yes. And maybe that's something that they will consider as part of a plea deal. I'm sure they would like to find where al-Zawahiri is at, they would like to find plans for other activities that are going on, just anything they can find out whatsoever. He's been in Iran for many years. There's been a lot of concern about Iran's involvement in Afghanistan, to what extent does he know about that? There's a variety of intelligence that he could be very, very valuable on."

Elizabeth Williams - Non AP Television News material

New York City - 8 March 2013

11. Wide court sketch Sulaiman Abu Ghaith being led out of court

STORYLINE:

A senior al-Qaida leader and son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, captured in Jordan a week ago, pleaded not guilty on Friday in a heavily secured New York courtroom to plotting against Americans before and immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks in his role as the network's top spokesman.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was escorted into the largest courtroom at the federal courthouse in Manhattan, where he entered the plea through a lawyer to one count of conspiracy to kill Americans.

A law enforcement official with knowledge of the case said Abu Ghaith initially agreed to be interviewed without a lawyer at the FBI office in lower Manhattan immediately after his arrival.

Later in the day, he requested a lawyer and was interviewed with a lawyer present. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk about the case.

Nearly a dozen deputy U.S. marshals guarded the ceremonial courtroom as about 80 spectators, mostly journalists, lawyers and court employees, watched the 15-minute proceeding before U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who promised to set a trial date w... [truncated]

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(31 Jul 2012) STORYLINE:

A woman who snatched a newborn from a hospital more than two decades ago and raised the child as her own was sentenced Monday to 12 years in prison by a judge who called it a "crime of selfishness" that enhanced parents' fears and forced hospitals to boost security.

Ann Pettway accepted her sentence in a Manhattan courtroom packed with her relatives and friends as well as the true parents of Carlina White, who was stolen from Harlem Hospital when she was only 19 days old.

The 50-year-old Pettway had pleaded guilty to kidnapping in February, describing how she one day in 1987 took a train from her Connecticut home to the hospital, where she posed as a nurse and reassured White's mother, who had brought her daughter to the emergency room for treatment of a high fever.

The sentence was far less than the 20 years in prison recommended by prosecutors and the Probation Department, but it was within the 10 to 12 1/2 years agreed to by prosecutors and defence lawyers when a plea agreement was signed.

"I'm not really satisfied with the sentence because I figure Ann Pettway should have received 23 years in jail because Ann took 23 from me," Carl Tyson, father of kidnapped Carlina White said.

As Carlina grew up in Connecticut under the name Nejdra Nance, the girl became increasingly suspicious of her own identity. Pettway ultimately told her a part-truth, admitting she was someone else's daughter but claiming she had been willingly given away by a drug addict.

Carlina White said she browsed the website of the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children for clues to her identity. After matching a photo of herself with one on the site, she tracked down her true mother and they reunited in January 2011. A DNA test confirmed they were mother and child.

Pettway's attorney Robert Baum said that she was "deeply sorry".

"I hope the White family accepted it because it was heart felt," Baum added.

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(7 Jan 2013) SHOTLIST

AP TELEVISION

1. Mid of armed US Marshal outside court building

2. Tilt down of court building

3. Pan across court sign, reading: (English) "United States Courthouse"

ELIZABETH WILLIAMS - Non AP Television News material

4. Court sketch of suspect Abid Naseer (in blue t-shirt) in court

5. Court sketch of Naseer

6. Zoom in on court sketch of court judge

AP TELEVISION

7. Close-up of courthouse doors

8. Close-up of emblem on exterior of court building

9. Pan across court building

STORYLINE:

A suspect in an alleged al-Qaida plot against New York City subways was also part of a militant campaign that would have targeted Britain and Norway, according to US prosecutors.

Abid Naseer pleaded not guilty through his attorney, Steven Brounstein, during a court appearance in New York on Monday.

The lawyer declined to comment outside court.

The judge ordered Naseer, who was extradited last week from Britain, be held without bail until his next appearance, on 7 March.

Prosecutors aim to prove that Naseer collected bomb ingredients, conducted reconnaissance and was in frequent contact with other alleged al-Qaida operatives.

If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.

Naseer was one of 12 people arrested in a counter-terrorism operation in April 2009, but all were subsequently released without charge.

They were ordered to leave Britain, but Naseer avoided being deported to Pakistan after a judge ruled it was likely he would be mistreated if he were sent home.

Naseer was rearrested in July 2010 at the request of prosecutors in Brooklyn, where a federal indictment named him as a co-defendant with Adis Medunjanin.

In January 2011, a British judge approved Naseer's extradition.

The judge acknowledged there was a "very real risk" Naseer would be tortured if America ultimately returned him to Pakistan but said he believed the US justice system would not ignore that concern.

