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TwitThisThe Most Versatile Crook
It was just before dawn on the morning of July 21, 2000, when the tranquility of East Charlotte's Donnefield Street was shattered by a convoy of police sedans and dark SUVs. Federal agents, clad in body armor and carrying machine guns, swarmed to the front door of Mohamad Hammoud's house and kicked it open. Hammoud leapt out of bed and grabbed a pistol. But as the armed team rushed into his living room, he thought better of resisting and quickly surrendered.The FBI and ATF raid netted 17 other suspects in the Charlotte area, some of them local residents who'd been enlisted to help in the smuggling. (Eight others would be charged later.) Bob Fromme joined Ken Bell in monitoring the operation from a downtown police command post.
At Hammoud's house, agents seized shotguns, pistols and an AK-47 assault rifle, as well as piles of militant literature and videotapes. The prize find, though, was communication -- both letters and tapped conversations -- between Hammoud and Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon. Among these was a note from spiritual leader Sheikh Fadlallah, acknowledging a $1,300 contribution. For Bell, this was confirmation of what informants and surveillance had suggested: Hammoud was hot-wired to the highest levels of Hezbollah.
Most of the defendants would plead guilty to conspiracy, racketeering and fraud. But Bell wanted to bring the toughest charges possible against Hammoud. After the Oklahoma City bombing, Congress had made it a federal crime to provide financial support to any terrorist organization. So far, no prosecutor had tried to bring such a charge to trial. Bell intended to be the first. But to pull it off, he needed one of the terrorists to turn against Hammoud.
If there was one cell member who Bell thought was vulnerable, it was Said Harb. A smooth talker with an innocent air, Harb was perhaps the most versatile crook of the bunch. He had played a key role in the cell's criminal activities, personally driving cigarettes to Michigan and raising a lot of money through bank and credit fraud. At one time he had 12 credit cards and three driver's licenses, all in different names. His cell phone had five distinct rings, each for a separate identity, and he needed to refer to a notebook to keep track of his myriad Social Security numbers and bank accounts.
Harb also conducted some of the cell's most sensitive work. Canadian intelligence officials had monitored two trips he took to Vancouver in the late 1990s. The first time he met with an old childhood friend named Mohamad Dbouk. Dbouk, officials say, was in charge of procuring military equipment for Hezbollah in North America, and Harb provided him with fake credit cards and forged checks to make his purchases. The shopping list, issued by a senior Hezbollah commander, was extensive: night-vision goggles, laser range finders, blasting equipment, GPS devices, mine detectors, dog-repellent weapons and more. All of it would be shipped back to Lebanon for use in military operations against Israel.
But Harb had a weakness for the material temptations of America. He frequented Charlotte nightclubs, dabbled in Internet pornography, and bought himself a $36,000 BMW. He hated America's policies and, at the same time, appeared to thrive on its freedoms. More than the others, he seemed self-interested, more westernized and less ideologically committed -- perhaps the sort willing to cut a deal to save his own hide. By pressuring Harb with damning evidence about his trips to Canada, Bell hoped he would help nail Hammoud.
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