Jurors hear tapes at NY temple plot trial

A jury has begun hearing secretly recorded tapes of a man accused of plotting to bomb New York synagogues and shoot down military planes.

On one tape played Monday at the trial of James Cromitie and three other men, Cromitie is heard saying he wanted to kill a Jew he encountered at a hotel.

“Muslims want to take the U.S. down,” Cromitie says on one tape played for the jury. “Believe me, we can do it with our regular Muslims here.” Cromitie also bemoans American military ventures in the Middle East.

“What do we do to make it stop?” he says. “We start taking things down here, you understand?” He adds: “I will kill 10 million [Jews] before I kill one Muslim.”

Cromitie, 43, and three men recruited as lookouts — Onta Williams, 34, David Williams, 29, and Laguerre Payen, 28 — have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles to kill U.S. officers and employees.

An informant who recorded the conversation in 2008 tells him a good Muslim can’t kill out of anger. He says “it must be for jihad.” The four men were arrested in 2009 in an elaborate sting operation. They have pleaded not guilty to charges that they engaged in a conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles to kill U.S. officers and employees.

They face possible life prison terms if convicted.