Naseer's lawyer had argued that America would have fewer inhibitions about returning him to Pakistan.

US authorities allege Medunjanin and two friends from Flushing High School in Queens - Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay - travelled to Pakistan in 2008 to seek militant training from al-Qaida.

Zazi, an airport van driver from Colorado, admitted in a guilty plea that once back from Pakistan he tested peroxide-based explosive materials in a makeshift lab in Denver in 2009 before travelling by car to New York to carry out the scheme.

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(30 May 2013)

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide, exterior of the United States Courthouse in lower Manhattan

2. Close, entrance to courthouse

3. Close, courthouse sign

COURT SKETCHES

++++MANDATORY COURTESY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS++

4. Sketch: Wide, defendant Manssor Arbabsiar and his attorney in court

5. Sketch: Close, Arbabsiar

6. Sketch: Close, Arbabsiar's crossed hands

7. Sketch: Wide, Arbabsiar and his attorney

8. Sketch: Close, Arbabsiar

9. Sketch: Wide, Arbabsiar reading a statement to the court

10. Sketch: Close, statement being read by Arbabsiar

11. Sketch: Close, Arbabsiar reading statement

AP TELEVISION

12. Wide, exterior of the courthouse

13. Wide, courthouse

14. Close, name of courthouse above door

STORYLINE:

A Texas man, Manssor Arbabsiar, who admits plotting to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States was in federal court in lower Manhattan on Thursday to hear his sentence.

The 58-year-old Arbabsiar pleaded guilty last year to charges accusing him of going to Mexico at the direction of the Iranian military in 2011 to arrange the assassination attempt.

The plot never went any further.

The judge sentenced Arbabsiar to 25-years in prison.

Defence attorneys argued he suffers from a mental disorder that clouded his judgment .

They fought for a sentence of no more than 10 years.

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(18 Oct 2012) SHOTLIST

AP TELEVISION

Dhaka, Bangladesh - 18 October 2012

1. Various of Quazi Ahsanullah, father of Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, crying as he sits with members of his family

2. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Quazi Ahsanullah, Nafis' father, Senior vice president, National Bank:

"He studied at the North South University. He asked me if he could study in America for higher education ...and he said 'father , if I went abroad then I could do better jobs in Bangladesh'. I have spent all of my savings to send him abroad."

COURTROOM SKETCHES - MANDATORY COURTESY: ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

New York - 17 October 2012

++STILLS++

3. Sketch of Quazi Nafis (centre) and his lawyer, Heidi Cesare (left)

4. Sketch of close-up of Nafis

AP TELEVISION

Dhaka, Bangladesh - 18 October 2012

5. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Quazi Ahsanullah, Nafis' father:

"At night, he never dared to go alone to the rooftop and used to ask his brother and sister to come with him. I don't believe a fearful boy like him can do anything so risky....and without any doubt I can say he is not linked with it."

6. Mid of Nafis's aunt and grandmother sitting in their house, Nafis' mother praying

7. Mid of mother praying

8. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Sufia Akunji, Nafis' Aunt:

"His mother is praying to Allah and asking to keep him safe."

9. Quazi Ahsanullah holding up photo of his son

10. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Quazi Ahsanullah, Nafis' father:

"I ask the government to take up this matter and return my child to me. I am requesting the government and the people to get my son home." (sobs)

11. Exterior of Nafis's family house

AP TELEVISION

New York - 17 October 2012

12. Wide of entrance to Federal Reserve Bank of New York

13. Mid of police officers outside entrance

14. Mid of officers, police vehicles outside entrance

15. US flag at entrance

STORYLINE

Distraught relatives of a Bangladeshi man accused of trying to bomb the Federal Reserve building in New York said on Thursday they were stunned by his arrest.

The FBI arrested 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis on Wednesday after he tried to detonate a fake 1,000-pound (454-kilogram) car bomb, according to a criminal complaint.

Just a few hours before he was arrested in an FBI sting operation, Nafis, whose father is a banker from a middle class neighbourhood in Dhaka, spoke via Skype with his parents back home and updated them on his studies, his family said.

Prosecutors said Nafis travelled to the US on a student visa in January to carry out an attack.

Nafis' family said he was incapable of such actions and he went to the US to study business administration, not to carry out any attack.

Nafis was so timid, he couldn't even venture out onto the roof alone, his weeping father said, speaking from his family's three-story home in the Jatrabari neighbourhood in south Dhaka.

"I don't believe a fearful boy like him can do anything so risky....and without any doubt I can say he is not linked with it (the plot)."

Ahsanullah said his so... [truncated]

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