Muslim Mafia (34 page)

He says many Brotherhood leaders have installed motion-detector security lights—and “this was before 9/11, so they’ve been protecting themselves from surveillance for a long time.”

Their mosques also put up defenses against surveillance.

After Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center became the focus of federal investigations after the first World Trade Center bombing, mosque leaders planted a tall, thick row of evergreens along the street. After 9/11, when it was learned that some of the hijackers prayed at the so-called “Row Street mosque,” FBI agents secretly cut the hedge back so they could spy on activities there. (The mosque reported the tree damage as a case of anti-Islamic vandalism.)

The mosque, whose deed is held by a Muslim Brotherhood bank, has its own phalanx of armed guards patrolling the perimeter of the grounds.

THE MILITARY BRANCH

A Brotherhood charter seized in the raid on al-Arian’s flat and translated from Arabic provides for the establishment of a supersecret “Security and Military” branch to, among other things, purchase “arms” for export and for use at training “camps” inside the U.S. Another function: developing “tools” for “spying operations.”
¹⁰

Other documents reveal paramilitary camps have been set up in Oklahoma, Missouri, and other states, where the Brothers conduct firearms and other weapons training. They’ve also frequented shooting ranges in Georgia, Virginia, New York, and other states, while setting up clubs to learn “self-defense techniques” like the hijackers learned.
¹¹

‘OUR DAR AL-ARQAM (SAFEHOUSE)’

Like mob bosses, Brotherhood leaders conduct much of their business behind closed doors. Only the Muslim mafia’s hideouts are religious sanctuaries, not topless bars or butcher shops. Mosques serve as “fronts for Brotherhood work,” leaders reveal in their writings.
¹²

They also serve as recruiting centers. The Brothers invite prospects to come to the mosque and join a small prayer group—or
usra
, Arabic for “family”—where they evaluate their loyalty and commitment to the cause.

These Islamic centers are key nodes in the network. They also serve as “beehives,” planting the “seed for a small Islamic society” in every city, according to Brotherhood strategy papers. The mosques will “prepare us and supply our battalions in addition to being the ‘niche’ of our prayers.”
¹³

Dar al-Hijrah, the 9/11 mosque in the Washington suburbs, is the spiritual headquarters for the Muslim mafia in America.
¹⁴

Other key hubs: the Bridgeview Mosque in Chicago; MCA Islamic Center and Masjid an-Noor in Santa Clara, California; Orange County Islamic Society in Garden Grove, California; Al-Farooq Mosque in Brooklyn, New York; the Islamic Center of Tucson, Arizona; and ADAMS Center in Sterling, Virginia, where former General
Masul
Ahmed Elkadi lives.

The
imams
of these centers play a vital role not just as spiritual leaders in the movement, but also as recruiters and organizers.

In their internal documents, the Brothers refer to the United States as “our
Dar al-Arqam
”—or safehouse—because of the protections it affords them to freely practice their faith. (Interestingly, influential Brotherhood
imam
Ali al-Timimi ran a radical storefront mosque in Northern Virginia by that name before he was sent to the slammer for soliciting treason against the United States.)

It’s also clear from FBI wiretaps of secret meetings that the Brotherhood views America as a pushover. As Shukri Abu Baker put it, America represents “a safe place for the Movement.” Another major Brotherhood figure, Abdelhaleem Ashqar, adds that “in America, we have a legal slack, or an atmosphere of freedom.”

Unlike the Sicilian mafia, the Muslim mafia is harder to penetrate, investigators say, because it is shrouded by a major religion. Fearing accusations of religious bigotry, Washington is still reluctant to aggressively prosecute it.

RATS AND SNITCHES

What’s more, it’s harder to infiltrate the group with informants or undercover agents due to its cryptic language, religious rituals, and initiations.

The Brothers also are very careful about whom they recruit. Even immigrants from Muslim nations have to be nominated by the
usra
, and then only a
naquib
can submit a name to the
masul
, who then does a thorough background check. Members swear allegiance to the Brotherhood, and are conditioned to sacrifice everything to protect it. And only trusted members can get into the group’s inner circle.

One memo cautions leaders to be careful about “moles” and leaks and other internal security problems. It counsels them to take care in screening potential recruits to avoid revealing too much information. If the recruit asks whether the leader is a Brotherhood member, the leader should respond, “You may deduce the answer to that with your own intelligence.”
¹⁵

Additionally, it advises using dead drops when dealing with associates, in case they are arrested and confess to what they know. Dead drops use a hidden location such as a tree or a bridge inside a park for secretly passing cash, weapons, or information between members without requiring a meeting.

Few leaders have been ratted out. “Unlike the mob, you can’t flip these guys,” says an FBI special agent who investigated the Alexandria, Virginia-based World Assembly of Muslim Youth and other Brotherhood fronts. “They don’t care if they go to jail.”
¹⁶

He explains they’re viewed as “martyrs” for the cause if they’re locked up, attaining a higher status within the Brotherhood.

It took the FBI decades to infiltrate the mafia. “It’s ten times harder to infiltrate [Brotherhood] groups than the mob,” says veteran FBI agent John Vincent, who investigated major Brotherhood figures in Chicago.
¹⁷

PH.D. MOBSTERS

Veteran investigators say they have never faced a more disciplined adversary. They are a lot smarter than mobsters. They are well-educated professionals, including clerics, scholars, doctors, and engineers. In fact, many of the top Brotherhood leaders in America have Ph.D.s or M.D.s.

The crime bosses of the
ummah
underworld are not the suburban goombas depicted on HBO, hanging out at the Bada Bing. While they also launder money, extort, threaten, lie without shame, and conspire to do murder, the members of this mafia, this brotherhood of faith, are not rough around the edges or right off the boat. Many are American citizens fluent in English and highly articulate. They appear sophisticated, even genteel, giving them a veneer of legitimacy that makes them more dangerous.

But make no mistake: These are thugs who, at their core, are really no different than mobsters. They, too, beat their women and pay to have people killed. These same mild-mannered religious leaders have been arrested for domestic violence and bankrolling terrorism.

And some have long rap sheets. Take Mahdi Bray, the head of the Muslim American Society’s political arm in Washington. He’s a three-time felon and an ex-con who’s done serious time, according to police and court records unveiled by Washington-based IPT News.
¹⁸
Prior to joining MAS, founded by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, Bray was the political director of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council, or MPAC. He recently led a Brotherhood campaign to raise $30,000 to help pay for lawyers to free al-Qaida agent and would-be presidential assassin Ahmed Abu Ali, who is serving a life sentence.

FBI agents who have listened in on the private conversations of Brotherhood bosses say they talk about murder as if they were ordering pizza.

“These guys talk about jihad and murdering Jews like the mob talked about killing—totally casual, like they were ordering pizza,” an FBI official in Washington says.
¹⁹

He recalls one prominent American Muslim leader expressing his approval of synagogue bombings in a room with other Brotherhood leaders. “And this is a skinny guy with coke-bottle glasses,” the official says. “He’s a scholar.”

He says the Brotherhood and al-Qaida share the same goals but use different methods to achieve them.

“The only difference between the guys in the suits and the guys with the AK-47s is timing and tactics,” he says.