FBI Undercover Storyville

This programme contains very strong language.

I said, "Don't come down here with no goddamn cameras and stuff."

Hello? I told you I didn't want my face in this shit.

Even if your face is showing, how is somebody going to come after you?

You'd be surprised who knows me.

-Everybody in Brooklyn knows me.

-But they don't know where you are.

They know me in Harlem, too, they know my face.

But they don't know where you are.

I might not even make no independent film if motherfuckers come after me.

You guys ready?

CAMERA CLICKS

CAMERA CLICKS

# O'er the land of the free

# And the home of the brave. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

HE SHOUTS ENCOURAGEMENT

No!

# This is how we do

# This is how we do it

# This is how we do

# This is how we do it

# This is how we do

# This is how we do it... #

Anybody want a hot dog? Two for one.

INAUDIBLE

'I don't like the word "informant".

'I consider myself as a civilian operative.

'The public are not supposed to know I work for them.

'I don't exist. I'm a spook.

'A ghost.'

-So, what am I going to do with this one?

-I'm going to show you.

Patience.

Patience, little one, patience.

-Cool.

-You're still a caterpillar. You're not a butterfly yet.

Dude, you got to have that magic touch. See right there?

See that right there?

I'll take this side, you just take care of that part.

Bring it over a little bit. There you go.

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

Yeah, what's up?

Yeah. I got a gut feeling about this and, you know...

Exactly.

What happened with the FBI?

They called me to do an assignment in Pittsburgh.

Whatever the case may be.

If they want me to do surveillance, I'm going to do it, you know.

I need the money. I need the money.

Shit...

Let's go.

'Whatever this case comes out, if it's worth 200,000,

'I'm going to give it all to my son.

'I kind of messed up last time.

'I mismanaged all my money, at least over 200,000-300,000.

'So if this is my second chance, I'm going to take advantage of it.'

-What is the map on the wall?

-Why is the what?

Why is the map on the wall?

To find my locations around here.

-Is there a significance to the red lines?

-Yes, yes, yes, yes.

It's regarding the work I do.

No, I won't give you the picture. I'm going to put him up on here.

It'd be better for you cos I don't want to explain nothing to you.

You got it? That's it. Don't ask no questions about who they are.

I'm giving you something that you shouldn't be seeing anyway.

You know something? I notice you're always getting fucking headshots.

Didn't you say you wanted to do this project?

Yeah, but don't you ever give it a break?

I can see why no fucking celebrities don't like "passerazzi".

-Are you not going to tell us anything?

-No.

I mean, these are all targets that are in suspected areas.

For some reason, they've got a big population of Muslims

that come from the various countries over there that come to school here.

Moroccans, Somalis, Iranians, Saudis...

And then they all go back to where they came from.

I don't have no feelings for them.

You're making Islam look bad, you got to go.

-RADIO:

-In a new book called The Terror Factory,

Trevor Aaronson documents how the Federal Bureau of Investigation

has built a vast network of informants since 9/11

and how those new FBI tactics work

within the delicate balance between civil liberties and domestic safety.

You know, before 9/11,

the FBI investigated crimes after they'd occurred

and then, after 9/11, the mandate on the FBI was "never again".

And so what they're trying to do now, unlike before, is stop crimes

before they happen and these sting operations are how they do that.

How many informants did they employ before 9/11?

Under Hoover, during the Cointelpro days,

the FBI had 1,500 informants

and then, after 9/11, there was an explosion up to 15,000.

Hasn't the FBI actually recruited criminals and conmen?

Absolutely.

The best informants are kind of the worst people.

A federal court judge described informants to me as sociopaths

because they require them to build these very close relationships

and then betray them for personal means.

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

They want to make a big bust

CAMERA CLICKS and they want to bust this guy

and whoever else are his associates regarding that.

They just gave me this picture and said, "Look, this is the POI."

-What is POI?

-Person of interest.

His name is Khalifah.

They suspect that he might be involved with individuals

dealing with domestic terrorism.

Right now, I would like to make this my last assignment.

I want to spend the rest of my little bit of time with my son,

not 800-something miles away.

-Have you made contact with the POI?

-Yeah.

I bumped into him by accident on my own.

I just happened to be walking cos I was going to go to Goodwill.

The bus stop is right there and I happened to see him

and his wife so I walked over there and greeted them.

The second time I met him with a brother named Jamil,

Afrocentric shop, and, at that point, we exchanged numbers.

He gave me his card, which contained his e-mail, his website

and the things that he do.

-The Shabaan teaching something.

-What does as-Shabaab mean in Arabic?

It's supposed to be "students".

-CHANTING:

-Allahu Akbar!

But in Somali, the word "shabaab" is linked to a terrorist group.

He wasn't Muslim all the time. He was a thug.

Always fighting with the police. He did time.

Does he think you're new to Pittsburgh?

He knows I'm new to Pittsburgh.

Why does he think you're here?

To do work for Red Cross, search and rescue.

Do you know how this guy first came to their attention?

The way I see him running around here now,

it would make any motherfucker suspicious.

He's walking around looking like a Taliban.

My name is Khalifah al-Akili and I am from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

United States of America.

