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Aakash Dalal (MUGSHOT: Bergen Prosecutor) INSET: Dalal with Ron Paul (EXCLUSIVE CLIFFVIEW PILOT PHOTO)
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: The attorney for a synagogue firebombing suspect charged with plotting to kill an assistant Bergen County prosecutor claimed today that his client was set up, with the help of a jailhouse snitch who wore a wire, to help further Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli’s career. READ MORE….
Authorities said Aakash Dalal had an “enemies” list in his jail cell that also included Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli and the alleged target, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Martin Delaney, who is prosecuting him and Anthony Graziano in connection with the firebombings.
Last month, an informant told FBI agents in Newark that the Lodi High School graduate was “planning to commit arson attacks on federal facilities in the area,” Molinelli said today.
“While definitive evidence of such attacks was not found during the ensuing investigation,” Molinelli added, “evidence and information was uncovered that upon his release from jail, Dalal [intended] to obtain a handgun and kill Assistant Prosecutor Delaney.”
Dalal “had arranged to post one million dollars bail and was due to be released from the Bergen County Jail this week,” the prosecutor said. However, the threat “was deemed real and security measures were put into place for the intended victim.”
Yesterday, members of Molinelli’s Major Crimes Unit and the FBI executed a search warrant on Dalal’s cell and personal property at the Bergen County Jail.
“Evidence was obtained during [the] search regarding the plot to kill Assistant Prosecutor Delaney,” Molinelli said. “In addition, evidence of Dalal’s anti-government ideals and beliefs that violence against the government is necessary was found, as well as a list of ‘enemies’ [that] Dalal kept….”
The names included Molinelli’s own, the prosecutor disclosed.
The news comes after detectives escorted Molinelli from a Board of Freeholders session in Hackensack last night when a group of protestors suddenly rushsed the podium, demanding answers from him about the results of a grand jury investigation into the police shooting death of a 19-year-old Garfield man.
Bergen prosecutor whisked from meeting after chanting Garfield protestors surge CLIFFVIEW PILOT SCOOP: Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli was whisked by detectives from the county administration building in Hackensack after protestors, angry about the exonerations of two police officers in a fatal Garfield shooting, disrupted a meeting about consolidating police services in the county. READ MORE….
Dalal was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to possess a firearm for an unlawful purpose and terroristic threats.
His bail is now $4 million, having been increased by Superior Court Liliana S. DeAvila-Silebi from the original $1 million.
The only reason Dalal nearly tasted freedom in the first place was because he convinced a state appeals court to drop his original bail from $2.5 million after his attorney argued that it was excessive.
Molinelli’s investigators had charged Dalal with aggravated arson and bias intimidation, saying he conspired with 19-year-old Anthony Graziano to commit at least four anti-Semitic attacks in Bergen County (see story, BELOW).
Authorities originally labeled Graziano a “loner.”
But they later called Dalal the brains of the operation, bearing out a tip forwarded to the prosecutor by CLIFFVIEW PILOT about Dalal’s purported anti-government ravings and his ongoing relationship with Graziano.
A source who spoke on condition of anonymity told CLIFFVIEW PILOT earlier this year that Graziano was highly succeptible to suggestion, which the source said made it easy for Dalal to convince Graziano to join his “movement.”
Dalal is scheduled for a court hearing on the new charges tomorrow at 11 a.m.
ALSO SEE:
Second man charged in Bergen synagogue firebombing ‘egged on’ other
Friday, 02 March 2012 15:01 Jerry DeMarcoCLIFFVIEW PILOT EXCLUSIVE: The “loner” accused of firebombing a Rutherford rabbi’s home and igniting a small arson blaze outside a Paramus synagogue had a coach: 19-year-old Lodi High School graduate Aakash Dalal, authorities charged this afternoon. READ MORE….
Third synagogue firebombing plot brings more charges Friday, 27 January 2012 11:29 Jerry DeMarco
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli confirmed this morning that the 19-year-old man accused of firebombing a Rutherford rabbi’s home and igniting a small arson blaze outside a Paramus synagogue has been charged with a plot to torch a third target — in an incident first disclosed on CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Anthony M. Graziano
(MUGSHOT: Bergen County Prosecutor)
Authorities found materials for a “pre-deployed” device outside the Jewish Community Center (pictured) after questioning Anthony M. Graziano, derailing what likely would have been another attack, two sources with direct knowledge of the case told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
The original CLIFFVIEW PILOT story:
More firebombings of synagogues may have been planned
Wednesday, 25 January 2012 17:57 Jerry DeMarcoCLIFFVIEW PILOT EXCLUSIVE: Store-bought materials similar to those used in both the firebombing of a Rutherford rabbi’s home and an attempted arson at a Paramus synagogue were found outside another temple in Bergen County this week, raising the possibility that at least one other attack was planned, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned.
ALSO:
Prosecutor: Manhunt in synagogue attacks leads to lone teen with bike, backpack, bombs
Tuesday, 24 January 2012 19:06 Jerry DeMarcoCLIFFVIEW PILOT HAD IT FIRST: Investigators have charged a 19-year-old loner eclipsed by the shadow of his military serviceman brother in connection with the Jan. 11 firebombing of a Rutherford rabbi’s home and a Jan. 3 arson at a Paramus synagogue. Bail for Anthony Marco Graziano of Lodi is $5 million.
Rutherford rabbi turns firebomb into seeds of love
Saturday, 21 January 2012 19:10 Richard E. Schultz
AN OFFICER WRITES: The coward who firebombed the home of Rabbi Rosson Schuman and his family failed to produce the terror, silence or cries for vengeance that such incendiary devices are meant for. No. The hateful act offered the Rutherford rabbi an opportunity to deliver a message that is as important now as ever.
READ MORE….
Authorities confirm arrest in firebombing of Rutherford rabbi’s home
Tuesday, 24 January 2012 11:07 Jerry DeMarcoCLIFFVIEW PILOT SCOOP: A massive search of a Lodi home last night led to the arrest of a suspect in the firebombing of a Rutherford rabbi’s home, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. One of the pieces of evidence: Orange Crush soda.
Man wanted for questioning in Rutherford firebombing
Thursday, 19 January 2012 15:28 Jerry DeMarcoCLIFFVIEW PILOT HAS IT FIRST: Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli on Friday authorized the release of what were investigatory images obtained by CLIFFVIEW PILOT of a man buying hair spray, bottles, duct tape and other materials at the Wal-Mart on Route 46 in Saddle Brook that were used in the pre-dawn firebombing of a Rutherford rabbi’s home. There’s a reward for anyone who can lead authorities to him.
READ MORE….
Bias attacks prompt unprecedented Bergen County 24-hour joint patrols
Friday, 13 January 2012 17:57 Jerry DeMarcoYOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Bergen County’s top public safety leaders each told CLIFFVIEW PILOT that unprecedented 24-hour patrols of Bergen County’s religious and ethnic community facilities will continue for the indefinite future, amid a manhunt for whoever is responsible for throwing a Molotov cocktail through the window of a Rutherford rabbi’s bedroom.
READ MORE….
Arsonists targeted Rutherford rabbi with Molotov cocktails, authorities believe
Wednesday, 11 January 2012 11:26 Jerry DeMarcoEXCLUSIVE REPORT: The FBI has entered an investigation into a pair of what are now believed to be related attacks on Jewish temples in Bergen County, the most serious occurring early this morning when one of four or five Molotov cocktails crashed through the bedroom window of a rabbi who lives upstairs from his Rutherford synagogue with his wife and five children, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned.
READ MORE….
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