Officials: Bronx brothers charged in bomb-making scheme
NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller, flanked by Police Commissioner James O'Neill, left, and Mayor Bill de Blasio, discusses charges against two brothers in connection with alleged bomb-making efforts. Credit: Craig Ruttle
Twin brothers from the Bronx were arrested Thursday on charges they amassed bomb materials in their apartment and paid area high school students $50 an hour to strip gunpowder from fireworks to stockpile explosives, officials said.
Christian Toro, a former Harlem charter school teacher, and Tyler Toro, both 27, reside in a modern seven-story brick apartment building in the Morris Park area. They were charged in a federal complaint revealed Thursday night at a news conference at police headquarters in Manhattan.
The complaint alleges the brothers started bomb-making activity in October. During a search earlier Thursday, federal agents found not only explosive precursors, such as iron oxide and aluminum powder, but also a bag of metal spheres to use as shrapnel and fragmentation.
The investigation that led to the brothers' arrest started when officials at Christian Toro's former school, Democracy Prep Harlem High School, reported finding instructions for manufacturing explosives on his laptop.
Christian Toro resigned from the Harlem school on Jan. 9, 2018, after working for Democracy Prep Public Schools since August 2016, according to a statement from the school. His resignation followed an incident in which a student telephoned in a bomb threat, the complaint stated.
"After he resigned, Democracy Prep did a routine review of his laptop and was deeply disturbed by suspicious content," a spokesperson for the school said in a statement. "We immediately notified law enforcement of the content on Mr. Toro's laptop."
After interviewing the brothers and following up on leads, authorities found about 30 pounds of explosive precursor materials in the apartment, the complaint stated. Writings and diary entries found also indicated vague references to “Operation Flash” and “Under the full moon the small ones will know terror,” according to the complaint.
Officials didn’t know the meaning of those writings, NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller said.
It wasn't clear if the brothers had targeted sites to detonate the explosives, but de Blasio said there was no imminent threat to the city.
The Toro brothers pleaded not guilty before a Manhattan federal magistrate judge Thursday and were held without bail, authorities said. Christian Toro, who also faces an unrelated rape charge, may attempt to get bail on Feb. 21, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman.
The pair are represented by Legal Aid attorneys who were not available for comment Thursday night.
The mayor praised the school officials who reported the suspicious finding to police.
“Some good people stepped forward with information, and that information was crucial to law enforcement,” he said. “No matter where you are and what you are doing if you have information you find unsettling, you see something suspicious, come forward to law enforcement.”
Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.
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