The belly of the beast.

HE SPEAKS IN ARABIC

His whole concept was about the government.

He didn't like the government. "Why must we never forget 9/11?

"People are killed, murdered or die every single day."

So, he has a hatred towards the government.

He doesn't really go out and speak in public about that.

He does it on Facebook.

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

-The target lives right around the corner from you?

-That's right.

Most of the time, this is how you get close to the target.

If you can get in the same apartment, same apartment building,

two or three blocks' proximity.

The agent said it's time to go.

He's going to be here, he's going to be there,

cos it's obvious they're tapping his phones.

These agents here is a little slow.

They're not used to dealing with

so-called domestic terrorist individuals.

It ain't like New York.

PHONE VIBRATES

I really want to get into a bakery.

That's what I really want to do.

I want to specialise in custom cupcakes.

Open it with someone who's a master baker, I'll be his apprentice.

Sweet cupcakes!

How was your meeting with the agents?

The meeting was somewhat brief and, you know,

it's to gather information, gather intel.

You know, in the interests of national security,

then I shall oblige

by gathering that information and taking it to my superiors...

who, at this time, will be paying me some money.

What is the character that you're playing with Khalifah?

I'm not playing no character. I'm playing who I am.

You know, a Muslim brother

who is involved with the Black Panther Party.

That - that image there.

# Black is beautiful... #

Say "power to the people".

-CROWD:

-Power to the people!

Say "off the pigs".

-CROWD:

-Off the pigs!

I joined the Black Panther Party, if I remember correctly,

during the springtime, yeah, of 1967.

At that time, I was a little fly kid, wearing fly clothes.

-# Revolution has come

-Off the pigs! #

I was looking for a pack,

you always look to be part of a group or family or fraternity.

We are organising our community - politically educating them,

telling them exactly what is going on, not only here in America...

I was interested in what they were saying.

What the government can't supply,

then we take upon ourselves to give to the people.

We're going to walk on this racist power structure and we're going

to say to the whole damn government, "Stick 'em up, motherfucker!

"This is a hold-up! We've come for what's ours."

FBI Director J Edgar Hoover today asserted that,

of the black extremist groups, the Black Panthers represent

the greatest internal threat to the nation.

This memo apparently went out to 37 agents.

It ordered them to find informers in the black ghettoes.

It was a command, not a suggestion.

The documents describe things like Cointelpro,

the FBI's programme to disrupt political extremists.

The FBI had the organisation under surveillance.

There had been efforts to get people inside our meetings.

-Were you an informant during the Panther days?

-No.

What did the party say about informants?

They'd kill them.

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

-Are all of your POIs Muslim?

-Yes, all the POIs are Muslims.

-Why do you think that is?

-I don't know what makes them Muslims.

I took my shahada in the early '70s.

It's a very practical religion,

but there are certain things you have to maintain, you know.

Help one another, virtue is in piety.

PHONE VIBRATES

At this point now, I am struggling with my faith.

Not because I don't believe in Allah -

things didn't go my way as I may have planned it to be.

There's times I've been strong and there's times I've been weak.

PHONE VIBRATES

CALL TO PRAYER IN ARABIC

'There ain't too many Muslims in this whole area likes this dude.

'They don't cos he starts trouble.

'One imam had to call the police on him to get him

'out the fucking mosque cos he kept running off at the mouth.'

He up and turned round and told the imam,

"You're going to remember this."

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

How do you go about getting someone to talk about jihad?

You don't do it that way, you just talk about Islam.

You don't do that on the first day you meet,

you don't do it on the first week. It might take you two or three weeks.

You feel the individual out. You see if he's got grudges.

You find out how he became Muslim, why he wanted to become Muslim.

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE RINGS

Yo, what's up?

'You just don't run into a community

'and expect to get results within a matter of four or six months.

'I don't have bay'ah to this mosque

'and I don't have bay'ah to the imam either.

'For most people, you have bay'ah to the imam.

'That way, you can move around with them. I don't have it.

'Even with this kid, I have to wait

'until he opens up to say something just to find a way to get in there.'

Exactly. All right, later.

Some of my other places, as individuals, we have a lot in common.

Even though this guy's a Muslim and I'm Muslim, that's as far it go.

He and I have nothing in common at all.

Music-wise, politics, culture - none of it.

You said that the POI sells books. What kind of books does he sell?

CAMERA CLICKS

He showed me in his library books on guerrilla warfare and all that.

The United States Army Ranger Handbook,

of dealing with explosives,

CAMERA CLICKS revolutionary Islamic literature,

how to train jihadists, you know, how to fight.

I said, "Have you ever been in a war? You ever been in the military?" "No."

"Then how the hell do you know anything about guerrilla warfare?

"Why do you have it there, just for show? Trying to impress people?"

-So, who set up your Facebook account?

-The FBI.

Don't fuck with this shit.

They're the ones pushing me to do this.

-That'll do for now.

-They should have gave you a class.

-What class?

These fuckers don't know nothing,

all they want to do is just try to make a fucking arrest.

Who the hell's this girl Victoria Carr, she wants to be my friend?

