Case 1:07-cr-00543-DLI Document 214-3 Filed 05/07/10 Page 1 of 3 PageID #: 1539

U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney

Eastern District of New York
MLM:ZA

271 Cadman Plaza East

Brooklyn, New York 11201

May 6, 2010
Via ECF
Mildred Whalen, Esq.
Federal Defenders of New York
147 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201

Michael Hueston, Esq.

Cardinale, Hueston & Marinelli
350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 4810
New York, NY 10118

Daniel Nobel, Esq.

401 Broadway, 25th Floor
New York, NY 10013

Kafahni Nkrumah, Esq.

116 W. 111th Street
New York, NY 10026

Re:

United States v. Russell Defreitas, et al.

Criminal Docket No. 07-543 (DLI)

Dear Counsel:
The government hereby provides additional information
concerning the scope of the testimony of its proposed expert
witnesses in response to letter of defendant Kareem Ibrahim dated
April 26, 2010. This letter supplements the governments previous
disclosure dated April 19, 2010.
Matthew A. Levitt, currently the Director of the Stein
Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington
Institute for Near East Policy, will be called to testify as an
expert in certain terrorist organizations and individuals
referenced and/or solicited by the defendants over the course of
the charged conspiracies. Mr. Levitts experience in this field
and his academic writings on these subjects, as extensively
detailed in his curriculum vitae provided to you on April 19th,
will serve as the bases for his opinions.
With regard to Hezbollah, Mr. Levitt will testify about
that organizations relationship to the government of Iran and the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard, its longstanding presence in South
America and its efforts to secure financing, recruit operatives
and conduct terrorist attacks inside and outside of Lebanon and
Israel. Relatedly, Mr. Levitt will describe for the jury Irans
role as the vanguard of Shia Islam in the world, its revolutionary
ideology and its efforts to spread and propagate Shia Islam and
the Iranian revolution globally through its embassies and cultural

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attachs, including Mohsin Rabbani, the former cultural attach

at the Iranian Embassy in Argentina charged for playing a role in
terrorist bombings in Argentina.
With regard to Adnan Shukrijumah, Mr. Levitt will
identify him as an al Qaeda operative of Guyanese nationality.
Mr. Levitt will discuss Shukrijumahs status and reputation in
the Caribbean region as an influential terrorist operative, as
well as the fact that Shukrijumah was widely perceived to have
been hiding in that region in or around the period of the charged
plot. Mr. Levitt will further describe the difference between
the al Qaeda and Hezbollah approaches to terrorist activity, a
subject discussed by the plotters in recorded conversations.
Calvin Bennett is a retired officer of the Special
Branch of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, who spent a
substantial portion of his career investigating Jamaat AlMuslimeen (JAM), about which he will be called to testify. Mr.
Bennetts experience investigating JAM for over 15 years, as well
as the qualifications listed in his curriculum vitae provided to
you on April 19th, will serve as the bases for his opinions. Mr.
Bennett will explain that JAM began as a charitable organization
for black Muslims in the 1970s and became militant in the 1980s,
with the goal of overthrowing the government of Trinidad and
Tobago and converting the country to an Islamic state. He will
testify about JAMs leadership, membership and relationship with
other Islamic organizations and sects in the Caribbean region.
He will testify that Yasin Abu Bakr has been a JAM leader since
the organizations inception and received training from Libyan
Islamist and terrorist organizations supported by Moammar
Qaddafi, the political leader of Libya. Mr. Bennett will
describe JAMs violent coup attempt in July 1990, during which
JAM members stormed the Trinidadian parliament and took several
hostages, and also overtook television stations on which they
began to broadcast Islamist propaganda a widely publicized
event of great significance in the Caribbean region, particularly
in the Islamic community. He will also testify about the widely
publicized violent and criminal activities JAM has undertaken
since that time and identify their home base at the JAM compound
in Mucarapo, Trinidad.
The government does not intend to elicit from Mr.
Bennett any testimony regarding JAMs strategic goals or
operational capabilities vis-a-vis the United States. As
explained in our reply brief dated April 2, 2010, whether or not
Yasin Abu Bakr and JAM would ultimately have been interested in,
or capable of, financing or otherwise supporting the defendants
plan has no bearing on the defendants guilt. Consequently, we
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do not intend to present evidence in our case-in-chief on the

question of whether or not JAM would have been capable of, or
interested in, executing the charged plot. Therefore, we
maintain that the evidence regarding JAM sought by defendant
Ibrahim in his motion to compel dated March 22, 2010, does not
constitute Rule 16 or Brady material.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
Very truly yours,
LORETTA E. LYNCH
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
By:

cc:

/s/
Marshall L. Miller
Jason A. Jones
Berit W. Berger
Zainab Ahmad
Assistant U.S. Attorneys
(718) 254-6421/7553/6134/6522

Clerk of the Court (DLI)(via ECF)