slides: Massachusetts’ Most Infamous Terrorists

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

GoLocalWorcester News Team

Acts of terrorism occurring around the world and a recent break-in and theft of high power weapons at an Army Reserve Center right in Worcester has raised the stress and attention to terrorism.

GoLocalWorcester looks at the incident of terrorism in the Commonwealth and those who are homegrown terrorists. Governor Charlie Baker has raised concerns about the potential threat of ISIS terrorists coming into the United States under the guise of being Syrian refugees. Baker has said he would refuse the placement of Syrian refugees in Massachusetts until the federal government demonstrates it has a program to screen the refugees.

SEE THOSE TIED TO TERRORISM BELOW

A poll by Suffolk released this week found that 47% of Massachusetts voters support Baker’s decision to block Syrian refugees and 40% were opposed to Baker’s position.

The poll was comprised of 500 Massachusetts voters and was conducted Nov. 19 to Nov. 22. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

The Suffolk poll also found that 51 percent of voters would accept refugees who have been properly vetted by the federal government. However, 40 percent said Massachusetts should not accept any Syrian refugees because it’s too risky.

Massachusetts was hit with one of America’s most hideous and infamous terror attacks when the Boston Marathon was bombed by two Massachusetts residents. Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were both educated in Massachusetts and had lived in the Commonwealth for nearly a decade.

The Battle Against Terrorism in Massachusetts

The battle against terrorism is led by the Massachusetts Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council that is co-chaired by United States Attorney Carmen Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers Special Agent-in-Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Boston Field Division.

One of the most recent prosecution of terrorism in Massachusetts was earlier this year.

Alexander Ciccolo from Adams, MA, was charged in an Indictment in connection with a plot to engage in terrorism on behalf of ISIL. In July of this year a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Springfield indicted Ciccolo, a/k/a Ali Al Amriki, 23, on one count of being a convicted felon in possession of firearms and one count of assault with a deadly weapon and causing bodily injury to a person assisting an officer of the United States in the performance of official duties. The latter charge stems from Ciccolo’s alleged attack of a nurse during a jail intake process after his arrest.

But, Ciccolo is not alone. A number of Massachusetts individuals were tied to the Marathon bombing events and cover-ups. And, a Massachusetts-based man along with a Rhode Islander were charged with supporting terrorism earlier this year.

Related Slideshow: Massachusetts Terrorists

The following individuals were charged by federal authorities for either executing or planning terror attacks.

Prev Next

Robel Phillipos

The 21-year-old of Cambridge, was sentenced in June to three years in prison and three years of supervised release, and ordered to report to the Bureau of Prisons on July 24, 2015.

In October 2014, Phillipos was found guilty by a federal jury of two counts of making false statements to law enforcement in a terrorism investigation.

Prev Next

David Daoud Wright

a/k/a Dawud Sharif Wright, a/k/a Dawud Sharif Abdul Wright, a/k/a Dawud Sharif Abdul Khaliq, 25, of Everett, Mass.was indicted in June on a charge of conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization. Wright was also charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and with obstruction of justice. On June 12, 2015, Wrightwascharged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to provide material support to ISIL. Wright had previously been charged on June 3, 2015, with conspiracy to obstruct justice. He has been detained since his arrests.

Nicholas Alexander Rovinski, a/k/a Nuh Amriki, a/k/a Nuh al Andalusi, 24, of Warwick, R.I., was also involved in the crimes.

Prev Next

Khairullozhon Matanov

He was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Boston to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release for obstructing the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Prev Next

Azamat Tazhayakov

The New Bedford resident was sentenced in June to 42 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Tazhayakov was convicted by a federal jury in July 2014 of conspiring to obstruct justice and obstructing justice with the intent to impede a terrorism investigation. Tazhayakov is a national of Kazakhstan who was temporarily living in the United States on a student visa while attending the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMass). At the time of his arrest his visa had been revoked.

PHOTO: Twitter - Azamat Tazhayakov is on the left

Prev Next

Dias Kadyrbayev

The close friend of convicted Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was sentenced to six years in prison for his role in retrieving, and later disposing of, evidence in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation, specifically Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s backpack, containing fireworks and other items, as well as his role in concealing Tsarnaev’s laptop computer from law enforcement.Kadyrbayev previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct justice and obstructing justice with the intent to impede the Boston Marathon bombing investigation.

Kadyrbayev agreed to be deported to Kazakhstan from the United States after serving his sentence. At the time of his arrest, Kadyrbayev was in the United States on a revoked student visa while attending the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMass).

Prev Next

Alexander Ciccolo

The Adams, Massachusetts man was been charged in an Indictment in connection with a plot to engage in terrorism on behalf of ISIL.

In July of this year a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Springfield indicted Alexander Ciccolo, a/k/a Ali Al Amriki, 23, on one count of being a convicted felon in possession of firearms and one count of assault with a deadly weapon and causing bodily injury to a person assisting an officer of the United States in the performance of official duties. The latter charge stems from Ciccolo’s alleged attack of a nurse during a jail intake process after his arrest.

Prev Next

Tamerlan Tsarnaev

One of the Boston Marathon bombers who planned and executed the bombing that lead to 236 injuries and death to three at the race and a subsequent murder of a MIT police officer.

He and his brother were radicalized as terrorists while living in the United States and through travel back to Russia.

He was killed in a shoot out with law enforcement.

Prev Next

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

United States District Judge George A. O’Toole imposed a sentence of death and multiple consecutive life sentences.

In May 2014, a federal jury in Boston recommended that Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev be sentenced to death. The counts on which the jury recommended a death sentence all related to the pressure cooker bomb Tsarnaev planted and detonated in front of the Forum restaurant, killing Lingzi Lu and Martin Richard. The same jury convicted Tsarnaev on all 30 counts of the indictment on April 8, 2015.