"I may know you from so and so." You don't know me.

Let me see how much I know you.

Ohhh!

She wants to be MY friend. Oohhhh!

The POI, I just sent him a request cos he didn't want to answer before.

How do I go out on this shit?

-Have you ever gone on a target that was a friend?

-Yeah, yeah, Shah.

-Shah was my friend.

-Was he a friend before...

He was my friend, yes, he was my friend. Yes, he was.

-Was he a friend before...

-Yes, he was my friend.

When you asked the question three times, I done told you.

Yes, he was my friend prior to him being investigated.

CAMERA CLICKS

In the Shah case, you're dealing with home-grown African-American Muslims.

His father was Captain Joseph Shah,

who was a lieutenant with Malcolm X.

A Florida physician and a self-described martial arts expert

from New York are under arrest tonight,

charged with plotting to train terrorists for al-Qaeda.

The government says it has the pair on audio tapes swearing a bay'ah,

an oath of allegiance to Osama Bin Laden.

The complaint alleges Shah did most of the talking

to a government informant wearing a wire.

I tried to give him warning, tried to tell him certain things

and leave things alone.

He might have felt that he was untouchable.

HE SCOFFS

Prosecutors contend that Shah told a government informer

that his work as a jazz musician was "the greatest cover".

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Tarik Shah!

Shah was introduced to me by an agent while Shah was doing a gig.

I went for bass lessons three times a week in his house.

That was my front.

And, of course, me learning these bass lessons, I'm talking with him.

My pitch was that he could make some money

if he makes some alliance with al-Qaeda

and they're looking for certain individuals such as himself

and they'd be willing to pay you for your time, you know.

So when I fed him that line, that's when he went at it.

It was like a bait. Threw the hook out there, he bit into it.

This is Tarik and I at my birthday party.

I forget, I was either 50 or 51.

They had given me a birthday party with a stripper.

But we will not take pictures of the stripper.

'Tarik mentioned that he was giving this person bass lessons

'and I didn't even know his name

'so then when he said this particular person

'needed a place to stay'

and would I be willing to rent him the apartment downstairs,

I said to Tarik, "Well, I don't know this person,"

so he said, "Ma, I can vouch for him."

I said, "Are you sure?"

You know, he's doing pretty good.

You know, as well as can be expected under the conditions.

For ten years, we've been suffering quietly.

They send informants into our community, we stay quiet,

we stay afraid and that only makes their job easier.

The longer we stay quiet,

the more dangerous it is for our children and our future generations.

And so this campaign will be mobilising people

in Muslim communities, black communities, immigrant communities,

civil rights communities, everybody together to fight the use

of these informants and surveillance.

I think Tarik is so hurt because he liked the brother

and he trusted the brother.

Tarik is such a believer in Islam

and I think he feels that Allah will deal with him.

Yeah, yeah. That's right.

Come on. You want that snow? Come on, come on.

Heel up, heel up, heel, here. Heel up.

Stop it, don't do that.

You make her nervous.

She ain't going to do nothing to you.

Hey! Hey! She done tore your coat, you see?

Yeah, don't run after her and let her play like that cos... Hey!

Her teeth are sharp. So you've got to tell your momma... Wow!

She ain't going to be mad?

-Previously on Homeland...

-She wants out.

She asked for 5 million and a flight to Detroit.

This is not some set-up, it's real.

An informant, married for years to a Hezbollah commander,

turns up out of the blue...

I thought we'd better meet her sooner rather than later.

We were supposed to meet her together

so you could talk to her and I could assess her reliability.

Meaning you don't trust my judgment?

Meaning the entire point of the protocol

was to keep your judgment out of it.

Carrie?

We're going to have to get back to you.

Saul, she seem critical to you?

I'm not really in a position to say.

How exactly did they train you to kind of prepare?

They didn't train me for nothing. It's how I use the language.

If they trained me, I would never get what I wanted to get

because they're strictly textbook.

There's a difference between telling somebody and making a suggestion.

It's entrapment if I go and tell him, "Yo, come on, let's go rob a bank",

and you know that was not his intention.

That was my intentions, so I'm entrapping him.

I don't make the suggestions.

I may go to him and say, "Man, there's a lot of money in there, boy.

"See them dropping off all that damn money?"

And he feeds into it, and he go, "Shit, I sure like to take that."

What about your current target?

Are your handlers trying to suggest that you...?

I don't suggest anything.

I wait till, as we speak and we get to know each other,

what we speak about.

So when he brought up camping,

that was my key opening right there, the door opened up for me

to make a suggestion there.

I say, "That's cool, man. We can all go camping."

I say, you know, "Why don't we just go a little further?"

"We could train, man, like we do in the military."

I said, "Brother, you want to go and fight for the Muslim state?"

He said, "I got to consult my sheikh."

I said, "See, that's what's wrong with you, brother.

"You brothers always talk that jihad stuff

"but when somebody give you the opportunity to make a move

"to fight for the Islam, you're not going to fight for the Islam,

"y'all talk that talk but you won't walk the walk."

EXPLOSION

He's not really a good Muslim.

We're going to get some coffee.

