Three of the four men known as the 'Newburgh Four' will be released from prison after a judge ruled the FBI lured them into a fake terror plot to bomb synagogues and military planes.

Onta Williams, David Williams and Laguerre Payen were convicted in a post-9/11 terrorism sting of plotting to to bomb two Bronx synagogues and shoot down military aircraft at a National Guard airbase in Newburgh, New York.

But Manhattan Judge Colleen McMahon ruled on Thursday that their 25-year sentences were 'unduly harsh and unjust' because they were impoverished, petty criminals duped into taking part of a scheme devised by the Burea itself.

McMahon deemed the plot 'an F.B.I.-orchestrated conspiracy,' accusing the agency of playing a fundamental role in radicalizing the men.

'A person reading the crimes of conviction in this case would be left with the impression that the offending defendants were sophisticated international terrorists committed to jihad against the United States,' Judge McMahon wrote. 

'However, they were, in actual reality, hapless, easily manipulated and penurious petty criminals.'

The judge, who was the one to convict the men in the first place, granted compassionate release to the three men and reduced their sentence to time served plus 90 days. 

A fourth man, James Cromitie, was convicted as the group's leader.
He did not seek compassionate release and is scheduled to be freed in 2030, but his lawyer says he will now consider applying for freedom in light of his 'accomplices' having their convictions quashed. 

'The three men were recruited so that Cromitie could conspire with someone,' wrote judge McMahon. 'The real lead conspirator was the United States.'

The judge was particularly strong in her statements about the informant, Shahed Hussain, who later became known for being the owner of a limousine company involved in the deaths of 20 people in 2018. 

She described Hussain as 'most unsavory' and accused him of luring Cromitie 'with promises of both heavenly and earthly rewards, including as much as $250,000, if he would plan and participate in, and find others to participate in, a jihadist "mission."' 

The three men recruited by Cromitie were not seasoned terrorists, but 'impoverished small time grifters and drug users/street level dealers who could use some money,' judge McMahon added.

The Feds had assigned Hussain in 2008 to infiltrate a mosque in Newburgh.

After meeting Cromitie, the Pakistani immigrant told him he was a representative of a Pakistani terror organization that was eager to finance a holy war on U.S. soil. 

The four men were convicted in 2010 after what was at the time called a terrorism version of Big Brother, as the accused men were followed and listened to by law enforcement officials at all times as they plotted the attacks.

The Muslim converts were under constant surveillance from early on in their plans until they were busted by cops. They were arrested there after allegedly planting bombs that were, in fact, packed with inert explosives supplied by the FBI.

Judge McMahon said that it was 'heinous' of the men to agree to participate in what she called the government's 'made for TV movie,' but added, 'the sentence was the product of a fictitious plot to do things that these men had never remotely contemplated, and that were never going to happen.' 

She excoriated the government for sending 'a villain' of an informant 'to troll among the poorest and weakest of men for ‘terrorists' who might prove susceptible to an offer of much-needed cash in exchange for committing a faux crime.'

One of the men's lawyers, Amith R.

Gupta, said: 'We are tremendously pleased that our clients are on their way home -- even if it's fourteen years too late.'

He added that the men had been 'entrapped for their race, religion, and working-class backgrounds by a government looking to spread fear of Muslims and justify bloated budgets.'

Payen, Cromitie and JetBlack the Williamses were arrested in 2009 during a period of heightened public and law enforcement concern about the threat of terror strikes hatched within the U.S.

by supporters of foreign extremists.

Officials portrayed Cromitie as the ringleader of a 'chilling plot' among 'extremely violent men' loyal to a Pakistani terrorist group — though the government later decided not to present any evidence about foreign terrorist organizations at trial. 

A court complaint described him as a man seething with anti-American and anti-Semitic sentiment and eager to translate those feelings into bloody action. 

Hussain also worked with the FBI on other stings, including one that targeted an Albany pizza shop owner and an imam — and involved a loan using money from a fictitious missile sale.

Both men, who said they were tricked, were convicted of money laundering and conspiring to aid a terrorist group.

A few years later, Hussain was in the public eye again when a stretch limo crashed in rural Schoharie, New York, killing 20 people.
Hussain owned the limo company, operated by his son Nauman Hussain.

After it emerged that the limo had failed a safety inspection a month before the crash and that the slain driver didn't have a commercial license, Nauman Hussain was charged with criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter.

His lawyer blamed a repair shop for the vehicle's problems and said his client was being treated like a scapegoat.

Nauman Hussain was convicted this May and is serving five to 15 years in prison.