Possible Car Bomb Explosion in Brooklyn

CNN Headline News | 3/24/01 | Mr.Clark

[TLBSHOW]

You are something. What that is, I won't say. It is plain to see.

[M. Thatcher]

You are something. What that is, I won't say. It is plain to see.

Go ahead, spit it out. Whatever it is that's "plain" to you might not be plain to others.

[Semper911]

From the looks of the van in the pic, it seems as though it was a person bomb, not a car bomb. PLO (and other) terrorists blow up crowded shopping areas, not one dude in a quiet neighborhood.

Now I would like to know more about the dude in question.

[Catspaw]

Interesting times ahead.

Interesting times, indeed. There seems to be a convergence of interests between radical Islamics and neo-Nazis: they both hate the Jews. "Hate" may be too mild of a word. Oh, and that Mein Kampf is popular reading in both groups.

[Lessismore]

From the NY 1 article ---

Police did not say if they have any suspects, or if they had knowledge of any specific arguments Halberstam may have been involved in. Some neighborhood residents said Halberstam had disputes with others in the community over money.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Another Clinton Pardon results in scandal... ;0)

[hellinahandcart]

"Halberstam"!

Okay, that made me shudder. We were just talking about Ari Halberstam this week.

[cmsgop]

Careful,

Or He will call you a COMMIE ,RAT, DISRUPTER!!!!

[M. Thatcher]

Ooooh. Well, I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I posted on this thread that made him come unglued. Seems pretty innocuous stuff, as my posts go.

[Nix 2]

3 down....

[Justa]

"It couldnt have been much of a bomb if it didnt even shatter a window in the van."

Maybe it was his pacemaker. Seriously, there was a movie on TBS last night about that.

[Husker24]

His pacemaker blew off his leg?

[Fabozz]

"Really? Those aren't chemo patients? I'm being serious..."

Orthodox women keep their heads covered whenever outside. Some use a wig (sheitl) instead of a scarf, since a wig lets them blend into Gentile society better and is generally more convenient; and once one is wearing a wig every day, shaving one's head makes sense. Others go so far as to wear a scarf over the wig, so that no Orthodox seeing them will get the impression that they are failing to cover their heads.

[JAWs]

I'm not sure you're kidding or not...

The Jewish Mob is mostly gone. (And when it was big, it was big in Detroit, Chicago and other places besides NYC.)

[VA Advogado]

Yeah, I was.

[csvset]

Here's an update. Perhaps he was a terrorist.

Source

Man Hurt by Bomb in B'klyn
Cops rule out terror

By ALICE McQUILLAN, DEREK ROSE and GREG WILSON
Daily News Staff Writers

bomb blew off part of a Brooklyn man's leg yesterday as he got into a rented van in front of his Borough Park home — a mysterious blast that rattled the close-knit Jewish neighborhood.

	An investigator retrieves evidence from van rented by Israel Halberstam.

As electronics store owner Israel Halberstam fought for his life, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ruled out terrorism. He said cops were looking into whether a "personal dispute" was behind the explosion, and that someone torched the merchant's rented car last month.

"There's no indication at this time that it is any kind of terrorist attack," said Kelly.

Sources said detectives had found possible bomb-making materials in Halberstam's toolbox — and hadn't ruled out the possibility he was transporting the bomb when it detonated. They also were looking into reports that Halberstam had money problems, the sources said.

The incident unfolded about 11:15 a.m. when Halberstam, 46, left his house on 42nd St., near 16th Ave. to go to work, and opened the door to his rented Dodge Caravan.

Victim Wasn't Moving

The neighborhood was then rocked by an explosion that sent Halberstam flying, severing his right leg below the knee.

"The guy wasn't moving," said Zbigniew Kustra, 51, a neighbor. "His hair and beard were burned, and it looked like he wasn't breathing."

The married father of five was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was in critical condition with facial and lung burns last night.

Kelly said the bomb was "fairly sophisticated" and was in some kind of package, but not planted inside the green van.

The commissioner said police were investigating how the device was detonated, but said it wasn't set off by remote control.

The bomb's location — combined with the lack of a remote control detonator and the discovery in Halberstam's toolbox — had cops examining whether he had the device when it exploded, sources said.

"There's now a possibility that it may have been his own bomb," said a police source.

Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and NYPD bomb squad investigators swept the area with bomb-sniffing dogs, then checked Halberstam's home and his store, about 1 1/2 miles away in Bay Ridge.

Worries of Terrorism

The blast sent shock waves through the Hasidic community, still shaken from the unsolved slaying of a Brooklyn rabbinical student last week. Many said they hoped the violence wasn't related to Mideast turmoil.

"It was pretty scary," said Jacob Goldberg, 16, who visited Jerusalem last month and saw two terror attacks. "It wasn't as bad as those bombs, but it was pretty close."

With Bill Egbert and Jonathan Lemire

Original Publication Date: 3/25/02

[M. Thatcher]

Interesting. Thanks for the update.

[JAWs]

When there was a Jewish Mob it was huge. Lepke Buchalter ran Murder Inc. Meyer Lanskywas the alleged brains of the Combo. Bugsy founded Vegas and ran the town until his baby blues wound up on Virgina Hill's carpet. Longy Zwillman ran the docks until syph related demantia obligated his early retirement. I'm sure we can think of many more.

Of course their kids became doctors, lawyers and accoutants, so they left the underworld behind.