That motherfucker stole the coffee grinding machine,

he stole the coffee urn,

and I told him straight up after he'd done,

like, his fourth stealing, and I said, "Yo, man,

"did you consult your sheikh and your imam when you steal all that stuff?"

I ain't got to wear no kufi.

I ain't got to wear no keffiyeh.

I ain't got to wear a goddamn thing to say I'm Muslim.

God said that shit already been established way before we was born.

SINGING IN ARABIC

What drew me to the Islam was more of that militant aspect.

Not a jihadist but more of a stand-up, take no bullshit.

Brothers and sisters,

you must be abreast of what is happening all over the world.

You must read.

Your first reading is for Anne and Sunnah.

Nice community. Nice community of brothers, man, you know what I mean?

Some of them used to be Panthers and some used to be New African,

you know, brothers.

Imam Siraj, me and him used to sit down and talk.

We were good friends.

All the brothers were good friends. We all tight.

It's just that inner circle.

There's the inner circle and the outer circle.

I was part of the security council.

Crack at the Demigoza. It was bad, man, it was really bad.

We was cleaning up the neighbourhood, we was cleaning up the drug dealers.

-RADIO:

-Um, suspicious-looking people...

I provide them intel on where all the drug dealers would be at.

I was an asset to the community.

I loved it.

I loved it.

THEY SHOUT

Good. Next!

All right. Good.

That's what I want to see. Keep going. Ready?

THEY SHOUT

When I first met Saeed, it was around the time that we were

dealing with the drug problem here in the neighbourhood.

We had a very good impression of him.

You know, he was very much involved.

He was knowledgeable about certain things.

He has a very pleasant personality. He's very intelligent.

Very intelligent.

What do you think your reputation at the mosque is now?

Oh, man, it's probably all, "I'm going to kill that motherfucker,

"don't want to see him, going to put a bullet hole in that boy."

I...

broke a solemn oath against another Muslim.

They don't give a shit if the other Muslim's bad or not.

He's a Muslim.

Did you know Tarik Shah?

Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, he was part of this community too.

His family, I mean. Beautiful brother.

-TV:

-At yesterday's arraignment,

an upbeat but shackled Shah greeted the packed court gallery of

supporters and press with the Arabic greeting, "May peace be upon you."

Out of all the cases I worked on,

that was the only one that called me to testify.

And I worked on more than eight goddamn cases.

A whole bunch of them come up from mosque who knows me.

They couldn't believe it. They said, "Oh, man. That's Saeed. No..."

"He's been with us too long."

He saw us, but he would not look in our direction.

He saw us, you know?

'I don't know what's in a man's heart,

'but how could you not feel guilty?'

Imam Siraj put a fatwa out on me, OK?

And I'm not going into any details about how the words was

pronounced, how he put it in there. He put a fatwa out.

Now, y'all are journalists. Y'all know what a fatwa is.

I ain't going to tell you exactly what words he used cos

I don't know exactly what words.

I'm getting it from people I know who already told me.

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

One thing about the government, the government will use you

and they will drop your ass like a hot motherfucking stone.

And don't be a motherfucking convict

or they really get over on you then.

I spent all my money this week, man. Ain't that a bitch?

That's 11.

This is all I got, man.

Would you consider this full-time work?

They consider it full-time. I don't see no full-time money.

What would you say your services are worth?

My services need to be at least over 3,500.

What are you basing that rate on?

I'm basing it on my investigation techniques.

Infiltrating some radical fucking group

that they're not even sure about.

Now, the only way I could push their fucking wig back is

unless I just tell them I'm out of here.

Cos I'm not going to bust my ass.

You got me waking up at 5 o'clock in the fucking morning

chasing a fucking ghost.

-Answer the phone,

-BLEEP!

Hello.

-Hey,

-BLEEP,

-I see you. You see me?

Yeah.

Oh, OK.

Look at him.

INAUDIBLE

Just like his daddy.

His teeth fell out?

Yes.

Oh, it's growing back, though, right?

Yeah.

OK.

I love you!

Living this type of life, man, you lose out on a lot of shit, man.

Family life....

..your social life.

Do you think your present right now is in any way related to your past?

What I done in the past, I don't even like to bring it back up.

I really don't.

You know, even if you try to bounce back,

even to make amends for the things you may have done.

Got to deal with it, man. Got to deal with it.

Got to deal with it.

I was a revolutionary. Revolutionary activist,

like Robin Hood.

I was with a certain crew that was, uh,

setting up certain institutions to be appropriated for our cause.

Postal Service,

banks,

New York City Transit.

So all we do is just ex-appropriate it back to other people, the masses.

We used to drop off a few money and stuff at the mosque, you know?

Wouldn't tell nobody where we got it from, you know what I mean?

I hung out with a lot of transit cops, court officers and all that.

I did that for the purpose of them assuming that I was one of them.

Then all my shit just crumbled down and I got...

I got caught out in the end and got arrested.

Yeah, I was charged with grand larceny,

impersonation of a New York City Transit cop,

and possession of weapons.

When were you first approached by the FBI?

Oh, I was approached, man, when I was arrested.

So the guy's, "OK, we tell you what.

