Cyberspecialists from a Jewish community nonprofit combing the internet’s deep web were the first to detect a sinister plot to open fire on a New York City synagogue, authorities said Monday.
Mitchell Silber, executive director of the UJA Federation of New York’s Community Security Initiative, said it was his group’s discovery of worrisome tweets that sparked the investigation by the NYPD and FBI.
“There’s a lot of chatter on the internet,” Silber said at a City Hall news conference where he was joined by Mayor Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell. “One of the most difficult things is discerning what’s just talk and what’s likely to turn to action.”
Christopher Brown and Matthew Mahrer, both 22, were busted at Penn Station late Friday night after Brown started posting his plans on his now-defunct Twitter account.
But their plot may have never been exposed, were it not for a deep dive by online security experts.
Silber said his group’s analysts uncovered “some alarming texts from this individual, talking about attacking synagogue, talking about 10 o’clock at night, talking about dying by the police.”
Authorities used the information to avert a potential disaster and arrested the armed men — one of whom had Nazi insignia on him.
Brown, who possessed a “swastika” armband when he was caught, was charged with making terroristic threats, harassment and weapons possession, said police sources.
The weapon found with the men was “a large 8-inch military-style knife, with a blade longer than 4 inches,” according to the criminal complaint.
The internet saga began about 10 a.m. on Friday when Community Security Initiative agents came across Brown’s alarming tweets, police said. Brown’s real name wasn’t known at the time, but the sleuths were able to narrow down the threat to Nassau or Suffolk county, and alerted authorities on Long Island.
By 2 p.m., it became clear that the posts were not just idle chatter, and the agents contacted the NYPD.
“We think this is really serious,” Silber recounted. “This isn’t just talk. The NYPD took it from there.”
By 9:30 p.m., authorities, issued a “be on the lookout” alert with a picture of one of the suspects that cops received on their cell phones, and a full manhunt was underway.
Brown and Mahrer were arrested by “sharp-eyed MTA police officers,” Sewell said. Besides the knife and gun, the pair also possessed a “30-round magazine and several other items,” she said.
Silber said cops were grateful for his agency’s help.
“The Police Department is looking at a full spectrum of threats from far left to far right, QAnon and everything in the middle. So oftentimes they do find this, as does the FBI,” said, Silber, a former NYPD intelligence and terrorism expert.
“We have a narrower focus,” he continued. “Our focus is specifically on threats to the Jewish community of Greater New York, so we’re laser-focused on that. So we sometimes have a better shot at finding that particular needle in the haystack.”
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