Moorish Nation cult connected to alleged Miami terrorist

NY Post:

They were a bunch of misfits, religious zealots and petty criminals who were members of a weirdo black separatist cult called the Moorish Nation.

But the feds say the seven men busted Thursday for plotting 9/11-style attacks in Chicago and South Florida had recently morphed into a new and dangerous face of terrorism: Jihad, Made in the USA.

Officials said the seven Miami Muslims indicted on charges of conspiring to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and the FBI building in Miami in the name of al Qaeda were not Afghans or Saudis or Egyptians.

Five were Americans from the Miami area, another was a legal immigrant from Haiti, and the seventh is an illegal Haitian immigrant.

They are young men, ages 22 to 32. One was raised Roman Catholic. One worked a construction job. Others were recruited off the streets and said in their initial appearances yesterday in court they were unemployed - one with only $10 in the bank.

They were under the cult-like spell of the charismatic Narseal Batiste, 32, a former criminal who came from a family of Christian preachers and is the alleged leader of the cell.

Sources familiar with the probe said they were members of the Moorish Nation, a movement that wants to create an independent homeland for African-Americans and refuses to recognize the U.S. government's authority over them.

In 1997, about 40 members who were New York City employees were fired for refusing to pay taxes.

...

If they have members with only $10 in the bank, objecting to paying taxes seems like a strage concern and hardly a motive to blow up a building and kill people. I think the Pakistani label of miscreants probably fits these weirdos. It is not clear what the religous back ground of the Haitians in this plot may be. Voo-doo has a hold on some from that wretched country. Perhaps they thought a Muslim head chopping cult might provide them with a new inventory of heads to shrink.