"Here's our card.

"You need something, you let us know. Now, you want to make a deal?

"You facing 20 years right now as it is."

And I said, "Damn, 20 fucking years in the fed."

So I said, "Fuck it."

I called them in.

Said, "Yeah, what do you want to speak on, man?"

SIRENS BLARE

After the World Trade Center, they felt that certain Muslim

communities, domestically, was involved.

I happened to know the blind sheikh that was part of the security detail.

So they felt that I knew the routine, which I didn't, really.

So how often would they come and ask you for intelligence?

Oh, it'd be, like, three times a week.

So I was their boy all the way until the time I came out.

After 9/11, I got a call. They said, "Look, come by and talk."

I said, "OK."

I opened the door and he came in. He had another agent with him.

They asked me to come with them full-time.

They just wanted to recruit me and shit, get me signed up and say,

"Welcome aboard," you know?

This was clandestine shit, you know?

Covert operation bullshit, you know? It exists.

You know what I mean?

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

Truthfully speaking, y'all got him thinking that he's, like,

the top-notch terrorist around here.

That he just can't be touched, he's untouchable.

But in reality, he ain't nothing. He ain't going nowhere.

I never been around a target that steals petty.

I mean, being a Muslim at that.

That's not acceptable. I mean, that's petty.

OK. All right. Bye.

I'm not feeling this, man.

This is the first time I ever felt like this.

As long as I've been doing this work, I never felt this.

So your instinct says this one just isn't right?

Not right that he'd do me bodily harm but because he's unpredictable.

He ain't the brightest.

But he ain't the dumbest, either.

-All right. You ready?

-Yeah.

My name is Khalifah Al-Akili,

from Pittsburgh.

In 1991, I accepted Islam, took shahada.

What was the religion that you were born into?

Well, we're all born Muslim, but I was raised protestant.

Islam teaches us how to rectify our inner self,

which the Prophet Muhammad

said is the greatest jihad.

The word "jihad", it simply means struggle.

And the greatest jihad that every believer, man and woman, will

go through is that inner struggle against our lower, bestial desires.

The more things that we do as Muslims, the more

of a closer relationship that we can have with our creator.

Turn this up...

VOICEMAIL: Uh, just let me know cos I

text you and you never replied to the text.

I don't know if you're sleeping or what.

But if you get this message, give me a call, please.

Insha'Allah.

He was always talking about the cause,

the cause, the cause, you know?

And, you know, some guys pray, other guys fight.

ASA, which means as-salamu alaikum, Brother K, check this movie,

it's a series called Homeland.

About terrorists, right?

Which I actually did and I actually enjoyed it, but... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But, yeah, but it was like it was to help him talk about that topic.

I was coming back from the store and...

Shariff's truck came around the corner, so I waved at him,

and he stops the truck and the passenger side opens up...

They bum-rushed it.

The bureau brings in another CHS.

What's a CHS?

It's a confidential human source.

And then he turns out to be Muhammad.

All I was supposed to do was introduce him to Khalifah,

and just let him know, I have an individual Muslim coming in.

He's a recruiter for the Taliban, or he's a recruiter for the al-Qaeda.

You know, he's a good brother, you know? Maybe y'all should meet.

Short and simple.

Before I could even introduce the fucking dude to the fucking POI,

this motherfucker was jumping out my car ready just to meet him.

I'm like, "What the fuck?"

That guy got out and he came up to me

and gave me the greeting of "as-salamu alaikum",

kissed me on both cheeks and I swear to you,

when I walked away from that situation,

I walked away feeling like I'd just played a part in some

Hollywood terrorist movie,

like I'd just met the leader of some terrorist organisation.

Actually, right there on the spot, he wanted to go have some coffee

or sit down with me and I told him, "No," you know?

"I still have to go visit my mother and I'm actually on my way

"there, getting ready to catch the bus to go there."

I walked away. He got back in the truck.

They still wanted me to proceed.

I told them, "Man, I don't feel right going into that man's house, man."

Enquiring, "What's up?" You know,

and he just finished telling me that more than 20 minutes ago.

He was at his mother's house.

"Oh, tell them that Muhammad got a card for his mother,"

and everything going to be all right,

so, "We didn't realise you were there,

"we just heard some noise so we knocked."

So I said, "Really?

"Really? That sounds real deep undercover, huh?

"Real deep."

I said, "I'm not going to feel too comfortable with that,

"but I'm going to do it anyway, but I'm letting y'all know,

"when you fuck up, don't come at me and say it was my fault.

"I ain't hearing it."

Next thing I know, he was at the front door.

He hit a code on the keypad at the entrance to

come into the building and I had it set up to ring to my cellphone.

Now, I've never had any visitors just pop up at my apartment

unannounced so I answered it and...

I was like, "Khalifah, it's me, Shariff."

He said, "Who? Who? Who? Who?"

It was Shariff.

Shariff was saying, "Oh, I'm here with Muhammad and we figured that

"we'd come and see you and sit down with you, spend some time."

I said, "Well, I'm not at home." I lied and said, "I'm not at home."

It was so clear that I didn't want to meet these guys.

