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To: Jon Koplik who wrote (120127)	6/11/2002 4:39:46 AM
From: Jon Koplik	Respond to of 152472

More info. on "dirty bomb" suspect. June 11, 2002 Padilla Was Chicago Gang Member By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 3:44 a.m. ET MIAMI (AP) -- Jose Padilla was a former street gang member who spent a stretch in prison for armed robbery and another term behind bars for opening fire on a motorist. Now he is accused of plotting a larger mayhem: seeking to detonate a radioactive ``dirty'' bomb. Padilla, 31, also known as Abdullah al Muhajir, lived in Florida through much of the 1990s and converted to Islam after serving time in a South Florida jail, officials said. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Padilla traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan during 2001 and met with al-Qaida officials, where he ``trained with the enemy, including studying how to wire explosive devices and researching radiological dispersion devices.'' The alleged bomb plot possibly targeted Washington but got only as far as the planning stages, authorities said. Padilla was arrested May 8 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. He had been held quietly for weeks in New York, then was flown Monday to a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. He was being treated as an enemy combatant. Born in New York City's Brooklyn borough, Padilla moved to Chicago when he was 4 and later became involved in one of the city's street gangs. Nelly Ojeda, 64, who lives in the same Chicago three-story flat where Padilla lived as a teen, said the boy -- nicknamed Pucho -- used to play basketball at his elementary school down the street. He would have friends over and they would watch TV, play Nintendo and play in the back yard, she said. ``He was so quiet, so nice. He doesn't look like a person who would do something like that. It would surprise me if he did it,'' Ojeda said. But at 15, he was convicted as a juvenile of aggravated battery, armed robbery and attempted armed robbery and was in custody in Illinois from November 1985 to May 1988. Officials would not elaborate on Padilla's past with the Chicago gang. In 1992, a year after he was released from parole, Padilla was convicted in Florida of aggravated assault with a firearm, officials said Monday. Police records show Padilla showed a handgun to another driver after a traffic encounter. When the driver followed Padilla to get his license plate, Padilla pulled in front and fired out the passenger window. No one was hurt. When Padilla was arrested outside his Lauderhill home, he had a silver .38-caliber revolver in his waistband, police said. Sunrise Police Lt. Charles Vitale, who made the arrest, said Padilla was cooperative and had been living with a girlfriend. At the time, Padilla identified himself as Catholic and told police he had worked at a Holiday Inn setting up banquet rooms for two weeks. Records show he has his name ``Jose'' tattooed on his right arm. His Chicago neighbor, who said she kept in touch with Padilla's mother, said Padilla married a woman from the Middle East several years ago and the couple moved there. While in the Broward County Jail, Padilla was accused of battery on a jail officer and resisting without violence in January 1992. He settled the charges with guilty pleas after spending 10 months behind bars. He was sentenced to a year in jail, the rest of the term was suspended, and he was placed on probation for a year. During that time, state records show he completed a substance abuse program. The suspect's mother, Estela Ortega, lives in Plantation, but left a note on her apartment's door asking reporters to ``please leave this family in peace,'' The Washington Post said in its Tuesday editions. The Associated Press was unable to reach Ortega early Tuesday because her telephone number was unlisted. Victor Olds, who is representing Ortega, said his client appeared before a grand jury two weeks ago to discuss her son, the newspaper reported. ^------ Associated Press Writers Melanie Coffee and Andrew Buchanan contributed to this report from Chicago. Copyright 2002 The Associated Press