Len Levitt wrote the police column “One Police Plaza” for Newsday for 10 years and has worked for several other publications including Time magazine. His website is nypdconfidential.com
By Len Levitt
nypdconfidential.com
There is more cause for concern about the NYPD’s Lone Cowboy behavior the more we learn about the department’s dealings with the Queens imam who jeopardized the investigation into the most serious threat to national security since 9/11.
It now appears that the NYPD spoke with Imam Ahmad Wais Afzali not once, as has been reported, but at least three times, urging him to spy on suspects in a plot to blow up New York City subways.
And the police apparently did this without informing their own partners in the terrorism investigation — the FBI.
The result: Instead of helping the investigation, the NYPD’s meddling led the imam to warn ringleader Najibullah Zazi that authorities were on to him, short-circuiting the crucial evidence-gathering surveillance and forcing the FBI to make arrests prematurely.
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OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST
- Man Kills Woman and Himself Outside Tenn. Hospital (AP)
- Mexican Drug Boss Sentenced in Ore. (AP)
- New York Man Sentenced in Terrorism Financing Case (AP)
- 282 Arrested in San Diego County in Crackdown on Drugs and Gangs (AP)
- Business Dispute Led to Attack on LA Synagogue (AP)
- Ex-NYPD Cop Goes on Trial in Cyclist Crash (AP)
- Attorney Faces Years for Immigration Fraud (Courthouse News Service)
- Justice Dept. Moved Porn Case from Ala. to D.C. (Politico)