Like, seriously, like,

I literally made up excuse after excuse after excuse.

The next morning, I walked up here to the corner.

And that's when, you know,

quote-unquote Muhammad came from around the corner.

You know, just appeared out of nowhere.

You know, he had his hotel downtown Pittsburgh

and yet he was here in Wilkinsburg

at 9.30 in the morning without no car, no vehicle.

He just so happened to have that card for my mother on him.

I reluctantly agreed to go to McDonald's

and, you know, have some coffee with him.

The morning that we all came in here,

we actually sat at this first booth right here

and that's whenever he began to talk about

his people being involved in jihad and whatnot and fighting.

This was the location that we sat down and had the coffee with him.

So we exchanged numbers and actually that morning, he drove me home.

After that, I didn't hear anything from him.

Taliban?

-You know what that means - Taliban?

-Not a damn thing.

Oh, yeah? It means student.

-Student of knowledge.

-OK.

Ain't nothing wrong with them, brother.

-Well, I ain't said nothing wrong with them.

-OK.

The wearing of the turban has been in existence thousands of years

before the Taliban was even formulated

in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

-Oh, OK.

-Yeah, my father's a Muslim.

Actually, Allah's just the Arabic name for God.

Christians and Jews that speak Arabic...

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

It's like my third time.

"You can no longer message..."

So he said, "All right, you can no longer..."

So that means he doesn't want to correspond with me.

See, these motherfuckers, they fucked up.

Watch this. I'm going to call these motherfuckers and let them know.

Yo, Jay.

I don't know what's going on. He didn't block me for the knife.

He knew that was me.

All right, OK.

All right, later.

You know, they fucked up there.

I'm not even going to deal with that.

Let them deal with the headaches.

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

DOG WHINES

Shut up!

Fucking piss me off today with your bullshit!

I mean, I could have set him up. Just take a fucking handgun

and just put it somewhere and say, "Yo, you all, I'm calling the locals,

"have the locals grab you right now."

Boom, he got a gun. And, yeah, it's all over with.

But they don't want to do it that way.

And I told them, I said, "I'm not here to entrap nobody."

They're trying to make me force this dude

into saying something...

to support terrorism.

I said, "The dude is not a fucking terrorist, man.

"He's not even a pseudo-terrorist.

"He's nothing but an oxymoron."

I said, "What you all been doing for the last three years?

"You all just seeing nothing.

"If you all ain't seeing, what do you all expect me to see?"

PHONE VIBRATES

DOORBELL RINGS

Fuck.

Fuck, man.

You rang my bell?

-Huh?

-Sorry.

-Happy birthday.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-I'm going to get you something next month, OK?

-OK.

-All right?

-Yeah.

All right, tell your momma I said hello.

Hm...

Nobody rings my bell.

I don't expect it. I don't have company here.

When that bell rings, I'm on my p's and q's.

And believe it or not,

if I think you're a threat to me,

I will liquidate you with extreme prejudice.

HE COUGHS AND SPLUTTERS

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

I honestly believe that that incident with that guy,

that that agent brought up,

if he hadn't have did what he did,

believe me, this thing could have weighed a little further. Right.

Yeah, he sensed things.

So I shouldn't have to wait for him, even if it came to exposing me.

And I don't want to be put in that situation.

So I definitely have to stay under the radar to a certain extent.

But that dude ain't going to bust a grape.

He ain't going to throw rice at a wedding, believe me. You know?

He's just, you know...

Eventually, y'all may get him on something else.

Maybe tax fraud.

Crossing state lines.

You know?

But I think it's just the Bureau's

going to have to take a different approach at him.

It may have to go at him hardcore

and just get him for the hell of it, you know what I mean?

Black ball trick.

OK. All right.

I'll talk to you later, then. All right. Later.

And I'm out of here.

Right now, I'm looking at a projection of me

being with my fucking son.

Shariff left me alone in his truck.

And when he did that,

there was a letter sitting on the dashboard from the welfare office.

So I picked it up and I snapped a picture of it,

because I knew he was FBI.

I wanted to know who this guy was.

And his real name is Saeed S Torres.

Come on, Sheba.

Come on.

This was a guy who used to e-mail me all the time.

Call me, you know, "Let's go out for coffee. I'll pick you up."

But a lot of that slowed down dramatically

after he'd introduced me to this "Mohammed".

I put his phone number into Google.

Anyone should be wanted for the things they do.

That's him.

..by Allah or the organisation that does these things.

Mohammed, he was an informer for the FBI.

And his real name is Shahed Hussain.

I felt that I was almost obligated to expose these guys.

Sheba, Sheba, Sheba, go, go, please.

I sent out an e-mail, very blatantly,

with the subject, "FBI informers".

There's hundreds of people on this e-mail list.

I told anybody,

if anybody wants to question me about this, they can do so.

Shariff, he's gone.

He's moved out completely, like out of the clear blue.

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

Yes. Khalifah, how are you? This is Steve Downs.

Good. I'm very good.

And I just wanted to make sure you understand that some people

may be listening in on this line, though. The FBI.

OK.

So, anyway, I just wanted to go over your statement.

You first met Shariff in September, October of 2011.

Yes. Somewhere around that time.

Mm-hm.

'Khalifah found out about our group Project SALAM on the internet

'and sent us this e-mail.

'What really was striking about this e-mail

'was that it was so detailed and so specific

'and that, through a series of googles and telephones and stuff,'

he had so cleverly caught the FBI trying to catch him.

I've never seen a case quite like that.

I just wanted to...

Well, one of the things that we were thinking about

is that we would like to have a press conference down in Washington.

And that may be next Thursday.

And call attention to all of this and make a big deal about it

and really call the FBI out on it.

Are you comfortable with that?

My only concern is that I don't want them retaliating against you,

simply because they couldn't put a case together.

But I think sometimes,

simply going public with it, the way you have and notifying everybody,

is the best way to head it off. So...

Right.

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

PHONE VIBRATES

You all exposed me.

You all put me on the goddamn line

and left me out there hanging to dry.

Initially, when I did this contract with you all,

if I didn't feel right about something, I wouldn't go and do it.

But you're all forcing my hand to go and do it.

You exposed me one time already

and I lost all my friends out of New York.

I lost everybody I grew up with and everything because of your bullshit.

-ANSWERPHONE:

-First saved message.

Received March 9th at 4.50pm.

But you see what I'm saying?

I'm heading home.

And you see what they still ask of me?

Go to the fucking limbs, let my fucking bones crumble.

I've got a meeting with my attorney.

I'm hoping that today the lawyer will be able to assist me

in giving me some advice on what I need to do to protect myself

and to protect my family

in the case that, if something was to happen to me,

that I was to be snatched off the street.

Can you think of anything else unusual

that's happened in the past year, people following you?

Just yesterday, me and my wife went to Jamil's Global Village

in East Liberty.

And as soon as I walked in there, like, not even a minute later,

this guy walks in. He's on a phone.

And there's some clothing, like, directly in front of the door.

He came in and he felt the sleeve of one of the clothes

and he was like, "Oh, this is nice material."

And then we were joking with him, actually, rubbed on his shirt

and said, "You got a nice shirt on, too."

And it was so clear that this man had a bulletproof vest on.

For some reason, they're just attracted to you.

I don't think anything is going to happen for a while.

Based on what you've told me...

..it would be hard for them to indict you right now,

based on what we think they know.

But they might try.

If they do come to your house,

they'll come, you know, late at night

-or early in the morning.

-Right.

The fact that they haven't already arrested me,

they obviously don't really have anything on me

and so they're still trying.

But you never know, you know? Just you never know.

As far as I know, I mean, Allah knows best,

but I haven't seen anyone following me today.

Why do we have to live in fear?

Why does my family have to live in fear every day now?

Whenever I walk out, my wife's wondering, you know,

is her husband going to return?

You know, I have a nine-month-old baby.

and my wife now, like,

she don't have no family in this country at all.

So if something happens to me, you know,

where does that leave my family?

No.

I haven't done anything to anybody!

Muhammad said,

"Beware of the supplication of the person who is unjustly treated."

This is wrong. I haven't done anything to anyone.

Can you please try and get a hold of somebody to help my wife, please?

Please, man.

Investigators are questioning a man

after the FBI raided his Wilkinsburg home.

What they found inside

has forced them to launch a major investigation.

He told friends he wanted to join the Taliban and die like a martyr.

But he ran from the FBI.

The Pittsburgh FBI SWAT team, though,

took him down moments later in front of his Wilkinsburg apartment

and now the Feds tonight are looking to see just what level

of anti-American he might be.

Ali Al-Akili, also known as James Marvin Thomas Jr,

was in possession of jihadist literature

and literature on the US military and its tactics

and that he promoted guerrilla violence

against the US armed forces.

Now, tonight there is no hard evidence, according to the Feds,

that the suspect took any action against United States.

But this investigation of this suspect and his friends

is far from over.

Hey, little man!

Go on, hey, get your hands up. Don't you know how to fight yet?

Yeah, I know, you've got your little pretty face.

You OK?

Your daddy's here now.

Wow.

It's good to be home, man. It's really good.

Project SALAM received this e-mail

from Khalifah,

in which he identified two informers -

Shahed Hussain and Saeed Torres.

He decided to hold a press conference

on Thursday, the day before the FBI arrested him.

And what did they arrest him on?

On a gun charge.

The gun charge was apparently based on the fact

that he had gone to a public shooting range

and made a video of it, which he posted on his Facebook.

And it has been on his page for at least six months.

Now, why time it to be exactly the day that he says,

"I'm going to go to a press conference

"and I'm going to explain that I don't want to be involved

"in any terrorism act

"and I wish the FBI would stop trying to press me into it."

If the mosque comes to the FBI and says "We suspect this person,"

is the FBI under any obligation to say, "Yeah, that's an informant"?

Just on the legal question,

the Bureau has no legal requirement

to tell either the targets of investigations

or anyone related to them about informants.

Interestingly, it's also never told Congress about the standards

under which it sends people to do this work,

which has really impeded any opportunity for oversight.

The FBI routinely uses informants to contrive cases

and criminalise First Amendment-protected activity.

And this is the same pattern that emerges

in case after case after case.

Tarik may be guilty. But you know what? Of talking.

In the whole thing, there was nothing about any weapons,

no bar...

Not nothing. Nothing.

Talk.

You want to wear those sneakers or your other sneakers?

You want to wear those?

This was all because of his child support payment.

They had Tarik owing 70,000, 80,000.

They knew that he was struggling.

Who are "they"?

Saeed knew that he was struggling with his payments.

I'm still making child-support payments for him.

And he's in prison.

Now, he felt desperate and he said, "I'll do anything."

And that's when they said, "We got him."

Now, you go and explain to him that, since he feels so down and stuff,

you've got some people that will help him.

Because he started saying he'd do desperate things.

And that's all they wanted him to say.

If you knew how everything would have turned out,

both for you and for Tarik,

-would you have done anything differently?

-No.

I'm not in control of this.

They are in control of it.

Who are "they"?

The agents, man. Come on!

Don't play with no word games with me.

Who else is "they"? Who else am I speaking of?

This is not something new that is happening.

I mean, these are things

that Malcolm used to talk about in the '60s.

He used to just always say,

"Be very careful of who you are speaking to,

"because I know that there are FBI informants that are Muslims."

The Quran says to enjoin good,

not to solicit or not to coerce and to do the wrong.

That's a major defilation of Quranic teachings,

you know, to encourage people to do wrong and that's what he was doing.

One of his fears is that someone in this mosque

may have issued a fatwa against him.

No!

Saeed, he knows better.

Nobody put a fatwa on Saeed. Nobody.

I seen him personally at one of the African street festivals.

I just stayed away from him.

-WOMAN'S VOICE:

-Hello. This is a prepaid collect call from...

-Khalifah

-..at Northeast Ohio Correctional Center.

This call is subject to recordings and monitoring.

-WOMAN'S VOICE:

-Thank you for using Secure Call. Goodbye.

I've been unemployed.

You know, it's been kind of rough.

The local jobs here, for some reason,

it seems like they just want their own kind.

I don't see too many Irish bars hiring any black cooks,

you know what I mean?

Other than that, I have no other resources.

I'm telling you how I'm trying to maintain this family.

When's the last time you heard from someone in the Bureau?

It's been a while.

Months.

I should have never, you know, even considered dealing with them.

You know what I mean?

I mean, it's...

It's chaotic. I don't have words for it at this moment.

I really don't.

I believe you caused what happened at Pittsburgh,

I'm getting all kinds of shit rolled down on me.

You know?

-But if Khalifah was arrested, wasn't Pittsburgh a success?

-No.

Why not?

Because it was not what they wanted him for.

Rough life, man. Rough life.

Sometimes, I think I don't know if I made the right decision or what.

I guess I should really, really...

..hate him.

But you know why I don't? Because...

..the old folks say, "What you reap, you will sow."

And with all that he's done to my family

and somebody else's family,

he may be physically out of jail...

..but, mentally, he's not.

So I don't think that I would want to be in his place right now.

I got to get my shit together. I been so fucking depressed, man.

I've never been this way before.

I need to get a little more active, a little more involved with my child.

The correct way.

Starve or eat with him.

Six minutes.

Let's smoke a joint, man.

HE COUGHS AND SPLUTTERS

I blame this all on the government.

I'm trying to be a good fucking citizen.

And look what happens.

I'm a fucking Muslim and I can't even go to the mosque.

Ain't that a bitch?

Because of the fucking mosque I already infiltrated

and even been on the news and everything else.

And my name's up there, so how the fuck am I going to pray?

They're violating my constitutional rights now

and preventing me from going into the mosque because of my actions.

A guy that used to work out of the New York office,

he has something in the making.

He said, "Are you interested in an assignment?"

"Yes, I am."

"Would I be interested in going down there and doing some work?"

I said, "Yeah."

"I could use the money."

They're getting ready to make a case.

Where I fit in there, I don't know. You see what I'm saying?

So they must need my expertise,

because they always remember who they work with.

They say, "Oh, I'll call Saeed.

"Saeed, yeah, he's the man for this one."

To tell you the truth,

I got over five, six motherfucking convictions

that they dig out, they work on.

They work and they got it.

That's just another episode you have to wait for.

That's another part of the story, you see what I'm saying?

A real juicy part.

So this story is never ending.

# The Mississippi mud

# Is soaked in black blood

# How many more must die?

-TV REPORTERS:

-In another terror case...

Two men under arrest in a terror plot.

Trying to detonate a car bomb.

1,000lbs worth of explosives.

Caught thanks to an FBI informant.

The plot was uncovered by an informant.

-Confidential informant that was involved.

-But the bomb was a fake.

It was a sting.

The FBI set the whole thing up and enticed them with money and gifts.

# But we know something is wrong

# The Mississippi mud

# Is soaked in black blood

# How many more must die?

# My heart is singing a sad song

# Cos so many brothers are gone

# It's happened many times before

# Lord, Lord, how many more?

# The Mississippi mud

# Is soaked in black blood

# How many more must die? #